Public Company News

ASX-listed gold developer, Calidus Resources, has cleared the critical final ministerial environmental approval hurdle for its planned $116 million Warrawoona mine 20km south-east of Marble Bar in WA’s East Pilbara region. The company is now progressing debt financing negotiations and says it has plenty of interest from debt providers as it looks to short-list potential lenders next month ahead of the project’s definitive feasibility study being tabled.

The Australian Taxation Office has thrown Northern Minerals a $10 million cash lifeline and wiped out a further $9 million in potential debt after settling a protracted research and development grant dispute that has played havoc with the company’s finances. The dispute related to which aspects of Northern Minerals’ Kimberley-based, heavy rare earths pilot plant were technically considered R&D.

Cobre Limited has pulled off something of a coup, securing 8,100 square kilometres of ground over the emerging Kalahari Copper Belt in Botswana. Cobre joins a star-studded cast of explorers and developers now hunting in this rich copper jurisdiction, with neighbours including Sandfire Resources and Cupric Canyon Capital, both of whom are currently developing nearby mining operations - exploration over the new project is already underway.

All eyes will be on Gawler Craton-focused aspiring gold developer, Barton Gold, next month as the results from its 5,328m phase one drill program around and below the old Perseverance open pit at its Tarcoola project in South Australia start to roll in. The program involved 37 RC holes that targeted along strike and depth extensions of the pit.

Impact Minerals has jumped back into drilling at its high-profile Broken Hill nickel-platinum group element project in New South Wales. The current program of RC drilling will follow up on previous high-grade palladium drill results and geochemical surveying across the project area, with work set to focus on the company’s Platinum Springs and Little Broken Hill Gabbro prospects in addition to the stunning Red Hill discovery.

ASX-listed explorer, Venus Metals, has successfully farmed out the Curara Well project in WA to AIC Mines but maintains a minority interest in the highly prospective joint venture ground that lies in the vicinity of existing successful gold and copper-gold mines. Venus now holds a 20 per cent free carried interest in Curara Well, about 170km north-east of Meekatharra.

ASX-listed manganese hopeful, Element 25, has hopped aboard the fast train to production, committing to the purchase of long-lead-time plant and equipment items for its proposed low CAPEX Butcherbird manganese project in the Pilbara. The company is on a rapid-fire project development schedule, which it says is advancing on time and budget.

Blackstone has charmed yet another nickel discovery out of the jungle in Vietnam, with geophysics lighting up the Viper Discovery Zone, just 200 metres east of the current exploration focus, the Ban Chang prospect. The company’s exploration and development program over the Ta Khoa nickel-copper project continues to gain pace with both a maiden resource and scoping study on the horizon.

Deep Yellow has teamed up with engineering heavy-weight Ausenco to oversee the latter half of the company’s Pre-Feasibility Study in Namibia. Ausenco will work closely with the company providing specialist process design, engineering, equipment lists and capital estimates as the company fast-tracks the development of its Tumas uranium deposits.

Aruma Resources has built on its already enviable ground position at its Saltwater gold project on the southern margin of WA’s emerging Pilbara goldfield. The company has added three new exploration licences to the project with its tenure now covering over 65km of highly prospective and under-explored stratigraphy. Exploration is expected to kick off in the coming weeks with drilling planned for later in 2020.

ASX-listed aspiring WA gold developer, Middle Island Resources, is on the verge of receiving government approvals for multiple exploration licences that collectively make up its big greenfields Barkly copper-gold play in the Northern Territory’s newly identified East Tennant mineral province. The NT Government has given the nod to the company’s applications for licences spanning a whopping 3,253sqkm and they can now be granted at Middle Island’s option.

Ardiden has cleared the way for drilling to commence at its 110,000-ounce Kasagiminnis gold deposit in Canada. The company has now received a permit to undertake exploration, completed its consultation with the first nation groups and engaged a drilling contractor to kick off its exploration program over the under-explored gold deposit during the current summer season.