Matt Birney

Northern Minerals has re-estimated its mineral resources for the 2018 financial year, reporting just over 9 million tonnes grading 0.63% total rare earth oxides, which includes an ore reserve of 3.3 million tonnes grading 0.68% TREO containing more than 13 tonnes of sought-after dysprosium oxide. The company is currently proving up new discoveries of high grade rare earth element mineralisation at the Dazzler and Iceman prospects.

Adriatic Metals has reported more fantastic drilling intersections from its Rupice multi-mineral ore system in central Bosnia. New drilling results include an impressive 28m intersection going 10.8% zinc, 5.9% lead, 271g/t silver, 3.4g/t gold, 0.5% copper and 61% barite from 236m down-hole. The new hit effectively extends the mineralisation by a further 140m down-dip at the northern end of the deposit, adding more resource tonnes.

Azumah Resources has produced an updated mineral resource estimate of 49.2 million tonnes grading 1.6g/t gold for just under 2.5 million ounces at its Wa project in northwest Ghana. This represents a sizeable 21% increase on the previous global resource inventory reported 2 years ago. The measured and indicated resource categories have lifted by 16%, which will help underpin potential ore reserve upgrades for the project later this year.

Neometals has appointed two new non-executive directors with wide ranging experience to strengthen its board ahead of the proposed demerger of the Barrambie titanium-vanadium project and associated non-lithium technology assets into a new ASX-listed entity. Dr Jennifer Purdie is the CEO of Adani Australia Renewables while Leslie Guthrie was most recently Vice President Projects (Potash in Canada) for BHP Billiton.

Venus Metals has completed a heli-borne electromagnetic survey at its Greenbushes East base metals project in WA, with preliminary interpretations outlining several conductive features which are coincident with historical zinc and copper surface geochemical anomalies. Interestingly, the project is just 20km from Venture Minerals’ recent massive sulphide discovery at Thor. Venus is now planning follow up field geological reconnaissance once final results of the geophysical survey are known.

Sky and Space Global has signed a binding MoU with inter-governmental organisation OECS for the provision of network services to the eastern Caribbean region. The two parties will explore how the company’s connectivity platform can be incorporated into the communication infrastructure of OECS member states, to improve and enhance its reliability, accessibility and feasibility.

Tyranna Resources has kicked off a highly anticipated drilling campaign aimed at bringing the historical mineral resource at its Eureka gold project near Kalgoorlie up to JORC-compliant standards. The company will then make a decision about kicking off a feasibility study to evaluate the opportunity of mining and toll treating the ore at nearby processing mills.

Bellevue Gold has continued its dream run at the company’s namesake gold project near Leinster with a spectacular 10m drill intersection grading almost an ounce to the tonne gold. The company recently added a further drill rig on site to speed up the definition of the Viago lode and it is working on an updated mineral resource due later this year, which should reflect the latest exceptional results.

Artemis Resources’ drill campaign at Carlow Castle has uncovered the potential for more mineralisation at depth with a notable intersection of 25m @ 3.38g/t gold, 0.24% cobalt and 0.77% copper from 228m including 5m @ 9.62g/t gold, 0.65% cobalt and 0.79% copper. Further extensional and infill drilling is planned to target further strike extensions and define the major controlling structures.