Public Company News

Adriatic Metals has announced a spectacular drill intersection of 64m grading 4.6g/t gold, 537g/t silver, 0.9% copper, 7.7% lead, 10.8% zinc and 46% barite from its project in Bosnia. The result extends mineralisation 80m down-dip and 50m down-plunge of the original geological interpretation. The company also reported gold mineralisation up to 3.5g/t in grab samples from the historic JB Zone, 1km away.

Altech Chemicals has pointed to recent research reports that forecast significant uptake of high purity alumina from the lithium battery sector to suggest that its proposed HPA plant in Malaysia is well placed to take advantage of the HPA growth curve. HPA is used in lithium-ion batteries to separate the anode from the cathode. Demand from the battery sector is predicted to triple by 2025.

Algae.Tec has secured a funding facility of up to $7m from New York financier Magna to drive several near-term expansion and development initiatives aimed at commercialising its algae and medicinal cannabis divisions. It is also finalising the spin-off of its Uruguay medicinal cannabis interests into a wholly-owned subsidiary that will seek up to $10m via a public listing.

Infinity Lithium has announced positive results from a scoping study to produce a high value lithium hydroxide product from processing of its San Jose ores in Spain. The work provides flexibility for the company to tailor offtake products to end user specifications from its existing processing flowsheet. There is a strong demand for the lithium hydroxide product currently, driven by battery requirements from the electric vehicle industry.

Perth-based Epichem, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX-listed biotech PharmAust, has received a contract extension with a leading US biotechnology company, Unity Biotechnology. The new contract, worth around US$1.65 million out to 2020, means Epichem will continue to provide synthetic and medicinal chemistry expertise to support Unity’s drug discovery projects.

Lithium Australia’s Eichigt project in Germany is looking a little more interesting after a second round of samples produced 1.47% cobalt and impressive lithium values from the same patch of ground. The rare double up of cobalt and lithium is contained in mineralisation not previously discovered in Saxony and augurs well for the company’s plans to supply battery metals to Europe.

Hot Chili has commenced drilling at its very prospective looking El Fuego copper targets in Chile, with assay results due shortly. The program is testing extensions of shallow, high grade copper lodes at the historical San Antonio and Valentina mines. The company has initiated underground mapping and sampling at San Antonio and recently completed regional reconnaissance mapping and sampling.

Kopore Metals has reported over 10sq kms of prospective base metal soil geochemistry at the recently identified KM3 airborne electromagnetic target at its Ghanzi West project in Botswana. Ground EM surveys have confirmed coincident conductors from 50m, generating a high priority location for upcoming drilling programs. The company is continuing its regional soil sampling programs across its tenements.

Australian Potash remains on track for development of its Lake Wells potash project as it progresses the approvals and permitting processes with two key areas of environmental fieldwork now complete. A final field program is planned for the third quarter of 2018 with an all encompassing Environmental Review Document to be submitted shortly thereafter.

Galena Mining has announced outstanding metallurgical test work results from its flagship Abra lead project, confirming its ability to produce high grade concentrates averaging 74.5% lead with recoveries exceeding 94%. Results showed that the ores can be processed into high quality base metal concentrates with low impurities, using conventional crushing and flotation techniques.

Middle Island Resources has reported that ore sorting trials to upgrade gold mineralisation at its flagship Two Mile Hill underground deposit will be completed this month. Preliminary test work has proved highly successful in pre-concentrating ores via optical sorting methods. Resource definition drilling is also underway and is designed to increase resources at the Sandstone gold project.

Tech play Connected IO took in cash receipts and invoiced products this quarter to the value of $660,000 with another $650,000 in purchase orders on the books yet to be invoiced. Bottom line performance is also expected to improve with reduced U.S. overheads and renegotiated manufacturing costs expected to boost gross margins from 30% to 50% on some products.