Public Company News

Spectrum Metals has drilled high-grade gold intersections at its Penny North and Magenta prospects near Youanmi in WA and has raised $5m to support ongoing exploration and resource development at the broader Penny West project. The company will shortly commence its Phase II drilling program, which will target regions adjacent to the existing Penny West resource and extensions to the Penny North and Magenta prospects.

PharmAust has received a tidy $672,250 R&D tax refund from the Australian Government for its expenditure on the development of its flagship Monepantel anti-cancer drug. This includes work on its successful clinical trials and reformulating a high dose tablet with improved taste. The refund will be used to advance the company’s clinical trial programs in dogs and humans.

Calidus Resources has boosted its cash position by $2.16m, following a strategic placement with major backer Alkane Resources that will ensure the company completes its PFS for the Warrawoona gold project near Marble Bar, WA, during the next quarter. The company recently upgraded its mineral resources at the project by 75% to 21.2 million tonnes grading 1.83g/t gold for 1.25 million ounces.

Alterra has signed an exclusive technical partner agreement with horticultural expert Tyson Bennett and his Perth-based company Chemicals Direct, placing it in the lead for high-density, high-performance production systems for permanent tree crops. Mr Bennett specialises in the outperformance of high-value tree crops through the management of tree canopies.

Surefire Resources has procured the prospective, yet under-explored Victory Bore vanadium project near Sandstone, WA, from ASX-listed High Grade Metals in a cash and scrip deal worth $1.25m. The company now holds a global combined inferred mineral resource of 237.2 million tonnes grading 0.43% vanadium pentoxide, which incorporates the large Victory Bore deposit and the nearby Unaly Hill deposit.

Hawkstone Mining has generated further wide, high-grade mineralisation in two separate ore horizons from drilling at the Northern Mineralised Zone of its Big Sandy lithium clay project in Arizona, US. Better results included 17m @ 2,152 ppm lithium from 12m down-hole in the Upper Zone and 36m @ 1,892 ppm lithium from 31m down-hole in the Lower Zone, within the same vertical drill hole.

Ongoing metallurgical test work of ore from Caravel Minerals’ flagship copper project in the Wheatbelt region of WA has established that it can be treated using standard process techniques with high recoveries. Testing has found that high recoveries can be achieved using low reagent doses, which could lower processing costs. The company has also revised resources to 1.3Mt of copper, up from the previous estimate of 1.28Mt.

Australian Potash is constructing evaporation ponds to assess the most cost-efficient technique for commercial-scale ponds at its Lake Wells SOP project near Laverton, WA. The company is also drilling up to three large diameter production bores that could support a resource expansion at the project and is carrying out additional long-term pump testing to help finalise the ore reserves estimate.

Black Rock Mining’s Chinese EPC partner Yantai Jinyaun has generated high quality, large flake dominant, graphite concentrates grading 98.7% purity at 95.5% recovery from pilot plant studies on the company’s Tanzanian Mahenge ores. The test work was observed by customers, partners and potential investors and completed to validate the company’s optimised circuit design and processing flowsheets.

Venus Metals has identified three, near surface high-grade gold drilling targets at its historical Currans Find mining lease, only 25km south of its Youanmi gold mine in the Murchison region of WA. Priority areas include the new gold-bearing, quartz lode discovery at Taylor’s Reef and two prospects at the Red White and Blue mine and Currans North mine defined by anomalous gold assays in drilling and surface sampling.

Middle Island Resources has identified new targets at the southern end of its Sandstone gold project in WA, which the gold explorer says indicates the area could host the densest clustering of gold deposits within the entire Sandstone greenstone belt. The targets lie within 2.5km of the company’s gold processing plant and significantly enhances the potential to contribute to a mill recommissioning decision.

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.