Public Company News

After a hiatus period that was partly caused by Government policy decisions and COVID-19, Northern Minerals is looking to start producing rare earths in WA again. The company has begun planning the logistics to restart its Browns Range pilot plant in WA’s Kimberley region which will be the only substantial heavy rare earths producer outside of China.

Ora Banda Mining has delivered its inaugural definitive feasibility study at the Davyhurst project in WA that it picked up when Eastern Goldfields went bust. The DFS is underpinned by an existing 1.2 million tonne per annum processing plant, which is reflected in the project’s extraordinarily low CAPEX figure of just AUD$45m that it intends to pay back in only 14 months.

Legend Mining’s ascension from ‘explorer’ to the ranks of ‘discoverer’ has been an admirably fought geological crusade in Western Australia’s Fraser Range, with its Mawson prospect returning another cracking suite of nickel-copper-cobalt assays. Spectacular visible massive sulphide intersections previously pointed to the potential for some exciting grades, however, the latest numbers went beyond expectations with nearly 36 metres of combined high-grade mineralisation.

Barton Gold is set to launch into a new drilling campaign at its Tarcoola gold project in South Australia, with a recent geophysical survey identifying ten, shallow, near-mine targets for testing. The company has already issued a 10,000 metre drilling contract, with the rods set to start turning towards the end of July 2020 and continue through into September.

Element 25 has inked its first non-binding off-take Memorandum of Understanding with OM Materials who is looking to purchase manganese concentrate from its Butcherbird project in the Pilbara. The project is hurtling towards production and slated to churn out AUD$24.4m a year in free cash. The MoU will ultimately see between 50 and 100 per cent of the product spoken for over five years.

Ora Banda Mining has delivered a solid increase to its gold inventory at Davyhurst in WA after it tabled a maiden resource for the Callion underground deposit of 77,000 ounces of high-grade gold, paving the way for the company to complete a DFS over the project. The new resource bumps the global resource for Davyhurst up to 2.13 million ounces.

Calidus Resources’ updated PFS for its Warrawoona gold project in the Pilbara shows another $20m a year falling to the bottom line compared to previous estimates. The latest set of numbers which have been tabled on the back of a simplified mine plan will no doubt be helpful for Calidus who is now getting dangerously close to production at Warrawoona.

Godolphin Resources is set to drill test its Gundagai South project with recent mapping and sampling pointing to some interesting looking ‘walk up’ gold targets. Recent field work has identified priority areas associated with historical mine workings at the Surprise North, Highway and Stoney Creek South prospects. Work is expected to kick off in August 2020.

Terrain Minerals has acquired the mineral rights to a prospecting licence known as Wilsons Patch, a postage stamp sized tenement right in the middle of its Wildviper gold project, located north of Leonora in Western Australia. The ground has been in private prospecting hands for decades and Terrain has inked a simple milling royalty agreement with no upfront payment to access the prospecting license.

Element 25 is on track to meet an aggressive development schedule at its Butcherbird manganese project in the Pilbara, with a production water bore drilling program now underway. The bore holes will supply process water for Element 25’s proposed manganese beneficiation plant and they are a very necessary piece of infrastructure required to catapult the project into production.

Middle Island Resources is hitting its straps at Sandstone with the latest drilling results from its Ridgeway discovery delivering outstanding high-grade intercepts including 4 metres at 99.5 g/t gold which hosts a 1 metre resample topping the scales at an extraordinary 390 g/t gold. This continues a run of impressive results from the company which has seen it bank five new gold deposits since the start of the year.

Anglo Australian has entered into a farm out agreement with ASX-listed AuKing Mining that will see AuKing earn up to 75 per cent of its Koongie Park base metals project in WA’s north by paying A$1m in cash and spending $3m on exploration over three years. Anglo said cash proceeds from the deal will be used to advance its flagship Mandilla gold project near Kambalda.