Public Company News

Zinc polymetallic explorer Adriatic Metals has every reason to be pleased with its latest assay results from the waste dump around an historic adit at the Jurasevac prospect at the company’s Vareš Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Vareš project comprises an old open cut zinc/lead/barite and silver mine at Veovaca and Rupice and an advanced proximal deposit exhibiting high grades of base and precious metals.

King River Copper has provided an unexpected windfall for its investors by converting some of its exploration tax losses into a $306,000 tax credit that will be passed on individually to its shareholders under the Government’s “Exploration Development Incentive.” The credit is made possible by an innovative tax scheme introduced in 2014-15 to help greenfield explorers find Australia’s next big mineral deposit

Metalicity Limited will seek to extract fair value from its giant Admiral Bay zinc project in the Kimberley of W.A by vending all its zinc assets into a new company, Kimberley Mining Limited, to be listed on Canada’s TSX Venture exchange. The deal is worth up to CAD$32.5m for Metalicity and will advance its Admiral Bay project, whilst leaving the company cashed up to pursue its battery metals projects.

Strike Energy is a step closer to discovering whether its Jaws-1 well will be a game-changer for the gas-starved east coast market, with Halliburton’s fracture stimulation equipment on its way to site. The pioneering Jaws-1 well was successfully completed earlier this month and could possibly be within weeks after a seven-stage fracture stimulation program.

ASX-listed biotech PharmAust, has successfully reformulated its promising anti-cancer drug “Monepantel”. Perth-based PharmAust says the new form of Monepantel, which now takes the form of dry tablets, improves the drug’s taste and meets dosage requirements, paving the way for trials in dogs expected to take place by the end of the year ahead of human clinical trials.

Venus Metals has stitched up options with both the plaintiff and the plainted at the historical Younami gold mine, 250km west of Leonora. The transactions will cost less than A$6m in a mix of cash and shares and will guarantee that Venus emerges the victor in a legal dispute that it is not actually a party to. Hundreds of thousands of ounces were left in the ground when the mine was closed in 1997.

In a sure sign of its future strategy, underwater drone specialist Aquabotix will co-locate its American operations with the US military in Virginia in a bid to secure lucrative defence industry contracts. Aquabotix says the co-location with the Joint Munitions Command’s Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Program strengthens its links with the US department of defence.

Myanmar Metals has announced an alliance with Chinese owned Perilya Limited to accelerate the development of its Bawdwin polymetallic deposit in Myanmar. The deal with Perilya and another with major shareholder Mark Creasy raised A$19.1m, which fully funds the Bawdwin option, granting Myanmar 51% project ownership. The company will raise up to A$35m for the project.

Reedy Lagoon has announced it has staked 112 new claims in the prospective Clayton Valley in southern Nevada, 10km from North America’s only producing lithium brine operation at Silver Peak. The company believes the new tenement package has potential to trap lithium brines within its salty underground aquifers, based on the region’s underlying geology.

Draig Resources has announced further high grade gold drill results from drill programs at its Tribune lode discovery, adjacent to the historical Bellevue mine near Leinster. Down-hole electromagnetic surveys have identified new ore shoot positions at depth with best results of 4.4m @ 13.5g/t from 305.5m down-hole and 9.5m @ 5.0g/t from 324.5m down-hole. A maiden mineral resource estimate is underway.

Southern Gold keeps finding more high-grade gold left behind by previous operators of the Kochang mine in South Korea that was abandoned in 1975 when the gold price was just US$140 an ounce. A significant program to sample the underground vein systems at Kochang has found long strike lengths of mineralisation and returned assays at more than two ounces to the tonne.

BlackEarth Minerals’ resource drilling program in Madagascar has produced another series of impressive drill hits, adding to evidence of a large, high-grade graphite system at its Maniry project. Among the best of the new results was 26m @7.8% total graphitic carbon, including 10m @ 10.45% TGC. BlackEarth is on track for a maiden JORC estimate in July, just six months after listing on the ASX.