Public Company News

ASX-listed Hot Chili has created a sense of early excitement around its new Valentina prospect at the El Fuego copper project in Chile. The company has stumbled across historic records that show up to 4.8% copper was pulled from the shallow, small scale, family owned mine at Valentina back in the 1990s. Other historical results include an 11m intersection going 2% copper.

Northern Minerals has timed its Browns Range heavy rare earths project in the East Kimberley to perfection, with construction nearing completion just as US President Donald Trump calls on Australia to help it secure new supplies of strategic rare earths. Northern confirmed this week the project is on track for completion by June 30 and work is well advanced on exploring moves into downstream processing.

Galena Mining’s bold plan to unlock the potential of the giant Abra deposit is coming together in spectacular fashion, with a new resource estimate confirming it as one of the largest undeveloped lead-silver deposits in the world. The deposit now boasts 11.2 Mt at a very impressive 10.1% lead and 28 g/t silver, ranking it as the highest grade lead deposit in Australia and one that has global significance.

MGC Pharma’s new cannabis based diet and vegan vitamin supplement comes in seven different flavours to be sold in both capsule and powder form. The ASX-listed medical marijuana company is tapping into a growing global health supplement market estimated at over US$550 billion. The company said the product meets strict European Union guidelines and will be used to instil “inner health and wellbeing”.

Neometals has announced high-grade drilling intercepts at its Virginia Hills prospect, located adjacent to its flagship Barrambie project. The discovery shows 8 km of strike continuity for the vanadium-titanium mineralisation. Neometals is well advanced with technical studies for the project, including detailed drilling to define a 50,000-tonne ore parcel for metallurgical test work.

Geopacific Resources looks set to join the coveted ranks of the 100,000 ounce a year club with its Woodlark Gold Project in Papua New Guinea for at least the next ten years. The company’s share price rose 20% ahead of the highly anticipated pre-feasibility study, which is now on the street and hasn’t disappointed with a projected all in sustaining cost to produce each ounce of gold below the magical AU$1000 an ounce mark.

The wait is almost over and the anticipation is palpable. John Poynton chaired Strike Energy’s historic Jaws-1 appraisal well is steaming seamlessly towards completion in the Southern Cooper Basin as the company attempts to prove that coal seam gas can be accessed economically at previously unheard of depths. An interconnecting horizontal well will now be subjected to a seven-stage hydraulic stimulation program.

Connected IO has strengthened its relationship with a major US telco, securing a reseller agreement for its internet of things products in North America. The deal will see Connected IO’s wireless modem like products sold into the US by the unnamed telco giant that has a sales force of over 3,000 people in North America. Connected IO’s technology enables a user to remotely monitor and control devices via the internet.

Calidus Resources has identified a swag of exciting gold targets at its Warrawoona Project after completing an exhaustive regional target generation study at the rapidly expanding Pilbara project. The Company has identified 45 high priority exploration targets that will be fully evaluated and ranked in the coming months. Calidus will complete reconnaissance exploration ahead of drilling programs scheduled to commence during Q2 2018.

In basketball terms it's called a slam dunk. Blackham Resources has confirmed a stunning turnaround at the Matilda gold project with gold production climbing to a record of 6,713 ounces in February, while all in sustaining costs were slashed to just A$912 an ounce. Milled grades and gold production are expected to continue to improve with stockpiled ore grades going 1.7 g/t gold.

Lepidolite waste dumps near Coolgardie are firming as a source of supply for Lithium Australia’s large scale SiLeach pilot plant, highlighting the breakthrough advantages of the new processing technology. The waste material is looking promising after innovative ore sorting test work, which suggested the already mined material can be quickly and cheaply upgraded before being processed.

West Perth based Blackstone Minerals has dusted off historical mining records dating back over 60 years to fully understand the potential of its Little Gem Project in British Columbia, Canada that boasts one of the highest grade cobalt-gold deposits in the world. Recent drilling turned up a 4.3 m intersection going 1.0% cobalt and 15 g/t gold, including 1.1 m @ 3.0% cobalt and 44 g/t gold.