Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Lithium Australia’s ongoing lithium drilling at the prospective Youanmi project near Sandstone in WA’s Murchison region has had initial success, with many of the 22 holes drilled to date intersecting visible lepidolite mineralisation. The company has also dispatched samples from its completed four-hole vanadium drilling program at Youanmi for chemical analyses and metallurgical test work.

AVZ Minerals has appointed well-credentialled, Perth-based, GR Engineering Services to oversee delivery of the definitive feasibility study for its Manono lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, by the June quarter of 2020. On-site, DFS work programs are continuing on schedule with metallurgical test work well underway and dewatering programs for the historical Roche Dure open pit having commenced.

St George Mining’s new Fish Hook prospect at its flagship Mt Alexander base metals project near Leonora, WA, has been identified as a high priority nickel-copper sulphide target. Soil sampling at the prospect returned highly anomalous values for nickel, copper and platinum group elements that exceeded assays at the Investigators Prospect where extensive high-grade nickel-copper sulphides were later intersected by drilling.

Bellevue Gold has generated an updated mineral resource estimate for its flagship Bellevue gold deposit near Leinster, WA, revealing a 17% increase in the contained metal to 5 million tonnes grading 11.1g/t gold for 1.8 million ounces. Next steps at the project include completing metallurgical and geotechnical studies, establishing water supply locations for the proposed mining operation and refining geological resource models by completing infill drilling.

ClearVue Technologies has signed a consultancy agreement with global engineering consultants Arup to further develop its Smart Façade panel concepts that incorporate the ASX-listed company’s clear glass solar panels. This work will develop four types of self-powered Smart Façades into concepts that can be supplied to selected manufacturers for prototyping and integration into mass production and assembly.

MGC Pharmaceuticals’ seed-to-pharmacy strategy is picking up significant momentum with the ASX-listed company reporting revenues of $763,000 in the fourth quarter ended 30 June 2019. The result is due in part to the receipt of $469,000 in revenue from private Canadian cannabis investment company CannaGlobal for cannabis-based cosmetic raw materials under their five-year supply agreement.

PolarX will shortly commence drilling at both its intriguing Saturn porphyry copper-gold target and Zackly copper-gold skarn deposit, located within its Alaska Range project in the US. The company has initiated geophysical surveys at Saturn to help determine the final drill hole positions and it is planning to start a resource extension drilling program at Zackly to grow the existing mineral resource.

Hawkstone Mining has received additional wide, high-grade lithium assays of up to 52m @ 2,042 ppm lithium, from its Big Sandy clay project in the US. The company is finalising its Phase 2 drilling campaign at the Northern Mineralised Zone and is completing a maiden mineral resource estimate for the deposit and definitive metallurgical test work programs for lithium extraction.

Legend Mining has raised $9.8m in a two-tranche subscription agreement with miner Independence Group to fund further exploration. The company has also entered into several joint venture agreements relating to its Rockford project in the Fraser Range, WA, with Legend to acquire a 70% interest in two exploration tenements from the Creasy Group, while Independence will gain a 60% interest in Legend’s Rockford North tenements.

Greenland Minerals’ optimisation study has successfully reduced the capital cost of its giant Kvanefjeld rare earth project in southern Greenland by almost 40% to USD$505 million. This is partly due to the development of an optimised flotation circuit that can produce a concentrate with grades of at least 22% REO, which allows the scale of refinery circuit and the size of processing equipment to be reduced.

St George Mining is poised to start drilling 42 new electromagnetic conductors that have been identified by downhole surveys at its flagship Mt Alexander base metals project near Leonora in the Goldfields region of WA. The highest priority targets are located away from defined zones of nickel-copper sulphides and could significantly extend the mineralised ore system in the Cathedrals Belt.

Adriatic Metals has intersected encouraging, wide intersections of base and precious metals mineralisation from drilling in its new Concession area at the northern end of the Rupice prospect in Bosnia. The company has also outlined a strong chargeable anomaly from a ground geophysical survey, located 200m west of the current program at Rupice, which contains no historical drilling.

Intermin Resources is selling its non-core Menzies and Goongarrie gold projects north of Kalgoorlie to gold explorer Kingwest Resources for a total consideration of $8 million in cash and shares. The sale supports Intermin’s goal of developing a standalone gold project in the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie regions, while allowing it to retain exposure to any upside in the two projects through a substantial shareholding in Kingwest.

Big River Gold has now secured funds to optimise and complete a bankable feasibility study for its exciting Borborema gold project in north-eastern Brazil by the end of this year. The company recently divested its Juruena-Novo Astro gold projects for $3m in cash and scrip and has raised $4.11m in a rights issue, as it vectors towards the development of its flagship gold project.

Infinity Lithium has signed a binding letter of intent to sell its non-core Banio and Mamana potash projects in Gabon to an unnamed buyer for up to USD$3 million in cash or shares. The buyer has a 12-month option to pay the full amount in cash or pay USD$2 million in shares in a public or private entity with a further USD$1 million in shares to be paid on delivery of a JORC-compliant scoping study within three years.

Calidus Resources has purchased two prospective exploration licences located adjacent to its flagship Warrawoona gold project near Marble Bar, WA, in a strategy to build on its existing resource base of 1.25 million ounces. The company also completed its 70% earn-in on a joint venture agreement with Novo Resources over certain Warrawoona tenements, by spending $2m spend over three years to obtain the stake holding.

Blackstone Minerals has kicked off drilling at its Ta Khoa nickel project located in northern Vietnam and is initially targeting disseminated sulphide mineralisation at the Ban Phuc prospect, following geophysical surveys that showed chargeable anomalies were present. According to the company, the initial IP survey test line run through the area showed a strong correlation with the known massive and disseminated sulphide occurrences.

ClearVue Technologies looks poised to ride the rising green power revolutionary wave with its unique solar glass invention that converts sunshine into energy, courtesy of its technology that can be embedded into window glass. The glass panels can be used to self-power smart façades that automatically adjust light and ventilation to suit building occupants and also reduce the cost of lighting, cooling and heating.

Great Southern Mining’s maiden drilling program at its Rocky Ponds breccia pipe discovery in northern Queensland has intersected strongly anomalous zones peaking at 0.2g/t gold, 49.7g/t silver, 0.44% copper and 0.58% zinc within sulphide-rich epithermal altered mineralisation. The deposit geology is similar to the Mount Carlton mine, 20km to the south, which hosts 1 million ounces of gold and 33 million ounces of silver.

Strike Energy has intersected pronounced hydrocarbon shows in the Lesueur Sandstone and Woodada Siltstone formations at its West Erregulla-2 well in the Perth Basin, Western Australia. Both formations display fair to good visual porosity in the cuttings and good elevated mud gas readings that were better than those encountered in the nearby West Erregulla-1 well.

Hot Chili has delineated thick, copper-gold mineralisation at its Cuerpo 3 porphyry copper deposit in central Chile, with drilling returning 188m @ 0.9% copper and 0.4g/t gold from 516m down-hole within a much broader 750m intercept. The company said the result from the Cortadera project is one of the best intersections of its type recorded globally and is similar to notable bulk tonnage underground porphyry mines.

PharmAust’s wholly owned synthetic and medicinal chemistry subsidiary, Epichem, is set to further improve its bottom line after paying off the $750,000 loan from Export Finance Australia taken out to help finance the construction of a state-of-the-art laboratory in 2015. This laboratory fuelled growth over the period from 2015 to 2018, with revenues increasing 38% to $3 million in the 2018 financial year.

Infinity Lithium’s San José project in Spain has been recognised as a potential cornerstone component of the European Battery Alliance’s goal of creating an integrated lithium-ion supply chain within the European Union. The EBA will facilitate discussions with other industry participants as part of their “battery mining belt” initiative whilst the European Investment Bank could provide funding to battery raw materials and mining projects.

Hammer Metals’ strategic review of the rare earth element potential of its Mount Isa project in Queensland has delineated two encouraging prospects for follow up work. Light rare earth element prospectivity was highlighted at the Koppany prospect near the historical Mary Kathleen uranium mine and Andy’s Well prospect adjacent to the Kalman project, a further 35 kilometres to the southwest.

Aurora Labs has signed a memorandum of understanding with Swedish industrial company, Gränges AB, that could lead to further collaboration in the use of 3D printed aluminium in the automotive and other industries. Under the agreement, Gränges could also pre-order an Aurora RMP-1 Rapid Manufacturing Printer and supply its proprietary aluminium powder to the company.

In a further demonstration that its Wa gold project in Ghana is still hiding significant ounces outside of the main Kunche deposit, Azumah Resources has delivered a maiden underground resource of 2.4 million tonnes grading 3.59g/t gold for just under 280,000 ounces at its exciting Bepkong deposit, just north of Kunche. The result more than doubles the previous Bepkong resource, now standing at 517,600 ounces grading 2.38g/t gold.

Hammer Metals has started an induced polarisation survey at its Bronzewing South gold project in Western Australia to refine potential drilling targets that were identified during initial field reconnaissance. First results from the survey are expected in early August. The company has also started the permitting process for the drilling campaign, which is expected to begin later this month.

Image Resources has completed the sale of three months of production inventory, or about 70,000 tonnes of zircon-rich heavy mineral concentrate, in just six weeks to its offtake partners. Drilling to delineate the high-grade core in the eastern strandline within the company’s Boonanarring project north of Perth is ongoing with preliminary drilling results expected soon.

Novo Resources has extended its tenement holdings in WA’s Pilbara region, with a binding letter of intent to secure surface gold rights over an additional 1,100 square kilometres of ground adjacent to its Egina gold project near Port Hedland. The deal is a strategic add-on for the company, which last month entered into a USD$30m farm-in and JV agreement with the Sumitomo Corporation to explore and develop Egina.

Hammer Metals has completed the sale of its 75% interest in the Millennium cobalt project near Cloncurry, Queensland, to Canadian partner Global Energy Metals Corporation. The company will now focus on its copper-gold projects in the Mount Isa mining district and the Bronzewing South gold project in Western Australia while retaining exposure to the cobalt projects through a 19.9% stake in GEMC.

3D printer Aurora Labs has received an advance of $1.35 million from Radium Capital, which represents about 80% of its anticipated Australian Government tax refund for its research and development expenditure in the 2018-19 financial year. The ASX-listed company will use the advance for working capital purposes and will repay Radium on receipt of the tax refund.

Middle Island Resources has increased its all-scrip takeover offer for fellow ASX-listed gold player Alto Metals to six of its shares for every Alto ordinary share. Alto has global mineral resources totalling 5.4 million tonnes grading 1.7g/t gold for 290,000 ounces of gold at its Sandstone project in WA, whilst Middle Island currently has a JORC mineral resource of 125,300 ounces of gold.