Public Company News

Blackstone Minerals’ targeting appears spot on with its maiden drilling program at the Ta Khoa nickel project in northern Vietnam intersecting substantial disseminated nickel sulphide mineralisation. The first three holes at the Ban Phuc prospect returned wide intervals including 45.5m @ 1.2% nickel from 56.5m down-hole, 17.8m @ 1% nickel from 106.6m and 22m @ 0.8% nickel from 138m respectively.

Hot Chili has commenced a second phase of diamond drilling aimed at expanding the prospective, higher-grade zone of the Cuerpo 3 porphyry copper-gold ore system within its Cortadera project in central Chile. The company said results from the first phase had exceeded expectations and re-shaped its view of the potential size and grade of the Cortadera discovery.

Anglo Australian Resources is set to ramp up exploration of its Mandilla gold project south of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, after securing commitments for a $1.4 million share placement priced at 6.5 cents. Proceeds from the placement will also be used for further infill drilling and ongoing feasibility study work for the company’s flagship Feysville gold project also near Kalgoorlie.

88 Energy and partner Burgundy Xploration have signed an exclusivity agreement with the preferred bidder for the farmout of the conventional rights for their project known as “Project Icewine” in Alaska’s North Slope oil province. The bidder will pay USD$500,000 for initial agreed costs relating to the 2020 drilling program to secure exclusivity over the rights to 31 August 2019.

Bellevue Gold has discovered high-grade gold mineralisation below the historical Bellevue underground mine workings near Leinster, WA, with a peak result of 2.2m @ 27.8g/t gold from 656m down-hole. The new Deacon lode is located between 500m and 750m from the surface, over about 1km of strike, with mineralisation hosted in the same altered rocks as the mine and gold associated with sulphide minerals.

ASX-listed Neometals has intersected massive nickel sulphides at its Mt Edwards project in the Goldfields region of Western Australia with drilling returning a cracking intersection of 4m @ 6.3% nickel within a broader 11m @ 2.6% nickel from 108m down-hole at the Zabel prospect. Drilling at the Lake Eaton tenement also showed elevated nickel grades along strike of Mincor Resources’ high‐grade Cassini nickel deposits.

Brazil-focused gold explorer, Big River Gold, has received firm commitments from institutional and sophisticated investors for a $1.5 million share placement for exploration and evaluation of existing tenements adjacent to its flagship Borborema project. Proceeds from the placement will also be used for pre-construction activities to accelerate the development of the Borborema project.

Venus Metals and Rox Resources have extended high-grade gold mineralisation at the Currans Find North prospect near Youanmi, WA, with drilling returning a top intersection of 1m @ 57.2g/t gold from 110m down-hole. The results extend high‐grade gold mineralisation at depth and demonstrate the potential for the discovery “blind” high‐grade gold lodes along strike and down‐plunge from known mineralisation.

Azumah Resources has completed a high-level scoping study indicating that its Bepkong underground deposit at the Wa gold project in north-western Ghana, could produce 154,000 ounces of gold and generate a cash flow of $47m over 4.5 years. In July, the company delivered a maiden underground resource of 2.4Mt @ 3.59g/t gold for 279,700 ounces at the Bepkong deposit, doubling the previous mineral resource inventory.

Buru Energy has encountered good to excellent shows while drilling through the primary objective Reeves Formation at its highly-prospective Adoxa-1 conventional oil exploration well in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Live oil shows were observed at the surface and the well also intersected oil shows in cuttings samples of interpreted good quality sands at 970m and 1,565m measured depth.

Lithium Australia’s maiden reverse circulation drilling program at its Youanmi project near Sandstone in WA’s Murchison region is off to a flying start with initial assays returning a peak result of 1m @ 3.07% lithium oxide. Drilling has extended the extent of known lithium-bearing pegmatites at the project and has so far confirmed mineralisation over 1,200m of strike, which remains open down-dip and along strike.

AVZ Minerals’ metallurgical test work programs for its Manono lithium-tin project in the DRC, have delivered encouraging results in line with other global lithium-mineralised pegmatite ores and support its ongoing DFS. Testing has generated similar rock characteristics and strengths to other spodumene-bearing ore deposits and heavy liquid separation produced a high-grade concentrate at 6.2% lithium oxide, with a 66% concentrate recovery.