Public Company News

A revised gas off-take agreement to supply packaging firm Orora has been pushed out to 2020, giving junior explorer Strike Energy the manoeuvrability to fully-focus on its streamlined development strategy in the Southern Cooper Basin Gas Project. The company has welcomed the new deadline for the deal as it prepares to spud its ground breaking Jaws-1 appraisal well, which is potential a game-changer for the oil and gas industry generally.

Calidus Resources has continued last year’s remarkable run with the drill bit with a new series of high-grade gold hits from two prospects within 15kms of its flagship Klondyke deposit in the East Pilbara. The latest results follow a 74% jump in the company’s resource base to more than 700,000 ounces last year and show Calidus is mastering the geology of a significant new gold region.

The final piece of the land jigsaw puzzle has been put in place by Calima Energy as the ASX-listed company completed its core acquisition strategy in the lucrative and liquids-rich sweet spots of the Montney Formation in northeast British Columbia, Canada. The Perth-based explorer is now targeting the next phase culminating in a drilling campaign to take advantage of increasing oil price tailwinds.

New geophysical work by St George Mining at its East Laverton project suggests the Windsor X3 conductor could represent a deeper, larger nickel target than previously modelled which prompted an immediate second drill hole. An electromagnetic survey down the first hole at Windsor X3 suggested a conductor about twice the previous size was lurking further down.

Metallurgical testwork on King River’s giant Speewah vanadium deposit in the Kimberley has shown that it could produce super-high purity titanium dioxide, boosting the economics of the project. The latest leach test on Speewah concentrates produced 99.5% purity titanium dioxide. The high purity levels potentially open up new master allow markets such as the aerospace market for King River.

ASX-listed biotech PharmAust has successfully identified a revamped formulation of its promising anti-cancer drug “Monepantel”. Perth-based PharmAust says that the reformulated Monepantel will improve the drug’s taste and enable the delivery of over 10 times the amount of substance per dose than previously, paving the way for clinical trials ahead of full scale commercialisation.

One of the oil industry’s top analysts has given a very positive report on Strike Energy as it embarks on a drill program with the potential to save the east coast gas market from its supply shortage. Peter Strachan’s new report concludes Strike is worth 66% more than its current share price and that’s before the high-impact Jaws drilling program gets underway in the Cooper Basin.

Sky and Space Global is collaborating with pan-African telco player Paratus Group on a field trial that will see a point-of-sale device connected to a bank via the ASX-listed company’s nano-satellite-based IP network. Sky and Space sees the trial as a way to open the door to the multi-billion-dollar global point-of-sale market, especially in the rapidly expanding African market.

Aquabotix has reported a 22% increase in cash receipts for the December quarter, putting the underwater drone player in a sound financial slipstream as it accelerates towards new growth targets. The Sydney and Massachusetts-based company added 10 new distributors to its global network in the last quarter of the year and has revised sales targets for its automated drones in a number of industries.

BlackEarth Minerals is throwing plenty of expertise at its advanced graphite exploration project in Madagascar, making two key appointments ahead of next month’s commencement of a major drilling operations. The newly listed company has secured an exploration services company with deep experience in Madagascan graphite and a geology manager with a solid graphite CV.

Nzuri Copper’s Kalongwe copper-cobalt project could be set for a mine life extension after exploration drilling just 2.5kms away produced a series of very positive results that may lead to a satellite orebody. Drilling at Monwezi 2 has extended an historic copper-cobalt intercept in three directions and confirmed a new geological interpretation of the target.

ASX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals has been given the green light by Slovenian authorities, who have given the medical marijuana company’s European medicinal cannabis production facility a tick of approval. The company has now cleared an important regulatory hurdle for the production of its products in Europe, whilst it also steps up the approvals process for the import of medicinal and beauty brands into Australia.