Public Company News

The processing plant for the Browns Range heavy rare earths mine in the East Kimberley has begun to arrive from China, keeping Northern Minerals on track for first production by mid-2018. Northern Minerals has also drawn down the first tranche of their innovative R&D financing facility for the 100%-owned W.A project, which is set to become the world’s first significant producer of Dysprosium outside of China.

Pilbara gold explorer Calidus Resources have cemented control of the Warrawoona gold project, exercising the right to acquire some key tenements. Calidus have also finalised a JV with Canada’s Novo Resources Corp after due diligence found a number of gold anomalies on Novo’s tenements and prospective new trends that had not been previously recognised.

Legend Mining's Rockford project is gathering investor interest with the company's stock jumping by 55% in the past month. Nickel's growing recognition as a key part of the electric vehicle boom, coupled with Legend's blue chip address, just down the road from the revered Nova-Bollinger deposit, is putting legend onto the radars of investors. The company has just kicked off a 5000m drill program.

Calima Energy’s early entry into one of the largest resource plays in North America has earned it kudos from leading broker Euroz, who has initiated coverage on the oil and gas upstart with a share price target of almost double its current price . Euroz says that Calima have acquired most of their ground in the coveted Montney Basin at a fraction of the value implied by recent comparable acreage transactions.

Perth listed Connected IO has secured a purchase order from electronics giant LG for the "internet of things" tech tyro's cutting-edge wireless communications devices. The company says it received the initial order from electronics giant LG, flowing from its relationship with US telco Verizon, for 140 next-gen routers to assist LG with its North American wireless requirements.

ASX-listed Aquabotix has launched some new technology for their innovative range of underwater drones that enables its users to control the unmanned vehicles from anywhere in the world via the internet. The underwater robotics company says the game-changing tech also allows multiple users in different locations to operate the same vehicle remotely from everyday devices such as computers, phones and iPads.

Whilst most other medical marijuana companies are still trying to work out how to make money, ASX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals are busy collecting purchase orders for their cannabis based products. The company has signed a binding heads of agreement with local pharmaceutical distributor, HL Pharma to distribute MGC's low cost, cannabis based epilepsy drug CannEpil in Australia.

ASX listed PharmAust’s wholly owned subsidiary Epichem has been named WA exporter of the year in recognition of the Perth-based company’s ongoing excellence in the medicinal chemistry field. Epichem also received the Health and Biotechnology gong at the prestigious West Australian business event and PharmAust are predicting further rapid growth at the subsidiary, forecasting revenues of $4 million for FY18.

Lithium Australia’s plans for entering the high-value business of battery cathode materials with the acquisition of the Very Small Particle Company have been boosted by independent test results. A test lab in Germany found VSPC’s cathode material, which is used to make batteries for grid-scale electricity storage, performed even better than expected.

ASX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals has signed the first of three sale agreements with Korean cosmetics manufacturer Varm Cosmo as part of the Perth-listed company’s $40 million deal with the Asian skincare business. MGC says the initial $8 million order will be followed by two more orders in the coming weeks to complete the landmark cannabis supply agreement.

Lithium Australia are on track to give the green light to a large scale, US$42m pilot plant for their SiLeach Lithium processing technology technology in Malaysia thanks to significant global interest in financing and offtake deals. The Perth-based technologist said off-take proceeds would be one of three principal sources of funding for the project, along with the company’s +$10m in cash reserves and future R&D rebates.

ASX-listed DroneShield has closed a share placement after receiving bids to raise $2.32 million in order to develop its innovative anti-drone technology. The company, which already has a sales presence in 50 nations, said the monies raised would be used to further market its drone detection and disabling technologies to militaries, law enforcement and civil infrastructure clients across the globe.