Public Company News

Algae.Tec has locked down a research deal with Canada's Radient Technologies that will see the health sciences company accelerate the production of high-value algae-based products into the lucrative global nutraceuticals market. Algae.Tec will use Radient’s unique extraction technology to boost yield and consistency of its algae-based products that are in development for the nutraceuticals market.

Altech Chemicals dogged bid to avoid almost any further equity dilution when locking away the final chunk of funding needed to build its exciting high purity alumina plant just got a giant shot in the arm with an offer of further debt now firmly on the table. The company said that a global investment bank had offered up the entire remaining amount of $US120m in debt.

Many ASX juniors are artfully skilled at turning out feasibility studies but often not so good at traversing the debt and equity markets to make that quantum leap into production. Image Resources however, has done just that with $50m in debt and $25m in equity now locked away to take its zircon rich, multi-element, mineral sands play near Gingin in W.A into production within just months.

Auroch Minerals’ new base metals project on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island has produced spectacular zinc and gold grades from surface sampling, raising expectations for a maiden drill program to get underway next quarter. Rock chip samples produced assays of up to 28% zinc, 0.91% copper and 33.3 g/t gold and created excitement around the company’s entry into a rich base metals belt in South Australia.

Calima Energy’s uncanny ability to sniff out interesting looking projects in the oil and gas space has once again been demonstrated, with the company picking up a big exploration block in an emerging off shore oil basin in Namibia. The securing of the new block follows a surge in investment by the likes of Exxon and Total in the region, which will see a number of wells drilled on adjacent permits.

MGC Pharma has stepped up its offering in the multi-million-dollar cannabis-based skincare market, launching its second marijuana-infused dermatological product “CBD Herbal Replenish Cream” aimed at treating inflammatory skin conditions. The release of the company’s skin repair product comes after successful clinical tests in Europe. It is the second of three products in MGC’s cannabis skincare range.

BlackEarth Minerals is nearing completion of its maiden drill program at the Maniry project in Madagascar and will report a JORC-compliant resource by the end of June. The program has outlined two continuous graphitic lenses 900 metres long and up to 50m thick from surface. The company is undertaking comprehensive mineralogical and metallurgical test work programs to determine the quality of its defined graphite product.

Myanmar Metals has hit a 23m drill intersection in Myanmar that is brimming with lead, zinc, copper and silver with excellent grades. The company is now compiling its highly anticipated maiden JORC- resource for the project. Last week the company received Government advice allowing it to proceed with the exercise of the Bawdwin option, where it will acquire 85% of the project.

There’s more to Ironbark Zinc than just the giant Citronen zinc project in Greenland, with the company and heavyweight joint venture partner Glencore lifting the pace of exploration at their high-grade base metals project in NSW. The companies are about to fly a high-tech EM survey at the Captains Flat project near Canberra, where drilling has already produced exciting base metal hits.

Draig Resources has grown its holdings in the northern Goldfields by over 2,000 square kilometres in a mining district well endowed with gold and base metals. Historical exploration was largely ineffective due to poor outcropping and masking cover that downgraded the potential. The company believes there is great opportunity for the discovery of new mineral resources on the new tenements.

King River Copper has secured two new tenements in the underexplored Tennant Creek copper-gold belt in the Northern Territory. Its extensive 6,634km2 tenement holding is highly prospective for iron oxide copper gold deposits similar to Westgold’s Rover 1 project nearby. The company is awaiting grant of its remaining applications and it is collating drill programs to target priority positions later this year.

Metallurgical testwork shows Galena Mining’s Abra deposit is not only one of the world’s most significant undeveloped lead-silver deposits in terms of tonnes and grade, but it also has the mineralogy to produce clean, high-grade concentrates. New testwork for the PFS shows lead recoveries of 90% plus and concentrate grades of more than 72%, well above the typical quality of other operating mines says Galena.