Public Company News

Calima Energy hasn’t taken any chances locking down the first 20% of its farm in package ahead of time in the lucrative Montney oil and gas formation in British Columbia, Canada. The Perth-based company is planning to spud a three well drilling campaign in November to flow test the liquids-rich Upper and Lower Montney. Ultimately Calima will end up with 55% of the project for an expenditure of C$20m.

New studies at Myanmar Metals’ remarkable Bawdwin deposit in Myanmar, already ranked as one of the world’s best lead-zinc-silver deposits, have revealed a high-grade copper zone with almost 120,000 tonnes of the red metal in-situ. The studies have shown a new copper-rich resource of 3.4 Mt @ 3.12% copper, based largely on historical data and raises hopes of substantial additional discoveries from modern exploration.

Ironbark Zinc has engaged an army of experienced mining operatives, tasked with catapulting its giant Citronen Zinc project into production in Greenland. Ironbark’s newly hired production team have experience in everything from project finance to mine scheduling to plant construction and the company now looks to be on the home straight. The Citronen project remains one of the largest undeveloped zinc projects in the world.

ASX-listed Connected IO has secured a distribution agreement with internet of things supplier M2M Connectivity as the Perth-listed company looks to scale its tech offering in the Asia-Pacific region. Connected IO says the deal will provide it with an opportunity to leverage M2M's strong existing ties with Cisco, Meraki, and Telstra, enabling more consumers to monitor and control everyday items via the internet.

ASX-listed medical cannabis player MGC Pharmaceuticals is set to achieve a major commercial milestone as it edges closer to getting the final green light for its European medical marijuana facility. The company expects to receive official approval for the Slovenian facility this month after being granted an interim licence in January, bringing an 18-month approvals process near to completion.

Auroch Minerals is targeting large-scale zinc, lead, copper and cobalt deposits in a metals-rich region in South Australia after snapping up two high-grade projects that have not been subjected to any modern exploration. The Arden project near Quorn in the Flinders Ranges and the Bonaventura Zinc project on Kangaroo Island have historical drill hits of up to 26.9% zinc and 2.5% cobalt.

ASX-listed biotech Phylogica has achieved a medical milestone on its journey to developing a biological organism that is capable of carrying or “transporting” cancer fighting and other drugs directly inside the nucleus of a diseased cell. The Perth biotech said in a market update that it had successfully delivered a new “proof of concept cargo” known as “Cre” into kidney cells in the laboratory.

High purity vanadium is being tipped for greatness as a revolutionary force in battery storage of renewable energy. Perth’s King River Copper may well have the largest and highest purity in-ground resource in the world in W.A. Last week the company proved it could produce the holy grail of purity levels at 99.5%, placing it amongst elite company around the world.

Shares in Perth-based carbon plantation manager Alterra spiked 30 per cent last week after the company revealed its agro-forestry projects in Western Australia are set to deliver $23 million in revenues over the next decade and that it remains in a strong financial position, with $2.5 million cash in the bank and $2.6m in real property that is also generating valuable rent for the business.

A leading Perth broker has set a big price target for Altech Chemicals as it enters the home straight in its quest to become the world’s biggest manufacturer of in-demand high purity alumina. DJ Carmichael has set a target more than double Altech’s current price, after weighing up the benefits of securing a US$170 million debt package that was guaranteed by the German Government.

DroneShield has secured $210,000 worth of purchase orders for its drone-combating products from European distributors, ForcePro. DroneShield says the products will be used to set up a Netherlands' demonstration hub for the company’s cutting edge anti-drone products, where the NATO Joint Force is headquartered. DroneShields’ products can detect and disable aerial drones.

Whilst others are still furiously marching around the bush looking for lithium deposits, Lithium Australia has again jumped one step ahead of the market by raising $18m to fund two plants – one to make lithium-ion battery chemicals and another to make cathodes. The company has raised $18m with a con note issue to underwrite its evolution into a vertically integrated lithium processing business.