Public Company News

Venus Metals and Rox Resources have acquired a 90% stake in the historical high-grade Currans Find prospect located 5km from Spectrum Metals’ high-grade Penny West gold deposit in the Murchison region of WA. Historical records show that 6874 tons at an average grade of 13g/ton gold were treated from Currans Find, which has similar rock types to those that host the Penny West and nearby Columbia–Magenta deposits.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has received the green light to import its medicinal cannabis-based epilepsy drug CannEpil into the UK after it was awarded a controlled drug import licence permit. The permit allows the company to immediately expand distribution of CannEpil into the UK medicinal cannabis products market. It is also finalising negotiations with licensed distributors in the UK and Australia.

Buru Energy is preparing to kick off its 2019 drilling season in the Canning Basin in northern WA with the mobilisation of the NGD Loc 405 drill rig from Perth to its Ungani-6 horizontal oil production well, which is expected to spud in the first week of May. Work has also started on the drill pad for the Ungani-7 horizontal production well, which is located next to the existing Ungani-4 well.

Spectrum Metals has drilled additional wide, high-grade gold intersections at its Penny North gold prospect near Youanmi in WA. New intercepts included 6m @ 47.4g/t gold from 150m down-hole, located 40m down-plunge of March’s discovery hole and 11m @ 25.8g/t gold from 120m down-hole directly up-dip from the discovery hole. The company is raising $5m to support ongoing exploration and development at the emerging project.

Middle Island Resources has launched a formal takeover bid for Alto Metals, offering five of its shares for every Alto share, which could amalgamate the parties’ substantial Sandstone gold assets in WA. The addition of Alto’s gold resources could provide initial mill feed and critical mass to a combined entity with synergies that may potentially benefit the shareholders of both companies.

Calidus Resources has completed a review confirming that wide, surface outcropping gold mineralisation will be available from the start of any potential open pit operation at its Warrawoona gold project in the Pilbara, WA. The company is progressing exploration drilling to define additional resources in the broader project area and expects to complete a pre-feasibility study in the September quarter of 2019.

Bellevue Gold has unearthed three extensive, regional gold trends from a combination of historical data reviews and recent fieldwork adjacent to its 1.53 million ounce Bellevue gold resource located near Leinster, WA. The prospective structural corridors outlined at the Government Well, Bellevue North West and Bellevue West prospects are all set down for drill testing once regulatory approvals are in place.

Hot Chili has started its maiden RC drilling campaign at the large Cortadera copper-gold porphyry deposit located adjacent to its flagship Productora project in central Chile. The company said that drilling was progressing well, with all drill holes recording visual intersections of copper oxide and copper sulphide mineralisation. The first batch of samples have been dispatched for analysis and assays are expected in the coming weeks.

Buru Energy will soon gain a clearer understanding of the Butler conventional oil and gas prospect that straddles both its EP 129 and Rey Resources’ EP 487 in the Canning Basin, northern WA. London-based Doriemus, who is earning a 50% interest in Rey’s permit, is preparing to drill the Butler-1 well to test the gross unrisked mean prospective resources of 3.14Tcf of gas and 42 million barrels of associated condensate.

Small cap listed explorers Rox Resources and Venus metals have joined forces to breathe new life into the historic Youanmi gold mine in a deal that looks like a win win for both parties. With the gold price hovering at around AUD$400 an ounce in 1997, Youanmi was closed down with well over a million ounces still in the ground at good grades.

Northern Minerals has raised $10m via a placement to ramp up exploration and development activities at its high-grade Dazzler and Iceman prospects on the back of positive sentiment for the emerging rare earth sector. The company points to key commodity price increases and the recent unsolicited $1.5b takeover approach by Wesfarmers to rare earth producer Lynas Corporation, as evidence of an increased interest in the sector.

St George Mining has identified several strong new conductive drill targets from down-hole electromagnetic surveys at the Fairbridge, Cathedrals, West End, Investigators and Stricklands prospects of its Mt Alexander project in WA. Some of the conductors are located down-plunge from known massive sulphide lenses, which could represent extensions of the high-grade nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation.