Public Company News

Novo Resources has appointed two Perth-based technical consultants to examine development options for its East Pilbara gold assets, including the 900,000 ounce Beatons Creek conglomerate project near Nullagine in WA. The company has several prospective gold projects outside of Beatons Creek, including the Blue Spec gold-antimony deposit to the east and the under-explored Talga Talga deposit, located 35km north of Calidus Resources’ 1.25 million ounce Warrawoona gold project.

Rox Resources has completed due diligence of an expansive drilling database from the Youanmi gold project in the Murchison region of WA and confirmed a 1.2 million ounce gold mineral resource estimate for the mine area. The company last week entered into a deal with Venus Metals under which it has the right to acquire a majority position in the Youanmi gold mine.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has inked a deal with Chinese e-commerce import platform YuShop Global to sell the Perth-based company’s cannabis-based nutraceuticals into the Chinese market. The deal will see MGC Pharma’s products sold via YuShop’s online platform and network of 1,500 retail channel partners across China, including a luxury spa chain.

Infinity Lithium said that recent metallurgical test work studies completed on its San Jose lithium project in Spain have produced positive results and replicated the ore upgrades it achieved in 2018’s Scoping Study. In March, the company increased its ownership in San Jose to 75% and is now accelerating its PFS works for the project, which is on track for completion in June or July this year.

Rock chip sampling at Hammer Metals’ Mt Philp IOCG project near Mount Isa, Queensland, has returned up to 16% copper and 2.41g/t gold from the Mt Philp and Rangeview target areas and identified previously unrecognised bedrock mineralisation associated with soil anomalies. Sampling has also identified new prospects at the Kings, Alice and Deadlock areas in the Malbon region.

Altech Chemicals has raised $18m through a share placement to support the Stage 2 engineering and construction works for its high purity alumina plant in southern Malaysia. The company is planning to produce up to 4,500 tonnes annually of HPA at its Malaysian plant from very pure kaolin clays sourced from a shallow open pit mine near Meckering in WA, which has low levels of impurities.

Lithium Australia has confirmed the discovery of spodumene-bearing lithium mineralisation in multiple pegmatite dykes at its Medcalf prospect near Norseman, WA, that extend over at least 450m of strike and 100m of combined width. Samples up to 5.13% lithium oxide, with elevated levels of the pathfinder elements tantalum, caesium and rubidium were returned during the current program.

Venus Metals and Rox Resources have acquired a 90% stake in the historical high-grade Currans Find prospect located 5km from Spectrum Metals’ high-grade Penny West gold deposit in the Murchison region of WA. Historical records show that 6874 tons at an average grade of 13g/ton gold were treated from Currans Find, which has similar rock types to those that host the Penny West and nearby Columbia–Magenta deposits.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has received the green light to import its medicinal cannabis-based epilepsy drug CannEpil into the UK after it was awarded a controlled drug import licence permit. The permit allows the company to immediately expand distribution of CannEpil into the UK medicinal cannabis products market. It is also finalising negotiations with licensed distributors in the UK and Australia.

Buru Energy is preparing to kick off its 2019 drilling season in the Canning Basin in northern WA with the mobilisation of the NGD Loc 405 drill rig from Perth to its Ungani-6 horizontal oil production well, which is expected to spud in the first week of May. Work has also started on the drill pad for the Ungani-7 horizontal production well, which is located next to the existing Ungani-4 well.

Spectrum Metals has drilled additional wide, high-grade gold intersections at its Penny North gold prospect near Youanmi in WA. New intercepts included 6m @ 47.4g/t gold from 150m down-hole, located 40m down-plunge of March’s discovery hole and 11m @ 25.8g/t gold from 120m down-hole directly up-dip from the discovery hole. The company is raising $5m to support ongoing exploration and development at the emerging project.

Middle Island Resources has launched a formal takeover bid for Alto Metals, offering five of its shares for every Alto share, which could amalgamate the parties’ substantial Sandstone gold assets in WA. The addition of Alto’s gold resources could provide initial mill feed and critical mass to a combined entity with synergies that may potentially benefit the shareholders of both companies.