Public Company News

AVZ Minerals has executed a binding memorandum of understanding with the Congolese Government to create a “special economic zone” for the Manono Lithium and tin project in the Tanganyika Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A special economic zone has the potential to deliver significant economic stimulus to both AVZ and the local communities around Manono, with tax breaks high on the list.

Ardiden has opened the vaults of its Pickle Lake gold project in Ontario, Canada and discovered a swag of historical exploration records that cover its newly acquired Dorothy-Dobie and New Patricia properties that are along trend from Barrick Gold’s historical Golden Patricia mine. One 0.5m historical drill intercept showed a stellar 472.8 g/t gold, providing a touch of excitement for the Perth based company.

Middle Island Resources has picked up an additional 1,363 square kilometres of prospective iron oxide-copper-gold, or “IOCG” ground in the Northern Territory after the Government there lifted an exploration moratorium over the East Tennant province. The company now holds ten exploration licence applications covering 3,253 square kilometres that combined are known as the Barkly Super-Project.

Hammer Metals has both feet firmly planted across some tier-one mining districts around the country as it kicks off several major exploration programs including geophysical surveys and geological mapping at its Mt Isa IOGC project in Queensland and at its exciting Bronzewing South gold project in Western Australia. Gravity and EM surveys will be run across some of Hammer’s Mt Isa JOGMEC JV ground and 12,000m of aircore and RC drilling will test priority targets at Bronzewing.

Aurora Labs has successfully completed a testing program of samples of corrosion-resistant, 316L stainless steel using the company’s patented multi-layered concurrent printing technology. The independent test results have exceeded ASTM standards in tensile and yield strength. The company said this was an important step towards demonstrating that its multi-layered concurrent proprietary technology is viable and efficient.

Rox Resources and its JV partner, Venus Minerals have hit over two ounces to the tonne gold with one new drill intercept at Youanmi’s Grace prospect. The assays just in include one hole that returned 4m at 69.5 g/t gold from 28m. The JV partners also reported solid gold hits from the December 2019 drill program that tested targets to the north and south of the old Youanmi gold mine.

Agricultural asset development and management firm, Alterra, has appointed a new member to its team with Paul Good taking up the position of South West Regional Manager, bringing with him nearly 20 years’ of industry know-how. Alterra is looking to shake up the agribusiness sector with a business model that will see it co-invest with mostly institutional investors in managed crops with avocados looking like being the early opener.

Big River Gold is looking to turn what is usually considered a waste mineral into a potentially lucrative by-product from its Borborema gold project in North-Eastern Brazil. With mica-rich gold ore set to be processed through a conventional mill, a few tweaks of the processing flowsheet could see Big River pocket a windfall from its mica offtake that would normally find its way into the waste tailings dam.

Classic Minerals has returned to its high-grade Kat Gap gold discovery for another round of RC drilling with a view to chasing northerly and southerly extensions of recent drill intercepts that returned as much as 10m at an ounce to the tonne. Up to 3,500m of new RC drill holes are now underway in an attempt to stretch the strike of the deposit from 500m to more than 800m.

Lithium Australia plans to continue research its proprietary recovery process to extract lithium from fine and contaminated waste materials after being awarded a Federal Government grant of $1.3m. The company has also applied for a patent over the intellectual property from its research into the recovery of lithium from fine spodumene waste and tailings ore. The funds will advance the technology that has ramifications for the hard-rock lithium industry.

Kingwest Resources said its Pericles prospect has booked an 87% upgrade in total estimated resources to 79,500 ounces of contained gold which pushes the total near-surface resources at the Menzies Gold project to 208,300oz of gold. The indicated resource at Pericles now sits at 630,000 tonnes at 1.8g/t gold and the inferred resource is 780,000 tonnes grading 1.7g/t gold.

Novo Resources looks to be onto a new alluvial goldfield in the Pilbara after it unearthed some golden paydirt from a terrace at the “Road to Paradise” prospect, just 11km from its flagship Egina gold project. The company has also analysed a bulk gravel sample at Egina, that yielded 562.25 grams from about 414 cubic metres. Novo is one of the modern pioneers of the Pilbara alluvial gold scene, treading over new ground each exploration phase with outcomes that are wildly unknown but potentially lucrative.