Matt Birney

Northern Minerals’ heavy rare earths project at Browns Range in the East Kimberley appears to be timed to perfection following last week’s shock announcement of production cut backs by China. With construction of Browns Range on track to be completed next month, there could hardly be a better time for Northern to emerge as the only dysprosium source outside of China.

Strike Energy’s share price has been on a white knuckle ride over the last few weeks as investors desperately try to work out if it is going to be the next large cap gas producer in Australia, or fail whilst daring to create a new technical frontier in the search for coal seam gas riches. Strike significantly de-risked its Jaws-1 well this week with the installation of a liner and its fracture stimulation sleeves.

In what appears to be a serious opportunity for W.A, the smart money in the lithium space is now moving downstream into the production of lithium-ion battery chemicals such as lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide and the mining of lithium is now looking a bit like the poor cousin. Neometals has kicked off its engineering and design study for a proposed Kalgoorlie lithium hydroxide plant.

In what looks to be an astute move, Calima Energy is set to race from 20% to outright ownership of its coveted Montney shale liquid/gas project in Canada through friendly, all-scrip takeover bids for its joint venture partners. The Perth-based junior has secured board recommendations and pre-bid acceptances from several major shareholders in a deal that will bulk up its profile in the revered oil and gas basin

Hot Chili has announced a $4m placement to fund a drill program at the El Fuego copper project in Chile. The program is aimed at increasing high grade mineral resources and extending the initial mine life of the flagship Productora asset beyond 10 years. The small scale mines at San Antonio and Valentina will be targeted first, having defined potential for extended shallow, high grade copper sulphide mineralisation

Phylogica has continued its march towards commercialisation of its game-changing drug delivery platform, after the Perth company boosted its disease-fighting genome library in the March quarter. Phylogica said it has improved both the complexity and biodiversity of its collection of genomes as it progresses its journey towards animal-based clinical trials of the unique intracellular drug delivery technology.

Geopacific has announced a $10M placement to advance its resource development drilling at the Woodlark gold project in PNG. The company is completing a DFS and the new drill programs are aimed at increasing resource and reserve inventories to extend the initial mine life beyond 10 years. The capital raise had strong support and the company said it could now potentially triple its gold endowment.

In a tour de force of drilling expertise, Strike Energy and its big-name drilling contractors have successfully completed one of the most difficult wells ever attempted onshore in Australia. Strike reported that the Jaws-1 horizontal well had met its objectives and was being prepared for hydraulic stimulation, sending the junior explorer’s shares up by more than 10%.

Is it a zinc play ? Is it a lead play ? Is it a gold play ? Is it a copper play ? Perhaps a silver play ? How about a barite play ? Investors may well be asking these questions of the Adriatic Metals float that will debut on the ASX today with a multi-mineral beast of a deposit in mineral rich Bosnia. Base metals giant Sandfire Resources has ploughed $2m into the float and will hold nearly 8% of the company.

ASX-listed specialist pumping company Babylon Pump and Power is in full swing, with the company reporting robust revenues for the March quarter on the back of strongly performing specialty rental and diesel businesses. The recently listed Kalamunda-based company says year-to-date revenues have now hit $1.5m as it accelerates its rental, rebuild and maintenance offering in the resurgent mining sector.

Lithium Australia’s large scale pilot plant to be based on its SiLeach processing technology has received a boost, with test work achieving a breakthrough that improves lithium recoveries and enhances the production of a key by-product. The results have led to an innovative change to the process that has the potential to reduce capital and operating costs and strengthen the project economics.

A decrease in Chinese production of dysprosium highlighted by research commissioned by Northern Minerals, has placed an increasing focus on the company’s Browns Range rare earths project. Chinese production has dropped by 34% since 2013 and research consultants Adamas Intelligence believe Chinese production will be insufficient to cope with global demand for the burgeoning electric vehicle market.

A big oil and gas liquids discovery near Calima Energy’s acreage in the Montney Basin has added yet more backing for the company’s early move into one of the hottest shale basins in North America. The nearby discovery tested at more than 2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and was rich in highly prized condensate and other natural gas liquids. Calima's move into the area is starting to look smart.

Heavy rare earths developer Northern Minerals has begun commissioning its Browns Range project in the East Kimberley just 12 months after the board approved the pioneering development. The on-site power station has fired up and allowed the successful commissioning of the crushing circuit, in a major step towards first production of heavy rare earth carbonate in July.

Emerging graphite developer Volt Resources has exchanged binding off-take agreements with its Chinese counterparties in a bid to get the finer details of the agreements signed off and set in stone ahead of initial production at the company’s Bunyu project in Tanzania. Volt also said its Stage 1 feasibility study, development funding, statutory approvals and construction contracts are on schedule

Metalicity has commenced RC drilling at the Yerrida Basin near Wiluna and will look to follow up on previous positive indicators at the project that show cobalt may be present. The latest campaign will investigate the project’s geological setting, which is considered analogous to the Central African Copper belt that hosts structural/stratigraphic-controlled copper-cobalt and nickel-cobalt sulphide mineralisation.

Emerging mineral sands producer Image Resources has set a good example for the WA mining industry by embracing solar power for its high-grade, zircon-rich Boonanarring development just north of Perth. The company has struck a deal with Perth-based Sunrise Energy Group that will see a 3-4MW solar farm built next door to its mineral sands project and supply about 25% of its power.

Algae.Tec has received the tick of approval from one of the largest aquariums in the world to supply it with its algae-based product as the Perth health sciences company continues to aggressively push into the lucrative US aquarist market. Algae.Tec’s FeedMe product has been approved for use at the Georgia Aquarium, which receives over 2.4 million visitors annually and houses 100,000 marine animals.

Internet of things company Connected IO is partnering with leading US IT firm and cyber security company Netsurion on a line of customised wireless routers in a deal worth $1.8 million over three years. The partnership will see Connected IO design and manufacture a purpose-built family of modem-like devices for the Florida-based producer of security products, managed networks and compliance solutions.

ASX-listed DroneShield has revealed that its anti-drone security technology was deployed by the Australian Defence Force at the recent ASEAN summit in Sydney to protect world leaders from hostile drone attack. DroneShield says the use of its proprietary DroneGun product by the Military at ASEAN on behalf of NSW police shows the quality and capability of its product suite.

Hot Chili has announced exceptional assay results from historical underground face sampling data compiled for its San Antonio prospect in Chile. Results include 7.5m @ 10.4% copper and 24.6m @ 2.2% copper and demonstrate ore thickness up to 30m true width. The ore system is still open at depth below 120m. Regional mapping and sampling has identified further porphyry copper targets.

Hammer Metals is on the move at its multitude of projects near Mt Isa with a plethora of exploration plays underway. The company will recommence drilling at the Jubilee project to extend high grade copper-gold results with significant surface mineralisation also located 4.5km to the southeast at Jubilee South. At Millenium, further anomalous copper-cobalt-gold assays were returned from RC drilling.

St George Mining has announced that additional high grade nickel sulphides were intersected at the Stricklands prospect within its Mt Alexander project, near Leonora. The 16.1 metre combined intercept is true width, starting from 33.1m downhole and contains a 1.0m section with an average grade of 4.4% nickel using XRF analyses. The result confirms consistency of mineralisation for a further 50m.

Lithium Australia has once again returned from the hunt for new lithium frontier projects, this time in tiger country in the Pilbara. The Perth based, vertically integrated lithium tyro has bagged up what looks to be a pegmatite rich greenfields lithium project 18km’s east of Marble bar in the Moolyella tin fields. The project cost just $25,000 in cash and a further $25,000 in Lithium Australia stock.

Even though Neometals' massive Barrambie titanium-vanadium-iron resource in W.A is of a globally significant scale, it has flown under the radar given that Neometals is better known for its development of the equally significant Mt Marion lithium mine near Coolgardie. The company surprised the market last week by announcing a 280m tonne Resource at Barrambie grading 9.18% TiO2 and 0.44% V2O5.

Classic Minerals has reported highly anomalous cobalt results from an historical data review of its Rubys Reward prospect at the Fraser Range project near Kambalda. The assays of up to 0.14% cobalt define a continuous 300m trend that will be evaluated for its economic potential in coming months. The company will also re-evaluate the broader project area for additional cobalt mineralisation.

Northern Minerals has announced promising rare earth sample results from exploration conducted at its Browns Range project which is currently under construction. Sampling returned results of up to 6.4% total rare earth oxides and the discovery of a new prospect. The company is expecting first production of heavy rare earth carbonate at the mine in July, with ongoing exploration to extend mine life.

ASX-listed resume verification provider CVCheck has posted best-ever revenues for the third fiscal quarter as it advances towards cash flow breakeven. The integrated screening and verification company said quarterly revenues lifted to a record $3.3m, up 21 per cent on the same quarter last year, largely due to an uplift in demand from corporate clients.

ASX-listed security surveillance company Spectur has nailed its first military order for the cutting-edge HD4 camera system after securing authorised supplier status with the Australian Department of Defence. The Department placed a $50,000 purchase order for the Perth-based company flagship security camera system and Spectur is confident of further orders for its innovative thermal camera system.

Bougainville-focused explorer Kalia has received a boost from its initial field exploration on the island, backing the company’s view about the potential for lookalikes of the giant Panguna deposit that shutdown prematurely in 1989. The first batch of field trips in the north of the island have produced multiple anomalous assays of copper and gold, with best results above the grades of the Panguna mine.

PharmAust has hit a major milestone, signing a landmark deal with US pharmaceutical giant Elanco to develop the company’s promising anti-cancer drug “Monepantel”. The deal will see Elanco supply PharmAust with high-grade Monepantel for use in clinical trials in dogs with cancer and in return Pharmaust will grant Elenco an option to negotiate a deal to take Pharmaust's IP to the global market.

Lithium Australia will take less than six months to recommission the manufacturing facility at its new acquired Very Small Particle Company. It expects to be producing world-leading cathode materials by July. The rapid re-start is part of an ambitious strategy to become a vertically integrated lithium business, which will also see battery grade lithium carbonate produced from 2021.