Public Company News

A mix of local and international financial institutions have lined up for a piece of a $132 million bond issue by Pilbara Minerals, which has paved the way for the start of major site works at the giant Pilgangoora Lithium project near Port Hedland. Pilgangoora will be one of the largest Lithium mines in the world when built. 

Hammer Metals’ proposed new Canadian partner, Global Energy Metals Corporation has heaped praise on the Millennium copper-cobalt project in Queensland, stating that it could become “a very significant regional opportunity.” The glowing assessment has encouraged Global Energy to finalise the proposed joint venture at Millennium with Hammer Metals. 

Successful clinical trials have led PharmAust to lock down patents for its promising anti-cancer drug in key markets around the world in rapid succession. Research work has indicated the drug might also be effective in combating non-cancer ailments such as brain disease and diabetes, leading to another non-cancer related patent being secured in Europe this week. 

PharmAust has secured a patent for its promising anti-cancer drug in another major market, this week adding Japan to a list that already includes Australia, China and the US. The new protection is the latest in a series of recent patent awards that are clearly impressing the market, with PharmAust stock up almost 50% in the past month.

New positive assays from Legend Mining’s Rockford project have encouraged the company to drill a deep diamond drill hole within weeks to test its most promising conductor. The company has now identified a +300 metre wide zone of anomalous copper and nickel up-dip from where a strong conductor has been modeled from a depth of about 500 metres.

MGC Pharmaceuticals will breed and register new medicinal cannabis strains in Europe under a research partnership with Solvenia’s leading university. The new agreement with the University of Ljubljana adds to an impressive bank of medicinal Cannabis research activity by MGC and gives the ASX-listed company a potential inside track to the European market.

Northern Minerals’ contract mining team have hit the ground running at the remote Browns Range project with MACA contracting now set to begin digging ore at Australia’s first heavy rare earths mine. The commencement of mining will coincide with a reassessment of the commercial potential of heavy rare earths, driven in part by the take up of electric vehicles around the globe.

A guaranteed $2.25 million equity injection has secured Azonto Petroleum’s rebirth as Calima Energy with a stake in one of the hottest new shale plays in North America. The capital raising was a key part of a series of deals announced last month that will launch the company as a player in Canada’s Montney Formation, a liquids-rich oil and gas basin of staggering proportions.

Neometals have rolled out another breakthrough technology that could make giant lithium brine evaporation ponds a thing of the past. The Mt Marion Lithium mine founder has developed a new titanium-based material that extracts lithium from brines in just 30 minutes, compared to a 12-month wait with evaporation ponds. 

Stargroup’s quest for total market domination in Australia received a shot in the arm this week after the company announced yet another acquisition of a rival ATM machine operator taking their total number of ATM machines around Australia to over 500 units. The acquisition of Fast Cash for $4.2m will take Stargroup’s projected FY 18 EBITDA from $4.7m to $5.7m.

Neometals’ dream of capturing value all along the lithium battery supply chain is one step closer following great test results for an exciting new type of battery material that can potentially replace graphite. Batteries using the new anode material known as Lithium Titanate outperformed commercially available rivals in recent tests conducted by the company. 

Peppermint Innovation have launched a game changing trial of their technology in the Philippines that promises to revolutionize the way millions of Filipinos pay their household bills and transfer money to friends and family. The trial, which received the green light from the country’s central bank, is an innovative solution for the 70% of Filipinos who don’t operate a bank account.