Public Company News

Middle Island Resources has strongly reaffirmed its plan to consolidate the neighbouring gold holdings in the Sandstone region of WA, by releasing an updated Supplementary Bidder’s Statement for its all-scrip, off-market takeover of Alto Metals that it launched during the June quarter. In doing so, it has also agreed to publicly waive a condition breach related to a shortfall of securities issued by Alto earlier this year.

St George Mining appears to be onto a new occurrence of solid-grade nickel-copper-PGM mineralisation, courtesy of its latest drill program at the Radar prospect near Leonora in WA, which extends the strike of the emerging Cathedrals Belt, base metal deposits to 5.5km. The discovery hole returned 6m @ 2.14% nickel, 0.74% copper and 1.62g/t PGMs from 46m down-hole, including a chunky 2.55m @ 4.29% nickel, 1.46% copper and 3g/t PGMs from 49.05m.

AVZ Minerals has concluded Phase 1 met test work for its amazing Manono lithium-tin project in Africa, which continues to deliver encouraging ore grades and metal recoveries in line with other global lithium projects. The company said it had now moved onto the Phase 2 confirmatory programs and is close to appointing an experienced Non-Executive Chairman to guide Manono’s ongoing development.

TNG Limited has submitted the mining plan for its wholly-owned Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project to the Northern Territory Government. The move takes it one step closer towards establishing a pioneering, world-class integrated downstream processing minerals operation that will incorporate the company’s value-adding TIVAN hydrometallurgical circuit at a plant near Darwin. The mine plan addresses several environmental issues, including site rehabilitation activities, once mining operations are completed.

An Edith Cowan University study has backed ASX-listed ClearVue Technologies’ assertions about the amount of energy its solar glass windows are able to harness, with the study being downloaded and read by hundreds of science buffs around the globe. The work also revealed the practical scalability and application options for ClearVue’s energy harnessing glass panels, such as airport roofing, commercial shopping plaza domes, aesthetic façades and skylighting functionalities.

The battle against canine and other cancers by ASX-listed WA biotech company, PharmAust, has received a significant boost after the Australian Government deemed it eligible for further research and development tax rebates worth almost $1.5 million. The rebate relates to PharmAust’s clinical testing and trials of its anti-cancer drug, Monepantel and may even apply to PharmAust’s activities overseas.

Epichem, a subsidiary of ASX-listed biotech, PharmAust, has been rewarded for its contribution to WA and nominated as the year’s winner of the prestigious WA Industry and Export Awards. The company was acknowledged for its contributions to the global health and biotechnology sector by providing “end-to-end” support in drug discovery, with CEO, Dr Martine Keenan, also recognised with the Women in International Business Award at the same ceremony.

Neometals has taken a significant step towards establishing its massive Barrambie, titanium-vanadium project in the Murchison region of WA. The company has strengthened its ties with leading Chinese metallurgical expert IMUMR. The joint venture partners are now looking to establish a hydrometallurgical demonstration plant for the deposit and possibly, a subsequent 50:50 JV production arrangement going forward.

Coziron Resources has mapped out a 2,000-metre RC drilling program for its Croydon Top Camp gold project in WA’s west Pilbara region that is based on geological information garnered from over 1,100 soil samples and the locations of several gold nuggets found by local prospectors. Two target areas, the Top Camp and Martin prospects, will be the focus of the company’s upcoming field work.

Canning Basin focussed hydrocarbon producer, Buru Energy, has spudded a new oil exploration well known as Miani 1, to the northwest of the company’s Blina oilfield, about 70km east of Derby, in the West Kimberley region of WA. The structure being targeted is well defined by 3D seismic and analogous to similar features in North America that hold major oil and gas accumulations, the company said.

Bellevue Gold’s attempt to expand the footprint of its exciting Deacon and Mavis gold discoveries in WA’s Goldfields seems to be paying off, with a step-out diamond hole returning gold intercepts of 3.8 metres at 13.9g/t gold at Deacon and 1.7m at 5.9g/t gold at Mavis in the same drill hole that contained quartz, sulphides and visible gold mineralisation, just 400m east of historical underground mine workings.

Lithium Australia has achieved its goal of generating a high-quality cathode material suitable for producing lithium-ion batteries, by recycling spent batteries. The company says the cathodes were used to create coin cell batteries with an electrochemical performance that exceeded its expectations. The company is seeking to “close the loop” on the energy-metal cycle, by producing materials suitable for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries from the components of old recycled batteries.