Public Company News

Neometals has commissioned Stage 1 of its lithium-ion battery recycling pilot plant in Canada, with SGS Canada being awarded the contracts to construct and operate the plant at the company’s fully accredited Lakefield facility. The battery shredding plant has prepared about 2 tonnes of used battery materials for the Stage 2 hydrometallurgical processing and refining phase to deliver high-purity battery materials into the market.

Calima Energy has wrapped up drilling of the second horizontal well at its Canadian Montney oil and gas play and is now preparing to complete both wells for the key production testing in early March. The rate at which the wells will be tested has been optimised to maximise the recovery of condensate and other natural gas liquids whilst providing the best estimate of the condensate yield once they are placed on long term production.

BlackEarth Minerals’ Maniry project in Madagascar has received a serious shot in the arm, with the company uncovering exceptionally wide, high grade graphite mineralisation over 56m grading 9.89% total graphitic carbon at its new Razafy NW prospect. The trench samples represent the true width of the mineralisation and may outline the potential for significant additional high-grade graphite resources to enhance the value of the project.

Great Southern Mining has discovered an intriguing gold/silver mineralised breccia pipe at its Rocky Ponds prospect, located near Townsville in northern Queensland. Rock chip samples up to 0.38g/t gold and 6.9g/t silver were returned from the hydrothermal intrusion. The company is now fast-tracking approvals and consents for RC and diamond drill testing at the prospect.

Artemis Resources has reported encouraging recoveries of gold, copper and cobalt from test work on ore composites from its Carlow Castle project located near Karratha in WA, proving the amenability of the ores to conventional processing. Gold recoveries were 98-99% using gravity and cyanide leaching techniques, whilst 77-85% of the total copper content and 73-79% of the cobalt metal was recovered into high grade concentrates by flotation.

Dogs have readily taken PharmAust’s Monepantel tablets using the new formulation for the anti-cancer drug either directly from administrators’ hands or from the floor. This bodes well for future trials of the drug in humans as the canine taste testers have an apparently higher taste sensitivity than humans. The Phase I clinical trial for Monepantel in dogs is poised to start later this month.

Phylogica continues to prove the effectiveness of its lead first generation cell penetrating peptides, or “CPP’s”, after winning its first ever competitive test with a competitor CPP in an animal model. Mice treated with the company’s CPP vaccine before being injected with a highly aggressive melanoma, had a longer survival time compared to those treated with the competing CPP.

Coziron Resources has completed preliminary metallurgical testwork that successfully upgraded the vanadium content for all metallurgical samples obtained from its flagship Buddadoo project near Yalgoo in WA. The next phase of work will include further sampling of RC drill holes. The company also plans to carry out a diamond drilling campaign to acquire additional samples for grindsize liberation and comminution studies.

PharmAust has executed an agreement with a major US contract research organisation to start Phase I clinical trials for its flagship anti-cancer drug Monepantel in dogs on 19 February 2019 using its final tablet format. This will provide information on the number of tablets, administration frequency, blood levels and verification of safety for the Phase II trials in pet owners’ dogs with naturally occurring cancers.

Adriatic Metals is set to increase its land holdings at the exciting Vares project in Bosnia, after receiving a key permit for major expansions to its existing concession agreement over the Rupice and Veovaca prospect areas at its 100% owned base metals play. At Rupice North, the expansion takes in the region northwards and down plunge of a 66m thick, high grade intersection reported in October 2018.

Great Southern Mining has identified an exciting large-scale porphyry system containing highly anomalous assays at its Leichardt Creek prospect, located near Townsville in northern Queensland. Rock chip samples up to 0.56% copper, 0.12g/t gold and 0.46% molybdenum were returned from a broad zone of gossanous, stock worked quartz veining and disseminated multi-mineralised outcrops also elevated in silver, zinc and lead, over an area of nearly 6 square kilometres.

Ironbark Zinc has identified a strong, broad bedrock anomaly at the proven, large-scale Jerangle base metals prospect at its multi-element Captains Flat project in NSW from preliminary interpretation of its recent helicopter-borne electromagnetic survey. Interpretation of the data is ongoing with a final report with drill targets expected shortly.