Matt Birney

Venus Metals has unearthed two intriguing looking exploration targets from gravity surveys at its DeGrussa North copper project near Meekatharra in WA. The anomalies are located 200m from surface and may be related to sulphide mineralisation. The targets are located 3km north of Sandfire Resources’ high grade DeGrussa copper-gold operations and the company is planning follow up ground electromagnetic surveys to help identify their source.

Conglomerate gold developer Novo Resources continues to progress exploration and resource development activity for its large tenement holdings in WA’s Pilbara region. At the Egina project, bulk samples of gold-bearing gravels are being processed through the company’s gravity gold plant on-site, whilst progress on other work programs was reported for the Karratha, Beatons Creek and Talga Talga gold projects.

Venus Metals has completed a detailed resource definition drilling program at its Youanmi vanadium oxide project near Sandstone in WA, in preparation for updating the mineral resource estimate for the deposit. The work will allow the company to convert a large part of the existing inferred resource into measured and indicated oxide resources, from which ore reserves can then be optimised.

Volt Resources has received approval from the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange for its proposed USD$40m resources-based note issue that will underpin the stage 1 development of its Bunyu graphite project in Tanzania. The company is now awaiting final approval from the Tanzanian Capital Markets and Securities Authority before proceeding with the note issue.

Shareholders in WA agribusiness player Alterra are just one step away from receiving an unexpected direct income stream from the company’s carbon forestry business. The transfer of all forestry and carbon assets into Carbon Conscious Investments has been completed and the company is now seeking majority shareholder approval at the upcoming extraordinary general meeting to be held in Perth on 20 December 2018.

Classic Minerals’ latest drilling program near Southern Cross in WA has continued to deliver with multiple intersections of shallow, narrow, high grade gold mineralisation being unearthed at the emerging Kat Gap prospect. Better results included 3m @ 38.33g/t gold from 21m down-hole, including a metre at 111g/t gold from 22m deep and 5m @ 5.61g/t gold from only 6m down-hole which included 1m @ 12g/t gold from 8m.

Ironbark Zinc has applied for two new exploration licences covering 400 square kilometres that may host potential extensions of its giant Citronen zinc project in Greenland. The licences cover mineralised outcropping gossans over an extensive region on the interpreted source fault that aligns with the trend of the broad Citronen ore system.

Hammer Metals is set to kick some serious goals at its early-stage Mt Philp breccia iron oxide-copper-gold project near Mount Isa in Queensland, after being awarded $80,000 by the State Government to partially fund exploration activity at the property. The company will use the funds to assay geochemical soil samples and complete geophysical data interpretation and surveys, to generate a 3D model and pinpoint specific drilling targets.

Southern Gold has signed a new agreement with Northern Star to acquire two strategic mining tenements at no cost, in order to facilitate development of the company’s Cannon underground gold resources near Kalgoorlie in WA. The agreement optimises the combined assets for a standalone mining operation or simple monetisation, as the gold mineralisation at Cannon plunges into the existing Northern Star lease.