Matt Birney

Elon Musk once famously said of his Lithium-ion batteries; “our cells should be called nickel-graphite because primarily the cathode is nickel and the anode side is graphite with silicon oxide”. With the steel industry undergoing a resurgence, Lithium-ion battery demand getting stratospheric and Chinese graphite plants closing due to enviro concerns, it's no wonder the graphite price has jumped 30%.

Real-time testing of Peppermint Innovation’s mobile-phone bill payment technology is delivering significant customer insights that will assist the ASX-listed fin-tech company to fully commercialise its unique APP. Almost 500 representative agents of Filipino businesses MyWeps, Metro Gas and SUNMar Express have been conducting ‘live’ pilot programs with their customers using Peppermint's APP.

The giant German engineering firm that will build Altech Chemicals High Purity Alumina plant in Malaysia has gone all in with Altech by agreeing to take a A$19.5m stake directly in the company ahead of the building of the plant in Malaysia that will be fed by Kaolin mined from Meckering in W.A. Dusseldorf-based engineering goliath SMS Group have annual sales in the order of 3.3b Euros.

New assays from Neometals’ 100%-owned Barrambie titanium-vanadium deposit suggest it could be an emerging giant of even higher grade than previously believed. The news coincides with work by Neometals on a number of fronts to accelerate a fast-tracked development program based on direct shipping high-grade ore to China. Recent drilling returned stunning intercepts of nearly 32% titanium dioxide.

Wireless technology innovator Connected IO could be in for an unexpected bonus thanks to a surge in gold exploration activity around a project retained from its former days as a gold explorer. Connected IO’s Mission and Cables Gold project is next door to the 3Moz Darlot gold mine, now undergoing a renaissance under new ownership. The company has engaged an outside party to evaluate the project.

The processing plant for the Browns Range heavy rare earths mine in the East Kimberley has begun to arrive from China, keeping Northern Minerals on track for first production by mid-2018. Northern Minerals has also drawn down the first tranche of their innovative R&D financing facility for the 100%-owned W.A project, which is set to become the world’s first significant producer of Dysprosium outside of China.

Legend Mining's Rockford project is gathering investor interest with the company's stock jumping by 55% in the past month. Nickel's growing recognition as a key part of the electric vehicle boom, coupled with Legend's blue chip address, just down the road from the revered Nova-Bollinger deposit, is putting legend onto the radars of investors. The company has just kicked off a 5000m drill program.

Perth listed Connected IO has secured a purchase order from electronics giant LG for the "internet of things" tech tyro's cutting-edge wireless communications devices. The company says it received the initial order from electronics giant LG, flowing from its relationship with US telco Verizon, for 140 next-gen routers to assist LG with its North American wireless requirements.

Whilst most other medical marijuana companies are still trying to work out how to make money, ASX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals are busy collecting purchase orders for their cannabis based products. The company has signed a binding heads of agreement with local pharmaceutical distributor, HL Pharma to distribute MGC's low cost, cannabis based epilepsy drug CannEpil in Australia.