Matt Birney

King River Resources has started reconnaissance geological exploration field programs and rock chip sampling over several newly granted exploration licences that lie along strike from its Mt Remarkable gold project near Kununurra, WA. The field work has already unearthed new occurrences of quartz-feldspar veining, similar to the very high-grade Trudi Vein system located at Mt Remarkable.

Hammer Metals is cashed up to carry out its maiden drilling program at the Bronzewing South gold project in Western Australia next month, after raising more than $1.76m through a placement priced at 2 cents per share. The company is carrying out an induced polarisation survey to refine potential drilling targets identified during the initial field reconnaissance programs.

Kairos Minerals has recovered 223 gold nuggets weighing a total of 21.1 ounces that were hosted directly within a conglomerate unit, from a newly identified area at its Croydon project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The company said the discovery is analogous to the basal gold-bearing conglomerate horizon discovered by Canadian explorer Novo Resources at the Purdy’s Reward project more than 100km to the west northwest.

Alterra has appointed Brett Heather as its chief operating and technical officer as it prepares to address opportunities in Australia’s high-value avocado sector. Mr Heather helped transform the avocado category with one of Australia’s leading retailers by driving cost efficiencies from field to fork, improving post-harvest handling and implementing technology to ensure that consumers received the best possible product.

Spectrum Metals’ drilling campaign at the Penny West project near Youanmi, WA, has returned its deepest high-grade gold intersection to date, with a spectacular 9m @ 15.9g/t gold from 294m down-hole, incorporating a 6-metre section going 22.5g/t gold from 295m. The company said additional drill rigs would commence work in August and that the latest results indicate gold mineralisation remains open at depth down-plunge.

Aurora Labs is proceeding with the commercialisation of its proprietary MCP 3D printing technology after its RMP1 Beta Printer completed full-size test prints as part of the commissioning process. Advanced discussions are already underway for the potential sale of the RMP1 Beta Printer to one of the company’s industrial partners while interest has been received from several potential customers for its upcoming production machines.

Geopacific Resources has revealed a 78% uplift in the estimated pre-tax net cash flows from its Woodlark gold project in PNG, based on gold prices at AUD$2,000 per ounce, compared with the base case scenario of AUD$1,650 per ounce used in last November’s DFS. The fully permitted and proposed low strip ratio open pit operation provides life of mine margins near AUD$1,000 per ounce, with payback in 1.4 years.

Kalia has restructured its board ahead of regional exploration programs seeking porphyry copper/gold mineralisation on Bougainville Island, with the addition of two resource industry veterans as its directors. Michael Johnston, who will be the company’s Director Corporate Development and Strategy, has extensive experience in PNG and the Asia Pacific and was Placer Dome’s GM of exploration in the early 2000s.

Black Rock Mining has significantly improved the project economics of its Mahenge graphite mine in Tanzania, by ramping up the proposed production rate from 250,000 tonnes per annum to 340,000 tonnes per annum at the request of its offtake customers. The company will add a fourth processing module at the operation to increase production of the highly sought-after, world-class premium graphite flake product.