Matt Birney

Sixty-four million Latin Americans have come a step closer to satellite based mobile connectivity following an agreement between Sky and Space and Globalstat, regarded as a prelude to a commercial deal that is expected within weeks. Globalstat has operations throughout South and Central America in a market where 10% of people still do not have mobile phones or internet access.

Terrain Minerals has generated four new base metal drilling targets at its Red Mulga project in the Murchison region of Western Australia. The company reports anomalous base metal results from its recent reconnaissance mapping, rock chip and soil sampling program and now plans to complete a limited drilling program as a follow up. Terrain believes that a large mafic-ultramafic complex may exist at the project.

The finish line is in sight for Altech Chemicals, who is considering mezzanine debt amongst a number of options to secure the balance of capex funding for the construction of its high-purity alumina plant in Malaysia. The Perth-based company is eager to avoid heavy dilution of its share register and has expressed confidence that the final piece of the funding jigsaw will slot into place by the middle of the year.

ASX-listed Hot Chili has created a sense of early excitement around its new Valentina prospect at the El Fuego copper project in Chile. The company has stumbled across historic records that show up to 4.8% copper was pulled from the shallow, small scale, family owned mine at Valentina back in the 1990s. Other historical results include an 11m intersection going 2% copper.

Galena Mining’s bold plan to unlock the potential of the giant Abra deposit is coming together in spectacular fashion, with a new resource estimate confirming it as one of the largest undeveloped lead-silver deposits in the world. The deposit now boasts 11.2 Mt at a very impressive 10.1% lead and 28 g/t silver, ranking it as the highest grade lead deposit in Australia and one that has global significance.

Neometals has announced high-grade drilling intercepts at its Virginia Hills prospect, located adjacent to its flagship Barrambie project. The discovery shows 8 km of strike continuity for the vanadium-titanium mineralisation. Neometals is well advanced with technical studies for the project, including detailed drilling to define a 50,000-tonne ore parcel for metallurgical test work.

The wait is almost over and the anticipation is palpable. John Poynton chaired Strike Energy’s historic Jaws-1 appraisal well is steaming seamlessly towards completion in the Southern Cooper Basin as the company attempts to prove that coal seam gas can be accessed economically at previously unheard of depths. An interconnecting horizontal well will now be subjected to a seven-stage hydraulic stimulation program.

Calidus Resources has identified a swag of exciting gold targets at its Warrawoona Project after completing an exhaustive regional target generation study at the rapidly expanding Pilbara project. The Company has identified 45 high priority exploration targets that will be fully evaluated and ranked in the coming months. Calidus will complete reconnaissance exploration ahead of drilling programs scheduled to commence during Q2 2018.

Lepidolite waste dumps near Coolgardie are firming as a source of supply for Lithium Australia’s large scale SiLeach pilot plant, highlighting the breakthrough advantages of the new processing technology. The waste material is looking promising after innovative ore sorting test work, which suggested the already mined material can be quickly and cheaply upgraded before being processed.