Public Company News

Image Resources has produced its first heavy mineral concentrate from its flagship Boonanarring zircon-rich mineral sands project located 80km north of Perth in the North Perth Basin region of WA. The processing plant will transition to full operation over the next 2-4 weeks. The company will receive its first revenue for ore production in January before progressing rapidly to a positive cash flow later in the March quarter.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has reached a partnership with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem to launch an international research hub – Cannahub - for medical cannabis in the first quarter of 2019. Cannahub will initially focus on the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of cancer, the effectiveness of traditional and medicinal cannabis combination treatments and drug delivery systems.

Blina Minerals has signed an option agreement to acquire private Australian company Madacu Resources in a cash and scrip deal that will give it access to a promising copper project in Madagascar. The Maintirano project hosts over 30 copper occurrences, some of which are mined on an artisanal basis. Rock chip sampling by Blina and Madacu has returned up to 11% copper.

Neometals Ltd has commenced an update of its 2009 DFS for the Barrambie vanadium-titanium-magnetite project located near Sandstone in WA, citing a 4-fold increase in vanadium prices since that initial study was conducted. The update will examine development options including offshore processing of the crushed ores, onsite production of a high-grade concentrate for direct sale and potential refining opportunities to generate premium vanadium chemicals.

Metalicity Limited has secured nearly 650 square kilometres of prospective looking nickel-copper-gold exploration tenements over two projects in the sought after Fraser Range region in southern WA. The new projects are surrounded by operating mines and significant mineral occurrences. The company is selling off its zinc and lithium interests in WA as it shifts focus towards copper, nickel, cobalt and gold exploration.

Sky and Space Global has signed binding MoUs with Brazilian telcos Inovsat Telecom and AltaRede Corporation to determine how its nano-satellites can increase the reliability, accessibility and affordability of their telecommunications services. The company expects to convert both MoUs into definitive agreements with commercial terms following the launch of the first batch of Pearls nano-satellites in 2019.

Fresh from its recent exploration success at the old Bellevue gold mine, Bellevue Gold now has its tail in the air with a successful $15m capital raise under its belt and a big exploration program ahead of it. The company has detailed a plan to ramp up exploration on several near mine targets at its namesake project near Leinster in WA.

ASX listed Alterra is taking a page out of Wesfarmers’ playbook with a proposal to demerge its carbon forestry business and focus on the development of its agribusiness projects. The move is expected to realise the full value of the carbon business and generate a potential windfall to shareholders who will now own 85% of the carbon business in their own right whilst retaining their Alterra shares.

Great Southern Mining has outlined its initial exploration strategy for its new Mt Weld gold play, located 30km southeast of Laverton in the northern Goldfields region of WA. The company will acquire remote geophysical data and complete on-site mapping and surface sampling at the project during this quarter. The project area is centred 12km from the company’s flagship Mon Ami gold project that contains at least 59,000 gold ounces.

Lithium Australia has reached in principle agreement with a battery researcher for the development of advanced silicon anodes that could significantly increase the energy density of lithium-ion batteries. The company is planning to establish facilities for the development of the new graphite/silicon anodes at its VSPC plant in Brisbane with operations starting under the terms of an MOU.

Strike Energy’s $16.1m all-scrip takeover bid for Perth Basin-focused oil and gas company UIL Energy has been found to be both fair and reasonable by an independent expert. The company also said its Jaws-1, deep coal seam gas well in South Australia is now starting to flow gas continuously with regular bursts of up to 100,000 cubic feet per day and gas flows continuing to build.

Hammer Metals has produced some exceptional copper and gold recoveries from initial metallurgical test work studies on ores from its Jubilee prospect, located in the Mount Isa mining district of north-western Queensland. The company achieved exceptional copper recoveries of 98% and even managed gold recoveries of 80%, essentially as a bonus credit in the final concentrate during mineral flotation test work for Jubilee.