Matt Birney

Mongolia focussed coal developer Aspire Mining has completed a $15m financing package for its Ovoot coking coal project in the northwest of the country and is now debt free and fully funded to complete the required feasibility work. Upcoming studies will focus on a high quality, low ash, low strip ratio carve out from the Ovoot ore reserve, concentrating on extraction and processing of the premium Ovoot upper seam.

Southern Gold says that JV partner Bluebird Merchant Ventures has produced high recoveries of gold up to 80% and around 60% for silver, from simple gravity separation met test work at the Kochang project in South Korea. The company also said that a low CAPEX option for initial processing could result in early cash flows from the proposed Kochang operation, based on recoveries of precious metals via gravity techniques.

Affinity Energy and Health has signed a non-binding heads of agreement with St John of God Hospital Subiaco to identify and undertake medical cannabis research and development projects. St John has a strong focus on research and medical excellence that is expected to help Affinity underpin the commercialisation of its Australian medical cannabis strategy.

Coziron Resources’ rock chip sampling program at the Croydon Top Camp project in WA’s Pilbara region has returned up to 12% copper, 2g/t gold and 0.34% cobalt at the newly named Martin prospect, which represents a drill-ready target. Sampling at the Top Camp prospect has also highlighted areas that are ready for an initial RC drilling program to delineate the subsurface rock-types and down-hole geochemistry.

Fraser Range explorer, Legend Mining, has unearthed two new targets from aircore drilling at its emerging Rockford project in the revered Fraser Range. The first new target defined at Rockford South returned encouraging results peaking at 3m @ 0.71% nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 40m down-hole. About 9.5km to the northeast, the company intersected anomalous copper-zinc-silver mineralisation at the Area S prospect above an electrically conductive geophysical anomaly.

UltraCharge has received further validation of its unique, cobalt-free, lithium-ion battery solution after signing a purchase agreement with Israel-based three wheel electric scooter manufacturer Roadix Urban Transportation. The company is contracted to provide a total of 16,500 batteries over a three-year period with the initial 2000 to be delivered in the first year.

Biotech company Phylogica has successfully used its first generation “peptides” to deliver a protein used for gene editing into the nucleus of a cell line that is normally difficult for genetic material to penetrate. The company will now determine the best conditions for peptide assisted delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 protein before assessing its relative effectiveness and safety compared to other delivery methods.

Affinity Energy and Health is now one of just a handful of companies that have received approval to establish a medicinal cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility in Malta. The company plans to use its proven RotoGro technology used in Canada to develop a facility capable of producing 3000 kilograms of cannabis bud per annum once all expansions are completed.

Northern Minerals has generated exploration targets for its Dazzler and Iceman heavy rare earth prospects, located near its operating Browns Range mine in the Kimberley region of WA. The company recently discovered wide, rare earth mineralisation, rich in dysprosium at the deposits and is completing maiden mineral resource estimates for both. Management said the valuable high grade deposits could materially impact the longevity of its Browns Range operation.