Matt Birney

New positive assays from Legend Mining’s Rockford project have encouraged the company to drill a deep diamond drill hole within weeks to test its most promising conductor. The company has now identified a +300 metre wide zone of anomalous copper and nickel up-dip from where a strong conductor has been modeled from a depth of about 500 metres.

MGC Pharmaceuticals will breed and register new medicinal cannabis strains in Europe under a research partnership with Solvenia’s leading university. The new agreement with the University of Ljubljana adds to an impressive bank of medicinal Cannabis research activity by MGC and gives the ASX-listed company a potential inside track to the European market.

Northern Minerals’ contract mining team have hit the ground running at the remote Browns Range project with MACA contracting now set to begin digging ore at Australia’s first heavy rare earths mine. The commencement of mining will coincide with a reassessment of the commercial potential of heavy rare earths, driven in part by the take up of electric vehicles around the globe.

A guaranteed $2.25 million equity injection has secured Azonto Petroleum’s rebirth as Calima Energy with a stake in one of the hottest new shale plays in North America. The capital raising was a key part of a series of deals announced last month that will launch the company as a player in Canada’s Montney Formation, a liquids-rich oil and gas basin of staggering proportions.

Neometals have rolled out another breakthrough technology that could make giant lithium brine evaporation ponds a thing of the past. The Mt Marion Lithium mine founder has developed a new titanium-based material that extracts lithium from brines in just 30 minutes, compared to a 12-month wait with evaporation ponds. 

Stargroup’s quest for total market domination in Australia received a shot in the arm this week after the company announced yet another acquisition of a rival ATM machine operator taking their total number of ATM machines around Australia to over 500 units. The acquisition of Fast Cash for $4.2m will take Stargroup’s projected FY 18 EBITDA from $4.7m to $5.7m.

Neometals’ dream of capturing value all along the lithium battery supply chain is one step closer following great test results for an exciting new type of battery material that can potentially replace graphite. Batteries using the new anode material known as Lithium Titanate outperformed commercially available rivals in recent tests conducted by the company. 

Peppermint Innovation have launched a game changing trial of their technology in the Philippines that promises to revolutionize the way millions of Filipinos pay their household bills and transfer money to friends and family. The trial, which received the green light from the country’s central bank, is an innovative solution for the 70% of Filipinos who don’t operate a bank account.

Peppermint Innovation are gaining traction for their bill payment and money transfer APP with millions of Filipino’s who don’t operate a bank account. The Perth company has signed a second major distribution partner who will resell their platform via a 14,000 strong agent network. Peppermint also recently won a Fintech Award for “Excellence in Financial Inclusion.”

Lithium Australia’s innovative "Sileach" Lithium processing technology has played a crucial role in securing a joint venture in Germany that plans to extract lithium from mica for the huge European market. The German partner in the new joint venture locked in the deal after exhaustive due diligence showed Sileach was ideal for extracting lithium from their tin deposits in Europe.

When it comes to saving the lives of beach goers, there are few bigger names around the world than Bondi Rescue’s Bruce “Hoppo” Hopkins. The chief lifeguard at Bondi Beach has teamed up with WA-based Shark Mitigation Systems to promote their innovative shark detecting "Clever Buoy" technology. Hopkins first trialed the technology at Bondi in 2016.

Lithium Australia’s processing expertise has produced exceptional results from metallurgical testing of the Agua Fria Lithium clay prospect in Mexico, extracting up to 99% Lithium without roasting in just four hours. The result is a major boost for the economics of Agua Fria which is adjacent to the world’s largest known Lithium clay deposit.

Blina Minerals have moved quickly at their new Dingo Gold project in the Eastern Goldfields, with detailed geological mapping and a geochemical survey underway just a fortnight after taking control. Dingo has shallow and deeper gold targets that have not been properly drill tested and offers up significant upside on Blina’s bargain acquisition price of just $20,000.

Analytica have appointed a global heavyweight in the pharmaceutical industry to its board of directors as they gear up for the international launch of an innovative medical device that combats urinary incontinence. Dr Peter B. Corr, the former head of R&D at Pfizer, has joined the Analytica board, strengthening ties he already has as a significant shareholder.

An independent clinical trial of MGC Pharma’s cannabis-based dermatological creams has produced spectacular results with the trials showing an 80% improvement in acne prone skin, 73% improvement in psoriatic plaques, 86% improvement of irritated skin and over 70% improvement in the visual appearance of redness, dryness, flaky and oily skin conditions.

Blackham’s latest round of drilling at Wiluna has produced a best-ever result of 15.4 metres at more than 21 g/t gold, located in a new high-grade shoot that is outside the existing open-pit mine plan. The new drill results revealed much more mineralisation around the old West Pit and make a ‘super pit’ stretching up to 2km a real possibility.

PharmAust’s trials of its promising anti-cancer drug in dogs have produced encouraging early results, reducing the size of tumours in three out of four dogs with no other treatment. The early-stage trials have also shown it will be safe to give dogs significantly higher doses, which could lead to some spectacular results in the next stage of trials.

The rich geology of Hammer Metal’s ground east of Mt Isa has produced yet another happy surprise for the Perth-based explorer —graphite. A recent electromagnetic survey by helicopter highlighted a conductive, graphite-rich bed, with initial samples assaying up to 10% total graphitic carbon.

Stargroup and small tier bank, Goldfields Money, have doubled the size of their partnership, announcing that up to $30 million of Goldfields excess cash would now be made available for Stargroup ATM machines. Goldfields’ banking license coupled with Stargroup’s market penetration conjures up any number of future opportunities for the two ASX listed companies.

Perth-based CVCheck is charging into the black after continued strong revenue growth in April and May. The innovative provider of online police checks, employment screening and a burgeoning range of related products also has more growth in the pipeline, thanks in part to changes to 457 visas in Australia and new requirements by NZ’s Health Department.

Perth listed biotech PharmAust, have determined that their promising anti-cancer drug known as MPL might also be useful in the treatment of diabetes, brain disease and age related disorders. The company announced this week they have secured a patent for MPL in Australia relating to the treatment of the three newly targeted illnesses. 

One of Wall Street’s oldest investment banks has released a bullish assessment of Perth based Northern Minerals, saying Browns Range is among a rare breed of high-value rare earths projects. Hallgarten & Company concluded that Northern Minerals had a project with great metallurgy and set a 12-month price target of 38 cents, a 217% increase over the current levels.

Auroch have begun drilling ahead of schedule in Portugal, just weeks after entering the country with a bold, deep-drilling exploration project targeting high-grade copper and zinc. The first diamond drill hole is expected to take between four and six weeks to test its target, which is just 20kms along strike from the “supergiant” Neves Corvo copper zinc mine.

The marriage of ASX listed Azonto Petroleum to the unlisted Calima Energy is essentially a story of money meets management experience with the marriage consummated at one of the best addresses in town, the Montney oil and gas play in Canada. Calima is the creation of 5 Subiaco based geoscientists who previously took Ophir Energy from an idea to a 2 billion pound company.

Lithium Australia’s Sileach process has given its best indication yet of its breakthrough potential with the latest trials producing 99.8% Lithium Carbonate without the need to roast concentrate. The result was also achieved using a sub-economic grade of just 3.4% Li20 highlighting the potential of Sileach to bring low-grade Lithium deposits to market.

ASX listed medical device company Analytica has bolstered the intellectual property safeguards around its “PeriCoach” e-health system, with the innovative urinary incontinence device receiving patent protection in Australia. The Australian patent is the latest stage in the company’s IP protection strategy rollout in several key markets including China and Japan.

Pilbara Minerals have received WA Government approval for the Pilgangoora Lithium-Tantalum project, clearing the way for construction of the world’s next major Lithium supplier near Port Hedland. The company also hinted that news about project financing was imminent, which was widely expected after last week’s announcement of a major off-take agreement being struck.

Northern Minerals have wasted no time at the Browns Range heavy rare earths project, with grade control drilling and an expansion of the mining camp now underway. The company last month approved the $56 million pilot project, which will focus on the production of “Dysprosium”, a high-value rare earth that is a key component of permanent magnets used in electric motors.

A large-scale pilot plant for Lithium Australia’s revolutionary Sileach Lithium processing technology might have a much lower cost than anticipated thanks to savings identified by building it overseas. Lithium Australia says an engineering cost study by CPC Project Design has identified big savings at a potential overseas site, which will be examined more closely.

ASX-listed Sky and Space Global has signed a deal with a leading knowledge sharing service that connects millions of farmers globally. The MOU with WeFarm Inc will look at how Sky and Space could integrate its proposed nano-satellite communication network into WeFarm’s data sharing service that links small-scale farming operators across Latin America to East Africa.

"Internet of things” player Connected IO’s relationship with US telco giant Verizon continues to pay off, resulting in a follow-up order from the American Red Cross. Connected IO will work with Verizon to provide more dependable wireless communication solutions for the Red Cross via its innovative modem like devices that are capable of connecting almost anything to the internet.  

Legend Mining’s methodical and highly technical exploration techniques at the vast Rockford project in the Fraser Range has produced an exciting target to be followed up with diamond drilling as early as next month. Shallow aircore holes have identified mafic rocks mineralised with nickel and copper above a much larger and stronger conductor than previously modeled.