Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

88 Energy has tuned up its Peregrine oil project on Alaska’s lucrative North Slope by using detailed seismic analysis to demonstrate a favourable comparison with its neighbour, the giant Willow oil field operated by major US oil company, ConocoPhillips. According to the company, the work has identified many similarities between its key prospects and neighbouring oil fields and could potentially tweak the interest of potential farm-in partners.

TSX-V listed Novo Resources is set to join the lucrative hunt for gold in Victoria after putting an option in place with Kalamazoo Resources to earn an initial interest in the Queens gold project. The Queens project overlies the world-class Bendigo Tectonic Zone and is only 55km south of Kirkland Lake’s well known 6.1 million-ounce Fosterville gold mine.

Aspiring Indonesia gold producer, Sihayo Gold, is set to kick off a first-pass 22-hole diamond drilling program totalling about 5,500m at the exciting Hutabargot Julu prospect at its Sihayo gold project in North Sumatra. The ASX-listed, Brisbane-based company is looking to start drilling next month once drill rigs have been flown in by helicopter and assembled in the mountainous jungle terrain.

Oakdale Resources looks to have hit the mark in Nevada with diamond drilling intersecting a broad breccia target at its Lambarson Canyon gold project. The drill bit has chewed through a structural quartz breccia that is recognised as hosting high-grade gold with previous surface sampling yielding assays of more than 61 g/t gold.

Kairos Minerals is on the trail of two new gold anomalies with an extensive footprint it has sniffed out at the Skywell project about 70km south-west of the burgeoning Hemi gold discovery. The project forms part of the company’s overarching Pilbara gold projects hub as it continues to generate a pipeline of targets in the Pilbara it says has the potential to host intrusion-related gold mineralisation similar to De Grey Mining’s Hemi discovery.

Eclipse Metals has launched the second stage of drilling at its high-grade Amamoor manganese project in Queensland with a diamond drill rig returning to the area near Gympie to chase geophysical anomalies linked to the known historical mine workings. Eclipse will test the width, depth and grade quality of mineralisation intersected in its stage one drill program, adjacent to historical workings.

ASX-listed emerging gold producer, Wiluna Mining, is on the verge of delivering a global mineral resource upgrade for its historic Wiluna project in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields, as further high-grade gold hits continue to underpin its low-CAPEX pathway towards gold production expansion later next year.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia has maintained exposure to gold and base metals through joint ventures it has recently struck over various projects in WA while at the same time retaining the rights to 100 per cent of the landholdings’ lithium mineralisation. The company has farmed out the mineral rights to JV partner Okapi Resources in an agreement that will see exploration resume at the Lake Johnston and Medcalf projects about 120km west of Norseman.

Calidus Resources continues to gain momentum in its run up to gold production in the Pilbara, securing ownership of a further 219,000-ounces of high-grade gold resources from the Blue Spec mine north of Nullagine in WA just 70km south east of the company’s developing Warrawoona gold project. Blue Spec’s in-ground resource comes at a stunning grade of 16.3 g/t gold.

ASX-listed lithium developer, AVZ Minerals, has agreed to buy out its junior partner’s 10 per cent stake in the massive Manono lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for $15.5 million. AVZ will now move to 75 per cent ownership of the project and it is currently advancing discussions with potential debt providers and offtake partners for the proposed US$545 million project development.

ASX-listed PharmAust plans to start a phase one clinical trial of its cancer fighting drug, Monepantel, next year to see if it can help patients suffering from Motor Neurone Disease. The clinical-stage oncology company was recently awarded a grant of $881,085 from FightMND that will be used to conduct the trials. Melbourne-based FightMND was co-founded by former AFL player and coach, Neale Daniher, and is the largest independent funder of MND research in Australia.

South American focused gold miner, Troy Resources, has crunched the numbers to upgrade the mineral resource estimate at its Karouni gold project in Guyana to a healthy 1,007, 000 ounces from 16 million tonnes grading 2.0 g/t gold. Troy is also on track to produce up to 40,000 ounces this financial year at an all-in-sustaining-cost of between US$1,450 and US$1,550 an ounce.

Great Southern Mining has extended the strike length at its Cox’s Find gold project near Laverton in WA by 1km to the north. The best result from the recent RC drilling at two key target areas returned 8m at 1.1 g/t gold from 91m, including 2m at 3.2 g/t gold. Other notable hits were 6m at 1.0 g/t gold from 114m and 13m at 0.7 g/t gold from a relatively shallow 34m.

Lithium Australia’s joint venture partner at the Wundowie project, Australian Vanadium, has launched into a detailed study of the historical exploration dataset, highlighting the potential of the tenure to host significant nickel, copper and platinum group mineralisation. The companies are now planning an extensive program of geophysical and geochemical surveying across the collaborative tenement positions.

ASX-listed gold explorer, Venus Metals, has teased out some encouraging deeper gold hits from drilling at the Sovereign discovery at its joint-ventured historic Youanmi gold project in WA’s Murchison region. The most notable intersection was 8m going 5.03 grams per tonne gold from 160m including 2m at 15.83 g/t from 160m and 3m at 2.86 g/t from 165m.

Cobre Ltd has nailed its preliminary metallurgical test work for the Perrinvale VHMS project in Western Australia. One 90kg bulk sample from the Schwabe prospect has undergone initial testing and produced impressive head grades of 3.6 per cent copper, 1.6 per cent zinc, 1.1 g/t gold and 13.1 g/t silver from a standard suite of copper and zinc sulphides. Test work will now proceed to the development of a potential processing route for the project.

Unlisted Gawler Craton gold explorer, Barton Gold, has further strengthened its board of directors with the appointment of experienced corporate lawyer, Christian Paech, as it looks to significantly expand the global resource inventory at its historic Tarcoola and Tunkillia gold projects ahead of a planned ASX listing. Paech was most recently the General Counsel and Company Secretary at oil and gas giant Santos.

Mako Gold has extended the footprint of its Tchaga gold discovery in northern Cote d’Ivoire in Africa, blowing out the strike length of the high-grade discovery to more than 1.6km. The company’s preliminary results from its latest round of shallow RC drilling include 3m at 4.59 g/t gold and 10 metres at 1.1 g/t gold.

ASX-listed Calidus Resources has started early capital works at its planned $116 million Warrawoona mine about 25km south-east of Marble Bar in WA’s East Pilbara. The company says it has now locked in the preferred major mining and engineering contractors for the project that is expected to turn out free cash flows of $58.5 million a year against all-in sustaining costs to produce each ounce of gold of just $1,250.

ASX-listed agribusiness developer, Alterra Ltd, has successfully rattled the tin for $1.7 million following a placement to new investor, Emanuel Exports and existing major shareholder, Sandon Capital Investments. In a boost for Alterra’s financing aspirations for its WA agricultural projects, Emanuel will emerge as a major shareholder with 15 per cent ownership of Alterra’s expanded issued capital, whilst Sandon maintains its 19.2 per cent stake.

Novo Resources has taken another significant step as it charges towards production in the Pilbara, this week appointing two well credentialed mining men to oversee the company’s transition from explorer to gold producer. The move follows hot on the heels of the company completing the acquisition of Millennium Minerals and its mothballed Golden Eagle mill at Nullagine in WA earlier this month.

ASX-listed explorer, Comet Resources, has finalised a US$20 million “streaming” facility with Raptor Capital International for the potential development of its high-grade Santa Teresa gold project in Mexico. Historical drilling at the project intersected some bonanza gold hits including 1m at an incredible grade of 958 grams per tonne, or a whopping 33 ounces of gold to the tonne.

Kairos Minerals’ exploration program in the Pilbara looks to be delivering in spades with recent sampling across the Kangan project defining two extensive gold anomalies a mere 20km south of De Grey’s world-class Hemi gold discovery. The sampling at Kangan forms part of the company’s larger exploration program in the region which includes a bevy of surface sampling, drilling and geophysical surveys.

Horizon Minerals has offloaded its “non-core” Nanadie Well copper project in the Murchison district of WA as it progresses a massive 70,000m aircore, RC and diamond drilling campaign at its flagship Boorara gold project near Kalgoorlie. Horizon is already producing gold near Kalgoorlie under a toll treatment arrangement and the company has a plethora of satellite projects that it hopes to bring into production around Kalgoorlie.

Godolphin Resources has taken a second look at its Lewis Ponds project in NSW that was previously thought to be prospective for lead and zinc but now looks to be potentially even more lucrative for gold and silver. An extensive 1300m long gold and silver surface geochemical anomaly has delivered soil samples kicking as high as 6.2 g/t gold and 26.1 g/t silver.

ASX-listed gold explorer, Anglo Australian Resources, has continued to hit some very encouraging deep, down-plunge extensions to the known mineralisation at its historic Mandilla gold project 20km south-east of Kambalda, with further wide auriferous zones encountered at Mandilla East.

ASX-listed lithium hopeful, AVZ Minerals, says it is knee-deep in negotiations with potential offtake partners and debt financing providers to breathe life into the staged, US$545 million development of its Manono open-pit lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that boasts one of the largest hard-rock lithium deposits on the planet.

Perth based oncology company, PharmAust, has confirmed the anti-viral potential of its Monepantel drug in the fight against COVID-19 and firmed up its strategy for other potential treatments using the drug, including treating cancer in dogs and treating human neurodegenerative disease.

Northern Minerals has banked the majority of the almost $10 million lifeline the Australian Taxation Office promised it after settling a protracted research and development grant dispute that played havoc with its balance sheet. The company has banked $8.64 million from the ATO and a further $1.3m is due in by the end of the week. Northern used the money to repay $2m in debt.

St George Mining continues to gain momentum at the Mt Alexander nickel project with its latest round of metallurgical test work returning excellent results that show solid nickel and copper concentrate grades with promising recoveries of both metals. The concentrates also show a wealth of by-product credits that include lucrative levels of platinum group metals, silver and cobalt.

ASX-listed Indonesian gold hopeful, Sihayo Gold, is close to wrapping up a massive $40 million capital raise that will see it emerge debt-free and cashed up to fund an aggressive exploration program at its underexplored tenure in the world-class gold setting of North Sumatra. The cash injection will also allow the company to step up plans for the potential US$144 million development of its namesake 1.5Moz “starter” gold project.

Reconnaissance work over Victory Mines’ Bonaparte project in WA is already paying dividends, with both rock chipping and resampling of historic drilling returning high-grade copper samples including outcropping mineralisation which grades up to a bumper 25.9 per cent copper and 13.7 g/t silver. Victory’s back-to-basics approach has outlined an extensive copper anomalism with drilling scheduled to kick off in the coming months.