Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Reconnaissance exploration at Auroch Minerals new base metals project in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges has produced spectacular copper and zinc assays from rock chip samples and confirmed high-potential Sedex mineralisation. The aggressive junior explorer is planning a drill campaign in the September quarter, just months after settling the acquisition of the project in a metals-rich corridor.

Terrain Minerals is finalising a 1000 metre RC program to drill a number of never-before-tested targets at its Red Mulga project in the Murchison. The exciting greenfields project will explore a previously unrecognised occurrence of ultramafic rocks on the margin of the Yilgarn Craton with potential for nickel, cobalt and precious metals. The frontier nature of the project will be of interest to others in the region.

Calima Energy reports that ConocoPhillips has increased its land holding by 32% near its liquids-rich, Montney oil & gas play in Canada. The purchase of 35,000 acres for CAD$154M, which is above recent transaction metrics, shows that interest and the latent value in the region is increasing. Calima is ahead of its exploration schedule in the Montney with approvals in place to drill three wells in late 2018 .

Legend Mining has reported highly anomalous nickel-copper assays from an infill aircore drilling program at its Rockford project in the Fraser Range of W.A. The intersection of 14m @ 0.37% nickel and 0.43% copper from 72m depth is the most encouraging identified to date and contained visible sulphides in the same mafic intrusive that hosts the Nova-Bollinger deposit, 120km to the southwest.

In the mining game it's possible to experience the highest highs and the lowest lows. After staring into the abyss last year, Blackham Resources’ Matilda/Wiluna project is now knocking on the door of the 90,000 ounce a year club, producing gold at under $1100 an ounce at a mind blowingly low stripping ratio of just 2.5:1, with high grade stock piles that can be plundered at will.

The impending Vonex internet based telco float, backed by State One Stockbroking, will be fascinating to watch as the new ASX arrival muscles its way into big telco territory with its very own, in house, cloud based telephony technology. Every good float needs both a base load revenue story and a blue-sky pitch and Vonex certainly doesn’t disappoint in either department.

Underwater drone specialist Aquabotix has announced the launch of its “Swarm Diver” product, an autonomous underwater and sea-surface robot that can work in cooperation with other units of its kind on security, recovery and data collection missions. The Sydney and US-based company says the remote-controlled vehicle, which weighs 1.7 kilograms, is the first of its kind commercially available.

Nzuri Copper has appointed Lycopodium Minerals as its key engineering contractor for the Stage 1 Dense Media Separation plant at the Kalongwe copper-cobalt project in the DRC. Lycopodium was also retained for a Stage 2 economic assessment at the project. Nzuri are moving at a cracking pace now at Kalongwe which is in real danger of actually producing copper some time soon.

Auroch Minerals has opened up a new exploration front, targeting high-grade zinc, lead and maybe even a hint of cobalt in the metals-rich Adelaide Geosyncline after finalising the acquisition of two very interesting looking projects in South Australia. Previous exploration by the likes of Rio Tinto has produced drill hits of up to 26.9% zinc, however the two new projects are yet to be properly drill tested.

Things could move quickly for Geopacific after its DFS hits the streets in the third quarter of this year given that its Woodlark Island gold project in PNG is already sitting on a fully permitted and granted mining lease. The PFS was completed in March and showed a robust, 100,000 ounce a year, low cost, low stripping ratio open pit operation with an expected post tax 2 year payback.

Newly listed BlackEarth Minerals continues to set a cracking pace at its Maniry graphite project in Madagascar, with 15 diamond holes already drilled that will assist the Perth company to churn out a maiden resource by the middle of the year. Early results have been very encouraging, showing thick and highly consistent graphite beds that will allow wider-spaced drilling than previously planned.

Altech Chemicals’ vision of becoming the world’s leading producer of high-purity alumina has been de-risked with the Perth-based junior completing the purchase of 92 hectares of land at its Meckering kaolin mine, east of Perth. Settlement will give Altech unrestricted access to the area as it accelerates down the home straight towards construction of its high-purity alumina plant in Malaysia.

St George Mining has intersected additional high-grade nickel sulphides at the Stricklands prospect at the Mt Alexander project, near Leonora in W.A. The 10.9 metre combined intercept is true width, starting from 56m downhole and contained 1.1m @ 6.7% Ni and 1.9% Cu.

Calidus Resources has announced exceptional metallurgical test work results from its Klondyke project, at its emerging Warrawoona gold play in the Pilbara. Test work indicates that 63% of the gold is recoverable by gravity methods alone and more than 96% can be recovered by conventional cyanide leaching at coarse grinds. The ores are amenable to a conventional processing and are not refractory.

Metalicity will vend its mammoth Admiral Bay zinc project into a separate subsidiary to be called Kimberley Mining that will be listed on the TSX Canadian Venture Exchange. The decision was endorsed by project stakeholders and key North American institutions and will provide an opportunity for Metalicity to extract full value from the project that management believe is not fully valued in Metalicity’s market cap.

MGC Pharma has produced its first batch of CannEpil, from its European cannabis factory and the company is now one step away from final certification that will green light the facility for full scale production of medical marijuana products. The drug is set to provide medical relief for epilepsy sufferers with initial sales revenue predictions of AU$1 million per annum for the first year of distribution.

Nzuri Copper has announced that it has started its 2018 exploratory field program in the DRC, with drilling to target eight high priority copper-cobalt targets identified last year from geological and geophysical interpretation. The targets all lie within 30km of the existing ore reserve defined at the flagship Kalongwe copper-cobalt deposit and each target has potential for a new base metal discovery in this prospective district.

Southern Gold has completed a definitive farm-in and 50/50 JV Agreement with its partner Bluebird Merchant Ventures for the Gubong gold project in South Korea. Bluebird will deliver a feasibility report in July, outlining its preferred re-development options at the mine. The JV Agreement is triggered when the mine development framework presented by Bluebird to advance the project is deemed satisfactory to Southern Gold.

Greenland Minerals has announced it will complete its Environmental and Social Impact Assessments for the flagship Kvanefjeld rare earths project in southern Greenland by June, paving the way for it to mine the world’s largest rare earths deposit. The Perth based company revealed this week that it has been working hand in glove with the Greenland Government to make the project happen.

Mobile payments APP developer Peppermint Innovation has again tapped bullish tech investor Smidge Digital for a placement and once again Smidge has gone in at a premium price to the market. Peppermint is rapidly developing its two APP products that are taking off in the Philippines, one is already being used by the big banks in-country as a mobile banking APP for its customers.

Strike Energy has moved into the coveted Northern Perth Basin oil and gas post code in a deal with Warrego Energy on a block that looks a little like the huge Waitsia gas discovery located just 16km away. Strike will become the operator and 50% owner in the block that is very close to Australia’s largest onshore gas discovery in 40-years.

Myanmar Metals has locked in a major Myanmar based industrial company to invest in its large, Bawdwin polymetallic zinc project in that country, potentially de-risking the venture. East Asia Power Company will acquire a 24.5% share of the project, by reimbursing Myanmar’s costs on a pro-rata basis to date and into the future. East Asia Power operate the Lashio zinc refinery and several mines in Myanmar.

Infinity Lithium has successfully completed drilling for a feasibility study at the San Jose lithium project which is rapidly emerging as one of the most likely new supply hopes for European electric vehicle makers. New results suggest Infinity should be able to steepen the pit walls of the proposed open pit, cutting an already low stripping ratio and giving the project a further economic boost.

Field trials conducted with an international freight and logistics company have delivered a pass mark with distinction for ASX listed Spectur’s “see in the dark” thermal camera detection system, clearing an important final hurdle ahead of the imminent launch of the company’s surveillance technology to a range of industries. The solar powered cameras are wireless and can detect an intruder at great distances in complete darkness.

Strike Energy has drilled the intermediate section of the historic Jaws-1 well in the Southern Cooper Basin and is set to begin the critical, horizontal drilling phase of the campaign before flow testing the historic, pure coal seam well at previously untested depths of more than 2km below surface. Investors are now set for a white knuckle ride one way or another.

Southern Gold has secured tenure at another historic gold mining operation, building its impressive portfolio of epithermal gold-silver projects in South Korea. The Aphae project has produced nearly 4000 ounces of gold and lies within a significant alluvial gold field. The mineralisation is open along strike and at depth, with rock chip results returning grades up to 6.08g/t gold and 93g/t silver.

King River Copper will raise a minimum of $6m and up to $18.5m thanks to an innovative underwriting of its soon-to-expire options and a share price that has run off the Richter scale on the back of exploration and metallurgical successes. The company also announced it had pegged 3,000 square kilometres of additional ground, locking up its exciting new gold play in the East Kimberley.

Middle Island Resources has accidentally produced another stunning gold intercept from the Two Mile Hill deposit near Sandstone while drilling a large diameter core hole to collect samples for ore sorting testwork. The latest intercept from a poorly drilled section of the deposit featured 100 metres at 2.02 g/t gold, including 7m at 18.1g/t gold, well above the target grades for the Two Mile Hill deeps deposit.

St George Mining has announced a high grade nickel-copper sulphide intersection from the Stricklands prospect at its Mt Alexander project west of Leonora in W.A. The 13.6 metre intercept from 40m depth contained a 4m section with average grades of 4.7% nickel and 2.0% copper using pXRF analyses. The mineralisation is true width and backs up last years spectacular 17.5m hit going 3% nickel.

ASX-listed specialist pumping company Babylon Pump & Power is gearing up to take advantage of the expected new wave of maintenance related mining activity post the mining construction boom. The company has amassed a $3.3m war chest to gear up its dewatering pumping fleet as it gets ahead of the pack of service businesses that will materialise as the mining industry gets set to take off again.

ASX-listed security surveillance company Spectur has posted a solid 149 per cent lift in sales revenue for the first two months of the year driven by a lift in camera rentals and a successful east coast expansion. The Perth-headquartered security tech play, which now has over 1,100 cameras deployed in the field, says it is also supplying its HD4 camera system to a new tier-one critical infrastructure client.

Peppermint Innovation will develop an app and web tool to provide money transfers to poor, cash-constrained Filipinos as part of a service provider agreement signed with the largest cooperative in the Philippines. The deal brings 300 affiliated cooperatives and one million individual members of the Mindanao Alliance of Self-Help Societies-Southern Philippines Educational Cooperative Centre into Peppermint’s financial frame.