Announcements

MGC Pharmaceuticals has added another notch to its belt with 100 patients that have been prescribed or are being processed to receive prescriptions of its medical cannabis-based pharmaceutical products in Australia. The company has also extended its local reach after Tetra Health, who assists medical professionals and patients to obtain safe access to medicinal cannabis products, added MGC’s products to their product range.

Lithium Australia has hit another milestone on its road towards recycling lithium-ion batteries with the successful production of lithium phosphate from mixed metal dust derived from waste battery electrodes. The company is currently in the process of using this lithium phosphate to produce lithium-ferro-phosphate cathode powder that will then be used to manufacture coin cells for testing.

BlackEarth Minerals’ ongoing test work has confirmed that spherical graphite produced using concentrates from its flagship Maniry project in Madagascar, meets specifications required by lithium-ion anode manufacturers. Additionally, the test work by German testing outfit, Dorfner ANZAPLAN, has achieved production yields of up to 52%, well above the industry average of around 40%.

Surefire Resources is finalising a drilling program to test anomalous zones of gold mineralisation previously identified within greenstones at its Victory Bore project located near Sandstone in Western Australia’s Mid-West region. Previous drilling in the 1990s defined a gold-in-soil anomaly about 4.4 kilometres long and up to 750 metres wide with a top intersection of 8m @ 10.2g/t gold from just 20m down-hole.

Venus Metals and Rox Resources have commenced a 5,000m aircore drill program at their Venus JV near the topical Penny West gold mine in the Youanmi region. The companies are targeting a prominent magnetic low identified by an airborne survey which includes the historical Penny West gold mine, the historical Magenta and Columbia prospects and Spectrum Metals’ recent Penny North discovery.

Strike Energy has inked a fourfold increase in the net reservoir within the secondary objective Wagina sandstone to 10.2 metres with porosities of up to 14% at its multi-target West Erregulla-2 well in the Perth Basin, Western Australia. The company said this compares favourably to the nearby producing Beharra Springs fields, which flowed up to 38 million cubic feet of gas per day from a 10.4 metre net gas reservoir in the Wagina sandstone.

Northern Minerals has signed an offtake agreement with German raw material distributor thyssenkrupp Materials Trading for the purchase of all heavy rare earth carbonate produced from its Browns Range pilot plant project near Halls Creek, WA. The offtake agreement will commence immediately, with all current stockpiled product and future production included in the agreement.

Black Rock Mining’s Mahenge project in Tanzania has successfully produced spherical graphite that exceeds industry standards for battery anode materials with yields of up to 53% and purity of 99.98% TGC during a large-scale trial in a commercial environment. The results are higher than Chinese industrial benchmark yields of between 35% and 45% and purity of 99.5% TGC and replicate results achieved during laboratory testing.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has received the green light to start construction of its large scale, GMP compliant medical cannabis production facility in Malta that will increase its existing production capacity after signing a long-term lease agreement for the 6,000 square metre site. The site works for the facility will commence immediately and the company plans to start construction of the multi-storey building during the current quarter.

Buru Energy has observed hydrocarbon shows after intersecting the secondary target Anderson Formation at its Adoxa-1 conventional oil exploration well in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. The significance of these individual sand bodies with hydrocarbon shows in cuttings samples will be evaluated with wireline logs once the well is completed to its total planned depth of 2,200m.

Sovereign Metals’ new Wofiira rutile prospect in Malawi just got interesting, with analyses of the titanium-rich ore concentrate showing the products are likely suitable for all major markets, including the chloride pigment, titanium metal and welding flux sectors. Metallurgical studies show that the ores have a favourable particle grain size distribution, comparable to other leading natural rutile products in the market.

MGC Pharmaceuticals and Chinese e-commerce marketplace YuShop Global have kicked off a full marketing and sales campaign for MGC’s cannabis-based nutraceuticals following a successful eight-week test campaign. Under the distribution agreement between the two companies, YuShop will sell MGC’s nutraceutical products to consumers via its online platform and network of retail channel partners, which include 1,500 luxury spas.

Geopacific Resources is free to advance the financing stage for the construction of its Woodlark gold project in PNG, after concluding its independent due diligence technical work programs and reporting, which showed no “fatal flaws” to its development. The review was commissioned by a group of potential lenders for the project, who have signed non-binding term sheets to finance operational start-up.

Infinity Lithium has hit a milestone with the successful production of lithium hydroxide using recycled reagents, a feat that the company said proves the viability of its processing flowsheet for the San José project in Spain. The company now expects to finalise the capital and operating costs within the next week, which will lead to the completion and release of the project’s pre-feasibility study.

Coziron Resources is gearing up to start a 12,500m infill and extensional drilling campaign at its exciting Ashburton magnetite iron project in the west Pilbara, WA, after receiving firm commitments for a $3 million placement. The program is aimed at facilitating the development of a maiden JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate extending over about 1.5 kilometres of strike.

PolarX has delineated large chargeable anomalies using data from a recent geophysical survey and commenced diamond drilling at the Saturn porphyry copper-gold target within its Alaska Range project in the US. The company said that the data returned from Saturn is consistent with porphyry copper exploration models worldwide and shows potential prospectivity for disseminated sulphides and a quartz-veined stockwork ore system.

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.

Australian Potash has cranked up the JORC mineral resource of its Lake Wells sulphate of potash, or “SOP”, project near Laverton, WA, by 23% to 18.1 million tonnes of drainable SOP. This resource is entirely within the measured category, which gives the company a high degree of confidence that it can support its initial planned 150,000 tonne per annum project for a long, sustained period.

King River Resources has increased its footprint in the Northern Territory’s Tennant Creek copper-gold belt with the application for two prospective new exploration licences. One of the licence applications contains the same geological formation hosting the Tennant Creek and Rover goldfields, while the other covers the historical Kurundi open pit and underground mine where rock sampling returned over 5g/t gold and up to 9.7% copper.

Novo Resources is vectoring towards a prospective region located southeast of historical workings and trenches at its Egina gold project near Port Hedland, WA, after delineating a 600m wide region of gravel that contains plentiful gold nuggets. The company identified the patch during a ground-penetrating radar survey in May, which outlined a valley floor containing the sought-after gold-bearing gravel horizons.

Nzuri Copper’s takeover by Chinese industrial player, Chengtun Mining Group, is entering its final stages with shareholders set to vote on the AUD$109.5 million all-cash takeover offer in mid-August. The company’s Kalongwe copper-cobalt project within the Central African Copperbelt in the far south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expected to play a key role in Chengtun’s copper-cobalt expansion plans in the country.