Public Company News

The seemingly insatiable global demand for Lithium has created a modern day gold rush of sorts – and everyone is looking for an edge. Those mining entrepreneurs who made their fortunes sniffing out gold, nickel and copper are now all fired up about the prospect of starting over again with Lithium. Whilst hard rock projects are popular, Lithium brines are set to star and Reedy Lagoon look to be well placed.

Calima Energy have bulked up their land holdings in the red hot, liquids-rich, Montney oil and gas play in Canada. This is the second time Calima have successfully bid in Government auctions for additional Montney acreage in the last month. The newly listed explorer’s acreage has increased by 6% and the company has enhanced its position as a significant landowner in one of North America’s hottest energy provinces.

Blackham Resources have added 310,000 ounces of gold to their Wiluna North suite of open pits and are now looking at digging one giant, 3.5km long super pit that will join together all of the historic workings in the area. Importantly, the global resource at the Wiluna project has cracked the 3 gram per tonne mark for the first time with the project now boasting 65m tonnes grading 3.1 g/t gold for 6.5m ounces.

Stargroup says transactions from its independent ATM network remain robust despite the four major banks scrapping cash withdrawal charges from their ATMs. Stargroup chief executive Todd Zani says the company’s revenue and transaction projections remain strong and the company is unlikely to be impacted by the changes because Stargroup’s ATMs operate in the insulated "convenience" market.

ASX listed DroneShield has the tiger by the tail in the anti-drone market. The ASX junior with a market cap of just $30m has carved out a suite of products that both detect and disable unmanned drones. The company’s stationary mounted “Drone Sentry” looks like a sci-fi version of ET and the “DroneGun” looks a bit like the ultimate warrior’s hand held machine gun – albeit it doesn’t shoot bullets.

Northern Minerals have raised $3m from a placement to a local sophisticated investor to top up financing for their $56 million Browns Range heavy rare earths project in the East Kimberley. The company also reported the first modules of the processing plant being built by Sinosteel MECC were due to ship from China by the end of the week.

ASX-listed biotech PharmAust has secured a patent in the US relating to the use of its promising anti-cancer drug Monepantel, for the treatment of non-cancerous conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and age-related illnesses. The patent is another move by Perth-based PharmAust to boost its global IP protections and follows the granting of patents in Europe, US, Australia and China.

Perth-listed Connected IO says it is confident of pushing into Asia with its cutting edge “internet of things” technology after meeting with military and police representatives in Thailand and the Philippines. The wireless tech upstart will work with the emerging Asian nations to develop products such as body cameras, in-vehicle communications and drones for pilot programs this year.

Hammer Metals have added to an already packed drill schedule with a 2,500-metre program at their Millennium Cobalt-Copper-Gold project. The program will be funded by Hammer’s new Canadian joint venture partner and will be completed by the end of the December. Whilst the project appears to be well endowed with Gold and Copper, Hammer are quietly confident of increasing their Cobalt resource.

Pilbara Minerals have received their final environmental approval from the WA Government to build and operate the massive Pilgangoora Lithium project in the Pilbara. The move clears the way for completion of construction and first production by Q2 2018. Pilbara also passed another milestone this week by achieving financial close on their US$100m bond issue, a key component of the project financing.

Auroch Minerals exciting exploration play in search of a copper-zinc giant in Portugal is starting to look interesting. The company’s third hole hit several intervals of copper sulphides, with results improving with depth. The hole will now be deepened after a downhole survey also revealed a potential conductor below the original end of hole depth of 1200 metres.

All the pieces are falling into place at Australia’s first heavy rare earths mine, with 100%-owner Northern Minerals this week reporting progress on many fronts just as global demand surges for its key payable mineral. Mining and stockpiling of ore at the company’s Browns Range project is 50% complete and the site is now ready for the modular processing plant, which is enroute from China.