Public Company News

Venus Metals and Rox Resources have commenced a 5,000m aircore drill program at their Venus JV near the topical Penny West gold mine in the Youanmi region. The companies are targeting a prominent magnetic low identified by an airborne survey which includes the historical Penny West gold mine, the historical Magenta and Columbia prospects and Spectrum Metals’ recent Penny North discovery.

Strike Energy has inked a fourfold increase in the net reservoir within the secondary objective Wagina sandstone to 10.2 metres with porosities of up to 14% at its multi-target West Erregulla-2 well in the Perth Basin, Western Australia. The company said this compares favourably to the nearby producing Beharra Springs fields, which flowed up to 38 million cubic feet of gas per day from a 10.4 metre net gas reservoir in the Wagina sandstone.

Northern Minerals has signed an offtake agreement with German raw material distributor thyssenkrupp Materials Trading for the purchase of all heavy rare earth carbonate produced from its Browns Range pilot plant project near Halls Creek, WA. The offtake agreement will commence immediately, with all current stockpiled product and future production included in the agreement.

Black Rock Mining’s Mahenge project in Tanzania has successfully produced spherical graphite that exceeds industry standards for battery anode materials with yields of up to 53% and purity of 99.98% TGC during a large-scale trial in a commercial environment. The results are higher than Chinese industrial benchmark yields of between 35% and 45% and purity of 99.5% TGC and replicate results achieved during laboratory testing.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has received the green light to start construction of its large scale, GMP compliant medical cannabis production facility in Malta that will increase its existing production capacity after signing a long-term lease agreement for the 6,000 square metre site. The site works for the facility will commence immediately and the company plans to start construction of the multi-storey building during the current quarter.

Buru Energy has observed hydrocarbon shows after intersecting the secondary target Anderson Formation at its Adoxa-1 conventional oil exploration well in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. The significance of these individual sand bodies with hydrocarbon shows in cuttings samples will be evaluated with wireline logs once the well is completed to its total planned depth of 2,200m.

Sovereign Metals’ new Wofiira rutile prospect in Malawi just got interesting, with analyses of the titanium-rich ore concentrate showing the products are likely suitable for all major markets, including the chloride pigment, titanium metal and welding flux sectors. Metallurgical studies show that the ores have a favourable particle grain size distribution, comparable to other leading natural rutile products in the market.

MGC Pharmaceuticals and Chinese e-commerce marketplace YuShop Global have kicked off a full marketing and sales campaign for MGC’s cannabis-based nutraceuticals following a successful eight-week test campaign. Under the distribution agreement between the two companies, YuShop will sell MGC’s nutraceutical products to consumers via its online platform and network of retail channel partners, which include 1,500 luxury spas.

Geopacific Resources is free to advance the financing stage for the construction of its Woodlark gold project in PNG, after concluding its independent due diligence technical work programs and reporting, which showed no “fatal flaws” to its development. The review was commissioned by a group of potential lenders for the project, who have signed non-binding term sheets to finance operational start-up.

Infinity Lithium has hit a milestone with the successful production of lithium hydroxide using recycled reagents, a feat that the company said proves the viability of its processing flowsheet for the San José project in Spain. The company now expects to finalise the capital and operating costs within the next week, which will lead to the completion and release of the project’s pre-feasibility study.

Coziron Resources is gearing up to start a 12,500m infill and extensional drilling campaign at its exciting Ashburton magnetite iron project in the west Pilbara, WA, after receiving firm commitments for a $3 million placement. The program is aimed at facilitating the development of a maiden JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate extending over about 1.5 kilometres of strike.

PolarX has delineated large chargeable anomalies using data from a recent geophysical survey and commenced diamond drilling at the Saturn porphyry copper-gold target within its Alaska Range project in the US. The company said that the data returned from Saturn is consistent with porphyry copper exploration models worldwide and shows potential prospectivity for disseminated sulphides and a quartz-veined stockwork ore system.