Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Recently listed Calidus Resources will jump into an additional 5,000 metres of drilling immediately east of its main Klondyke target at the Warrawoona Gold project after another strong batch of intercepts. Significant new gold intercepts included 24 metres at 2.52 g/t and 7 metres at 5.29 g/t, continuing an exceptional run of discovery success for the newly listed Calidus.

ASX-listed biotech PharmAust has hit several key milestones in the development of its promising anti-cancer drug Monepantel, or MPL as it is commonly known. The company says reformulation of the potential breakthrough anti-cancer substance is progressing well, with its Canadian partner, BRI Pharmaceutical Research, achieving long awaited improvements on taste and dosage capacity.

Excitement around Nzuri Copper’s joint venture with Ivanhoe Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been validated by some very interesting hits of Cobalt and Copper from early stage exploration. Drilling has identified a high-grade Cobalt zone at Monwezi West and shown that another target has similarities with Ivanhoe’s giant Kamoa-Kakula Copper discovery nearby.

Altech Chemicals have exercised an option to buy the land underneath their Meckering kaolin deposit, smoothing the way for a development that would make the company the world’s largest supplier of high purity alumina (HPA). Demand for HPA is expected to boom because of its essential role in Lithium Ion batteries and synthetic sapphire wafers found in LEDs, semiconductors, watches and consumer electronics.

Move over Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft. There’s a new tech industry on the rise and the valuations of its players are stunning. Some have market caps worth billions, others have been trading at multiples of 30 times earnings and the smaller ones get taken out by the big players for hundreds of millions of dollars. Appetise will be the only ASX listed online food ordering business when they list next month.

Lithium Australia shares have jumped by almost 20% on a run of positive developments, including news the company had taken a majority stake in a promising Lithium clays JV in Mexico. This followed last week’s announcement of an equity deal between ASX 200 Lithium miner Galaxy Resources and a junior technology company that licenses its technology to Lithium Australia in W.A.

A newly released feasibility study for Nzuri Copper’s Kalongwe Copper-Cobalt project in the DRC shows it will generate piles of cash for the junior explorer, with revenues of US$499m, an internal rate of return of 71% and an NPV of USD$116m. The project could be generating cash just 12 months after development approval underpinning Nzuri’s big ambitions for its prime tenements in the African copper belt.

ASX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals have harvested over 4,000 kilograms of cannabis for use in their range of marijuana-derived products as the Perth-listed company progresses its promising growing operations in Europe. MGC’s botanical division, largely based in the EU, is also on the verge of harvesting more than 450 medicinal cannabis plants for use in their genetic research program.

The seemingly insatiable global demand for Lithium has created a modern day gold rush of sorts – and everyone is looking for an edge. Those mining entrepreneurs who made their fortunes sniffing out gold, nickel and copper are now all fired up about the prospect of starting over again with Lithium. Whilst hard rock projects are popular, Lithium brines are set to star and Reedy Lagoon look to be well placed.

Calima Energy have bulked up their land holdings in the red hot, liquids-rich, Montney oil and gas play in Canada. This is the second time Calima have successfully bid in Government auctions for additional Montney acreage in the last month. The newly listed explorer’s acreage has increased by 6% and the company has enhanced its position as a significant landowner in one of North America’s hottest energy provinces.

Blackham Resources have added 310,000 ounces of gold to their Wiluna North suite of open pits and are now looking at digging one giant, 3.5km long super pit that will join together all of the historic workings in the area. Importantly, the global resource at the Wiluna project has cracked the 3 gram per tonne mark for the first time with the project now boasting 65m tonnes grading 3.1 g/t gold for 6.5m ounces.

Stargroup says transactions from its independent ATM network remain robust despite the four major banks scrapping cash withdrawal charges from their ATMs. Stargroup chief executive Todd Zani says the company’s revenue and transaction projections remain strong and the company is unlikely to be impacted by the changes because Stargroup’s ATMs operate in the insulated "convenience" market.

ASX listed DroneShield has the tiger by the tail in the anti-drone market. The ASX junior with a market cap of just $30m has carved out a suite of products that both detect and disable unmanned drones. The company’s stationary mounted “Drone Sentry” looks like a sci-fi version of ET and the “DroneGun” looks a bit like the ultimate warrior’s hand held machine gun – albeit it doesn’t shoot bullets.

Northern Minerals have raised $3m from a placement to a local sophisticated investor to top up financing for their $56 million Browns Range heavy rare earths project in the East Kimberley. The company also reported the first modules of the processing plant being built by Sinosteel MECC were due to ship from China by the end of the week.

ASX-listed biotech PharmAust has secured a patent in the US relating to the use of its promising anti-cancer drug Monepantel, for the treatment of non-cancerous conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and age-related illnesses. The patent is another move by Perth-based PharmAust to boost its global IP protections and follows the granting of patents in Europe, US, Australia and China.

Perth-listed Connected IO says it is confident of pushing into Asia with its cutting edge “internet of things” technology after meeting with military and police representatives in Thailand and the Philippines. The wireless tech upstart will work with the emerging Asian nations to develop products such as body cameras, in-vehicle communications and drones for pilot programs this year.

Hammer Metals have added to an already packed drill schedule with a 2,500-metre program at their Millennium Cobalt-Copper-Gold project. The program will be funded by Hammer’s new Canadian joint venture partner and will be completed by the end of the December. Whilst the project appears to be well endowed with Gold and Copper, Hammer are quietly confident of increasing their Cobalt resource.

Pilbara Minerals have received their final environmental approval from the WA Government to build and operate the massive Pilgangoora Lithium project in the Pilbara. The move clears the way for completion of construction and first production by Q2 2018. Pilbara also passed another milestone this week by achieving financial close on their US$100m bond issue, a key component of the project financing.

Auroch Minerals exciting exploration play in search of a copper-zinc giant in Portugal is starting to look interesting. The company’s third hole hit several intervals of copper sulphides, with results improving with depth. The hole will now be deepened after a downhole survey also revealed a potential conductor below the original end of hole depth of 1200 metres.

All the pieces are falling into place at Australia’s first heavy rare earths mine, with 100%-owner Northern Minerals this week reporting progress on many fronts just as global demand surges for its key payable mineral. Mining and stockpiling of ore at the company’s Browns Range project is 50% complete and the site is now ready for the modular processing plant, which is enroute from China.

MGC Pharmaceuticals have strengthened their position as a market leader in the booming medical marijuana market, securing a distribution deal for their products in Central and Eastern Europe. The exclusive agreement was signed with leading pharmaceutical distribution company, Lenis and will see the Perth-listed company’s cannabis-derived products made available in more than 15 countries in the region.

An independent geologist’s report has backed Calima Energy’s comparisons with a highly profitable operation on neighbouring acreage in the Montney Basin, which is one of North America’s hottest liquid rich gas plays. Calima’s ground was found to have even better pay thickness and porosity than neighbouring ground held by Saguaro Resources, which is producing more than 10,000 barrels of oil per day.

Pilbara Minerals look set to become the world’s first Lithium producer with a direct investment by a global carmaker under an innovative equity, offtake and debt financing deal with China's Great Wall Motors. The deal will help underpin the Stage 2 expansion to 5Mtpa and could be the first of similar deals by global carmakers to secure Lithium supply for their rapidly expanding electric vehicle divisions.

Peppermint Innovation’s rollout of its technology platform has taken a big step forward after the company struck a further deal with UCPB, one of the Philippines’ largest banks. Peppermint, who are focused on the commercialisation of their mobile-phone based bill payment technology said they had inked a deal with UCPB to roll out internet payment “gateway services” in the Philippines for the giant lender.

Nzuri Copper have kicked off an ultra-high resolution aeromagnetic survey over their quality Copper-Cobalt targets on the doorstep of Ivanhoe Mines’ giant new discoveries in the Central African Copper belt. The survey will provide a clearer picture of the subsurface and sharpen definition of the kind of markers that were crucial in Ivanhoe’s Kamoa and Kakula discoveries.

ASX listed Sky and Space Global has unveiled the design for its nano-satellites to be used in the company’s potentially revolutionary telecommunications network based on the miniature orbital devices. Known as “The Pearls”, the sun powered next gen nano-satellites, which are small enough to sit in the palm of your hand, will commence roll out from 2018.

Pilbara gold hopeful Calidus Resources has been knocked over in the rush from investors looking to secure stock in their recent placement that management says was “up to 3 times oversubscribed”. In the end, the company rejected millions of dollars worth of bids, taking just $10m from investors, leaving those that missed out with no option other than to buy on market.

Shark Mitigation Systems’ cutting edge “Clever Buoy” shark detecting device will be trialled at a major beach in Southern California ahead of a possible $10 million rollout of the technology across the US state. Clever Buoy is one of the Perth-based company’s two innovative anti-shark solutions and is capable of detecting a shark and relaying its position back to lifeguards on the beach.

ASX listed Sky and Space Global is being courted by major satellite and telco industry players as the company pushes ahead with its game-changing telecommunications network based on nano-satellites. Sky and Space is the first company in history to facilitate a voice call using nano-satellites and wants to roll out up to 200 of the miniature orbital devices by 2020.

The goal of any new tech company is to get to breakeven quickly and then on to profitability. Internet of things upstart Connected IO may be only months away from positive cash flow after posting a record quarter. The company has been rapidly expanding its customer base with its disruptive, machine-to-machine communications and cellular connectivity devices as it blazes a trail in the multi trillion dollar sector

Hammer Metals are set to launch their biggest drill program this year, with more than 3000 metres of RC drilling planned to test a number of the company’s best prospects in the Mt Isa district. Drill activity will be focused on the emerging Kalman West and Hammertime prospects, which are adjacent to Hammer’s flagship Kalman deposit.

ASX listed biotech Company PharmAust has made significant progress in reformulating its promising anti-cancer drug Monepantel to improve its taste and deliver increased dosages of the substance in each pill. Monepantel has already shown pleasing results in initial clinical trials as a cancer treatment in humans and canines, with further tests of the drug planned for 2018.