Public Company News

Blackstone Minerals’ Ban Chang prospect has delivered another set of impressive numbers with a nearly 10 metre long drill intersection going 1.45 per cent nickel, 0.9 per cent copper, 0.08 per cent cobalt and 0.7 grams per tonne platinum, palladium plus gold, from 57m down hole. The new result is from a step-out hole at the company’s Ta Khoa nickel-copper-PGM project in Vietnam that was drilled over one kilometre away from Blackstone’s maiden hole at Ban Chang.

Middle Island Resources' Sandstone project looks to be the gift that just keeps on giving with latest drill results showing a 4m hit going 50.5 g/t gold which includes a 1m section at a crazy 198 grams per tonne gold – and only 3 metres from surface. Additional results from the Ridge prospect are expected to flow over the coming weeks.

St George Mining has entered the next phase of development and drilling at its Mt Alexander nickel sulphide project in Western Australia. A deep diamond drilling program kicked off this week at the Investigators prospect with the collaring of a massive, 800-metre deep hole targeting the depths of the ore system. The company has now completed drilling at the Stricklands deposit with a maiden resource expected in weeks.

ASX-listed tech player, Aurora Labs’ 3D metal printing business strategy has pivoted from a manufacturing and distribution model to a less costly and lower risk partnership, licensing and royalty model. The major strategic shift follows the completion of a review of the company’s 3D metal printing technology to determine what is needed over the next 12 months to advance its fast RMP-1 printer in particular towards commercial readiness.

Venus Metals and JV partner, Rox Resources have tabled their first set of metallurgical test work numbers at the Youanmi gold project in West Australia’s Goldfields. The results show an impressive average gold recovery from the oxide material at the Grace prospect of 97 per cent. The test work also returned a gold recovery of 94 per cent in oxide material at the Plant Zone and Main Lode.

With the gold price piercing the US$1,800 per ounce mark and threatening to test the A$2,600/oz level, emerging gold developer, Calidus Resources, is moving quickly to get its ducks in a row in order to meet an accelerated development schedule at its planned $116 million Warrawoona gold project in WA’s East Pilbara district.

ASX-listed Great Southern Mining has hit visible gold in drill core from quartz veins from 164.5m down-hole at its high-grade Cox’s Find underground gold deposit near Laverton in WA’s Goldfields. Assays are being fast-tracked after one diamond hole was drilled immediately down-plunge from historical workings where high-grade gold mineralisation was observed last year.

After a hiatus period that was partly caused by Government policy decisions and COVID-19, Northern Minerals is looking to start producing rare earths in WA again. The company has begun planning the logistics to restart its Browns Range pilot plant in WA’s Kimberley region which will be the only substantial heavy rare earths producer outside of China.

Ora Banda Mining has delivered its inaugural definitive feasibility study at the Davyhurst project in WA that it picked up when Eastern Goldfields went bust. The DFS is underpinned by an existing 1.2 million tonne per annum processing plant, which is reflected in the project’s extraordinarily low CAPEX figure of just AUD$45m that it intends to pay back in only 14 months.

Legend Mining’s ascension from ‘explorer’ to the ranks of ‘discoverer’ has been an admirably fought geological crusade in Western Australia’s Fraser Range, with its Mawson prospect returning another cracking suite of nickel-copper-cobalt assays. Spectacular visible massive sulphide intersections previously pointed to the potential for some exciting grades, however, the latest numbers went beyond expectations with nearly 36 metres of combined high-grade mineralisation.

Barton Gold is set to launch into a new drilling campaign at its Tarcoola gold project in South Australia, with a recent geophysical survey identifying ten, shallow, near-mine targets for testing. The company has already issued a 10,000 metre drilling contract, with the rods set to start turning towards the end of July 2020 and continue through into September.

Element 25 has inked its first non-binding off-take Memorandum of Understanding with OM Materials who is looking to purchase manganese concentrate from its Butcherbird project in the Pilbara. The project is hurtling towards production and slated to churn out AUD$24.4m a year in free cash. The MoU will ultimately see between 50 and 100 per cent of the product spoken for over five years.