Matt Birney

Calima Energy hasn’t taken any chances locking down the first 20% of its farm in package ahead of time in the lucrative Montney oil and gas formation in British Columbia, Canada. The Perth-based company is planning to spud a three well drilling campaign in November to flow test the liquids-rich Upper and Lower Montney. Ultimately Calima will end up with 55% of the project for an expenditure of C$20m.

Ironbark Zinc has engaged an army of experienced mining operatives, tasked with catapulting its giant Citronen Zinc project into production in Greenland. Ironbark’s newly hired production team have experience in everything from project finance to mine scheduling to plant construction and the company now looks to be on the home straight. The Citronen project remains one of the largest undeveloped zinc projects in the world.

ASX-listed medical cannabis player MGC Pharmaceuticals is set to achieve a major commercial milestone as it edges closer to getting the final green light for its European medical marijuana facility. The company expects to receive official approval for the Slovenian facility this month after being granted an interim licence in January, bringing an 18-month approvals process near to completion.

ASX-listed biotech Phylogica has achieved a medical milestone on its journey to developing a biological organism that is capable of carrying or “transporting” cancer fighting and other drugs directly inside the nucleus of a diseased cell. The Perth biotech said in a market update that it had successfully delivered a new “proof of concept cargo” known as “Cre” into kidney cells in the laboratory.

Shares in Perth-based carbon plantation manager Alterra spiked 30 per cent last week after the company revealed its agro-forestry projects in Western Australia are set to deliver $23 million in revenues over the next decade and that it remains in a strong financial position, with $2.5 million cash in the bank and $2.6m in real property that is also generating valuable rent for the business.

DroneShield has secured $210,000 worth of purchase orders for its drone-combating products from European distributors, ForcePro. DroneShield says the products will be used to set up a Netherlands' demonstration hub for the company’s cutting edge anti-drone products, where the NATO Joint Force is headquartered. DroneShields’ products can detect and disable aerial drones.

An exploration review of the lease containing Myanmar Metals’ historic zinc-lead-copper mine near the Chinese border has confirmed a number of remarkable opportunities, including at least 30 gossan outcrops with similarities to the original gossans above the known lodes. The report comes just before Myanmar releases first assays from a maiden drilling program at the project.

A small copper mine acquired by Hot Chili within trucking distance of its Productora development looks like it could be sitting on a much bigger, higher grade copper deposit than previously thought. Small-scale lease mining in recent weeks produced 16.3 tonnes of ore at 5.24% copper from depths of less than 15 metres and has extended the strike length of high-grade, shallow copper to 1km.

Classic Minerals appear to be on the brink of a major breakthrough at the Forrestania Gold project after diamond drilling backed up its theory about hidden high-grade, cross-cutting gold lodes at the Lady Magdelene deposit. New diamond drill holes have revealed quartz veins and narrow shear zones with the same characteristics as the high-grade gold lodes at the neighbouring Lady Ada deposit.