Public Company News

The intrigue is growing for St George Mining and its 75 per cent-owned Mt Alexander project in WA with step-out diamond drilling intersecting wide nickel-copper sulphides. The first step-out hole was testing for extension of the 11m of nickel-copper sulphides below 400m depth reported recently by St George, with mineralisation said to be open in all directions.

Newly minted WA gold producer Ora Banda Mining says it remains on track to bring its large Missouri open pit on line next month, adding some desirable harder ore into its refurbished Davyhurst gold plant that will underpin an expected fiscal year 2022 production of more than 80,000 ounces. The harder ore from the new pit will enhance the ore feed blend short-term and bolster the plant throughput rates.

Terrain Minerals’ exploration at its Smokebush project is continuing to expand the footprint of its gold targets in WA’s Murchison goldfield. Sampling north of the company’s Monza discovery has now extended the mineralised envelope to almost a kilometre of strike, with recent exploration revealing additional old mine workings and returning assays of up to 4.78 grams per tonne gold.

Venture Minerals has cranked up the drill rig at its massive Mount Lindsay tin-tungsten project in Tasmania as it targets a potential high-grade repetition of the deposit. Mount Lindsay is one of the world’s largest undeveloped tin projects and with a number of tin mines across the globe entering their twilight years end-users are starting to scrabble for new supply.

ASX-listed Latitude Consolidated has successfully shaken the tin for about $6.7 million in a strongly supported capital raise as the gold explorer looks to build on a very encouraging review of a ton of historical drilling and exploration data stemming from its recent Murchison gold project acquisition in WA’s fertile Murchison Goldfields.

Horizon Minerals has racked up a score of high-grade gold hits from an aircore and reverse circulation drilling program at its Windanya gold project that straddles the prolific Bardoc Tectonic Zone about 45km north of Kalgoorlie. The discovery aircore hole at the project’s Scorpio prospect returned 3m at 6.44 g/t gold from 3m including 1m at 9.71 g/t from 3m and 1m at 8.04 g/t from 4m.

Classic Minerals’ customised gold plant is on its way to the company’s 404,000-ounce Forrestania gold project south of Southern Cross in WA, where final environmental approvals attached to its granted mining lease for 100 per cent-owned Kat Gap are now awaited. Classic expects to have Kat Gap’s native vegetation clearance permit and approved final mining proposal documentation in its hands within three months.

WA manganese producer, Element 25 has sold the first parcel of manganese concentrate from its new Butcherbird mining and beneficiation operation in the Pilbara to offtake partner OM Materials, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASX-listed, Singapore-based vertically integrated manganese and ferroalloy group OM Holdings Ltd. The manganese concentrate grade of 30-35 per cent and the level of impurities meet contract specifications as agreed under their offtake agreement, Element 25 says.

Hot WA mid-west precious metals explorer Podium Minerals is on track to post an updated shallow resource next month for its promising Parks Reef project south-west of Meekatharra after drilling confirmed continuity of platinum group metal mineralisation over a 15km targeted strike length. The company, whose share price has climbed more than 500 per cent since the start of 2021, is also stepping up deeper resource drilling.

Coda Minerals has landed a $75,000 grant from the South Australia Government, which may prove timely as it ramps up exploration at its Elizabeth Creek project in the state’s Olympic Dam copper province. Coda’s new funding comes courtesy of the Accelerated Discovery Initiative and will be used for an airborne electromagnetic survey over its Emmie Bluff copper discovery.

Smart aged-care and healthcare technology developer InteliCare, in conjunction with the University of Sydney and Macquarie University, has been awarded a $100,000 grant by the NSW Smart Sensing Network to further develop the company’s machine learning product for predicting risks associated with chronic deterioration in the elderly.

Eclipse Metals has locked in a four-year extension to its exploration licence at the Ivittuut cryolite and rare earth project in Greenland, with heavily reduced minimum expenditure commitments for the first year. The extension follows amendments to the previous licence made by the newly elected Greenland Government. A program of work for 2021 has been submitted with approval expected in July.