Announcements

ASX-listed Sky and Space Global is running ahead of schedule with the assembly of its three demonstration "nano-satellites" as it progresses the launch of its potentially game-changing satellite based communications network. The company says construction of the first three units is due for completion in December ahead of the planned Q2 2017 launch.

The FIRB has cleared a $30m Chinese investment in Northern Minerals, clearing the way for the rapid development of the company’s heavy rare earths project at Browns Range in WA. Northern Minerals have already banked $3m and will bank another $9m from Huatai Mining next week with two more $9m payments to follow.

Lithium Australia is in the final approval stage for a maiden drill program in Mexico, adjacent to a world-class project that has already secured celebrated electric car maker Tesla as an off-take partner. It follows an announcement earlier in the week of an additional Lithium discovery at Electra from surface sampling that returned ore grade assays. 

Upstart biotech company Pharmaust is getting close to proving up their breakthrough anti-cancer drug in dogs with a second canine patient suffering from late stage cancer recruited last week. The company recently announced that a second dog had started treatment at Sydney’s Animal Referral Hospital using PharmAust’s reformulated drug known as Monepantel.

You know you're onto something when you cant even find a spot to build your mine because you keep discovering more Lithium under areas designated for mining infrastructure. Such is the predicament of Pilbara Minerals who are strugging to find a non-mineralized spot to build their mine.

A recent drilling campaign at Perth based hammer Metals’ “Millennium” project in Mt Isa has unearthed a cocktail of mineralization on a tenement package that cost the mining junior just $83k in cash and shares – and they bought it from Chinese interests. Minerals present include Copper, Gold, Cobalt, Silver and lead with most results easily convertable to plus 1% Copper equivalents. 

Lithium Australia have begun the final stage of pilot plant trials to prove up their unique “Sileach” Lithium processing technology. The goal of the current trial is to prove to the market that the company’s Sileach process can cheaply and efficiently turn raw mine product into highly sought after battery-grade Lithium Carbonate at around half the cost of traditional processes.

Blackham Resources this week joined the select ranks of Australian gold miners with the commencement of production at their Matilda gold project in Wiluna. With 860 sq km's of tenements to explore and a stellar record of working out where the gold is hiding, it is safe to assume that Blackham’s Matilda Gold resource wont sit at 5.1m ounces for long.

Terrain Minerals, with a market cap of less than $4m and a share price of around .009c are looking to differentiate themselves from the sea of mining junior's by creating an early cashflow from their Great Western gold project near Leonora. The company has appointed a consulting metallurgist to investigate building an onsite gravity milling operation. 

If Lithium is the new iron ore for W.A, then Pilbara Minerals are potentially the new Rio Tinto. The company is already sitting on arguably the largest Lithium resource in the world and they have just dramatically expanded their footprint in the Pilgangoora lithium district by paying $8m for Dakota Minerals' neighboring Lynas Find project covering 268 sq km's. 

An 80-hole aircore drill program is set to begin at the Rockford project, widely regarded as one of our best hopes for another Nova-Bollinger discovery in the Fraser Range. Legend Mining and the Creasy Group have been prompted to undertake the big regional drilling program following encouraging assay results from their first two diamond drill holes. 

In what could be a major publicity boost for Perth head-quartered Sky and Space Global, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space craft carrier, Cosmic Girl, is considering utilizing the company’s breakthrough nano-satellites for its aerospace communications under an agreement signed this week. The company's share price recently doubled.

If an ASX listed company that manages to produce 3 or 4 record quarters of revenue in a row is worth taking a closer look at, then one that manages 11 straight record revenue quarters should have investors wide eyed and sitting bolt upright. Perth based ATM machine player Stargroup just announced their 11th straight record revenue quarter.

Sipa Resources’ maiden drilling program in the lucrative Paterson mining district north of the giant Telfer mine has identified a very large gold-copper system with a strike length of more than 4km. The extensive hits have provided strong encouragement for the discovery of a deposit similar to the recent 1+ million oz finds on neighbouring tenements. 

Neometals have kicked off a big month of news by announcing plans to fast-track planning for a downstream lithium processing plant near their soon-to-be commissioned Mt Marion mine. This month is also expected to see the shipping of the first lithium concentrates, and news of yet another resource upgrade following spectacular drill results in August.

Terrain Minerals’ revival of the Great Western mine near Leonora is racing ahead, with a 30-hole drill program set to begin as soon as possible. The new drill data will fill one of the last remaining gaps in in the resource for the high-grade deposit, which Terrain expects to be the foundation of even more exploration success and growth.

The owners of low grade, uneconomic Lithium deposits around the world might end up being in the money after all given ASX listed Lithium Australia’s announcement that their much talked about, low cost method of processing Lithium might actually work. The company told the ASX today that a pilot plant trial of their “Sileach” processing technology was a resounding success.

MGC Pharmaceuticals says delivery of its Californian distribution deal for its cannabis-based skincare products is imminent.  In an operations update, the medical cannabis hopeful says it is ramping up cosmetics production at its Slovenian facility and is in advanced discussions on additional distribution agreements as it ramps up its international presence.

Stargroup look set to add the missing link to their burgeoning Automatic Teller Machine business after signing an MOU to buy the ATM machine switching, settlement and processing assets of 45 year old company Indue Limited. The debt funded acquisition which will cost $6.5m, will drop another $1.7m to Starhgroup's growing bottom line.   

Sky and Space Global has taken another step towards the launch of its innovative nano-satellite communications network, firming up its technical offering by gaining approval from the UK Ministry of Defence to use its UHF frequency. The company's share price recently jumped 44% in a singe day as the project looks more and more likely to come to fruition. 

Hammer Metals continues to shake up the Mt Isa exploration scene with a boost to its Kalman resource the latest in a run of exceptional news. The copper equivalent grade at Kalman has jumped from 1.3% to 1.8% following recent successful drilling and Hammer believes the deposit, which is open along strike and down plunge, still has more to offer.

American global electronics magazine EE Times has added a company that was backdoor listed in Perth to its highly anticipated annual list of hot tech start-ups to watch. ASX listed Weebit, that was recently backdoor listed into Radar Iron by Nedlands based corporate advisory firm Armada Capital, has made the EE Times “Silicon 60” list this year.

Blackham Resources has provided some certainty for investors by locking in forward gold sales at near record prices for part of its production from the 100,000+ oz-per annum Matilda gold project. More than 1/3rd of gold sales over the next 18 months are locked away providing Blackham with a solid foundation to launch big expansion plans.

MGC Pharma and The University of Sydney have released a new report on the clinically proven benefits of medicinal cannabis in a bid to increase its acceptance and draw attention to its potential medical benefits. More than 100 studies are currently underway which will provide a base load of clinical evidence for doctors and patients.

Well its official – Lithium mining is very lucrative and the hype surrounding the industry is real and justified. Pilbara Minerals had the market sitting upright with eyes and ears at the ready this week when they released their stunning financial projections for what could be the world’s largest Lithium mine just 100km south of Port Hedland in W.A.

Sky and Space Global has attracted another big name partner as it counts down to the launch of its first nano-satellites in the second quarter of next year. The company has entered an MOU with US$7 billion tech giant Flextronics, just one week after signing with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to ferry its nano-satellites into orbit.

The University of Cambridge has begun a second phase of canine trials of PharmAust’s promising anti-cancer drug, taking it a step closer to widespread availability for pet owners. The trial will also provide information on the potential for the Perth-based company’s new drug as a breakthrough cancer treatment for humans.

With a swag of drill results from two exciting projects on two different continents due out over the next few weeks, ASX punters will no doubt be watching Sipa Resources closely with one hand on the buy button. Sipa this week starts a new phase of drilling at Akelikongo, its highly-rated nickel-copper prospect in Uganda. 

ASX listed PharmAust subsidiary Epichem has been elevated to a select group of biotech companies that have achieved ISO 9001:2015, an internationally recognised certification for quality, continual improvement and customer focus. Epichem unertakes biotech research for some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies in Perth. 

The transformation of Drake Resources into a stock riding the global cyber security boom is reaching its final stages, with a shareholder meeting to approve the reverse takeover of Israeli firm Genome expected in November. Genome are also about to release a mobile version of their unique technology that finds human weeknesses in IT systems. 

Sky and Space Global has announced a deal with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to use its LauncherOne spacecraft to deliver a “constellation” of miniature satellites into space. The agreement is a major step forward for the Perth-headquartered company as it rapidly moves ahead with establishing its own global satellite telecommunications network. 

Hammer Metals will shortly produce a maiden copper-cobalt-gold resource estimate at the Millennium prospect in Mt Isa just months after acquiring the project for a song. Hammer has also identified a promising new target on the Millennium leases that boasts small scale historic production with copper grades of 26%. The project is also looking good for Cobalt.