Public Company News

Volt Resources will sell 9,000 tonnes of graphite a year from the company’s Bunyu graphite project to major Chinese graphite processor and distributor, Qingdao Tiangshengda Graphite, for at least 5 years. Qingdao Tiangshengda is a global, vertically integrated graphite processor and distributor with substantial annual capacity to process graphite and produce value added products including expandable graphite, flake graphite and battery metals powders.

ASX listed Aquabotix has joined the “Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium” that enables members to deliver new technologies quicker and more efficiently than traditional US federal acquisition requirements would otherwise permit. This is made possible by the “Other Transaction Authority” agreement for Undersea Technology Innovation that the consortium reached with the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center in June.

BlackEarth Minerals has reported consistent high grade assays and wide ore thicknesses from a step out drilling campaign at its Razafy graphite prospect in southern Madagascar. Results of up to 35.7m @ 7.6% total graphitic carbon from 10.1m down-hole, included a 7m intersection @ 10.7% TGC from just 20m. Geological data and results are being collated ahead of a maiden resource estimate due in August.

Newly listed telco Vonex, has formed a marketing and partnership agreement with Canadian global communications software solutions provider CounterPath to jointly market a combined telco product offering to existing and potential customers. Vonex will also sell selected Counterpath products under its own brand.

TNG Limited has received in-principle approval for a landmark Native Title Mining Agreement covering its Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project located 230km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Once the agreement is executed, the company will have a clear runway to finalise financing and site-based construction activities. With the vanadium markets hotting up TNG appears to be in the right business at the right time.

Bellevue Gold has announced a high grade mineral resource of 1.9 million tonnes grading 8.2g/t gold for 500,000 ounces at its namesake project, near Leinster in the Goldfields of W.A. The resources lie adjacent to existing underground workings from surface to a depth of 450m. The company says this is an interim resource that still has significant scope to increase with more drilling.

ASX listed Southern Gold’s partner Bluebird Merchant Ventures has delivered a positive report regarding the economics of re-opening the old Gubong gold mine in South Korea. The project could start gold production by late 2019. Pre-construction work has started that will lead to the completion of a full feasibility study for the processing plant and commencement of mining.

Volt Resources says it will generate an EBITDA of $126m from the small scale Stage 1 development of its Bunyu graphite project in Tanzania. Feasibility results have outlined a pre-tax NPV of around $25m on the back of a 21.0% IRR for the development. The company will produce an average of 23,700 tonnes of graphite annually from three open pits, over an initial 7 year mine life.

Reedy Lagoon shareholders will be eyeing recent developments in the feted lithium brine project region of south-western Nevada in the US, after a neighbour announced anomalous lithium and boron results in shallow aquifers only a short distance north of the company’s Columbus Salt Marsh project. The discovery is only 20km from Global Geoscience’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project that boasts 460 million tonnes.

Phylogica has successfully delivered the Cre enzyme used in biological research into lung, liver and kidney cells during in vivo experiments, proving the ability of its original cell penetrating peptide to deliver intracellular drug cargos. The company is now preparing to test its current lead CPP that is about twice as effective as the original CPP in the same animal model.

Calidus Resources is enjoying success with its resource drill out program at the Warrawoona gold project in the Pilbara. Assay results from the high grade Copenhagen prospect have extended the mineralisation down plunge, returning results of up to 10m @ 5.38g/t gold from 63m. Drilling at Klondyke East has defined gold mineralisation over 600m of strike, returning 12m @ 2.15g/t gold and 8m @ 1.92g/t from surface.

Middle Island Resources has confirmed grade increases of between 155% and 213% from ore sorting test work at its Two Mile Hill underground gold deposit near Sandstone. The ore sorting results are a precursor to an updated mineral resource estimate which is expected this year. The sorting process uses a combination of colour and X-ray sensors to increase the ore grade by rejecting more than 50% of the waste.