Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Base metal results from Legend Mining’s infill aircore drilling program at its Crean and Worsley prospects in the Fraser Range of WA have given the company encouragement that it is zeroing in on larger mineralised systems in the district. At Crean, anomalous nickel-copper assays point to a possible magmatic intrusive ore system like the revered Nova deposit, whilst Worsley shows geology and assays consistent with a VMS system.

Vonex continues to build its core business with the telco now counting more than 28,000 registered PABX telephony customers on its ledger, up from 27,500 users in March. This growth is due to a targeted nationwide marketing program and constructive engagement with its channel partners. The company has also posted a 20% year-on-year increase in new customer orders for the March quarter.

Novo Resources has kicked off its field exploration programs for the Egina and Karratha gold projects in the West Pilbara, WA. The company is planning to complete bulk sampling programs on defined and targeted gold-bearing gravel terraces in the Egina district, whilst regional exploration activities are underway at Karratha to evaluate conglomerate-hosted gold mineralisation between the Comet Well and the Purdy’s Reward projects.

Reedy Lagoon Corporation is reviving its Burracoppin magnetite project near Southern Cross, WA, due to the increased demand for high-grade iron ore concentrate to meet China’s new environmental regulations. Ore from Burracoppin is easily upgraded into a concentrate with between 67% to 70% iron, with low levels of impurities after a relatively coarse grind of 150 microns.

Spectrum Metals has drilled high-grade gold intersections at its Penny North and Magenta prospects near Youanmi in WA and has raised $5m to support ongoing exploration and resource development at the broader Penny West project. The company will shortly commence its Phase II drilling program, which will target regions adjacent to the existing Penny West resource and extensions to the Penny North and Magenta prospects.

PharmAust has received a tidy $672,250 R&D tax refund from the Australian Government for its expenditure on the development of its flagship Monepantel anti-cancer drug. This includes work on its successful clinical trials and reformulating a high dose tablet with improved taste. The refund will be used to advance the company’s clinical trial programs in dogs and humans.

Calidus Resources has boosted its cash position by $2.16m, following a strategic placement with major backer Alkane Resources that will ensure the company completes its PFS for the Warrawoona gold project near Marble Bar, WA, during the next quarter. The company recently upgraded its mineral resources at the project by 75% to 21.2 million tonnes grading 1.83g/t gold for 1.25 million ounces.

Alterra has signed an exclusive technical partner agreement with horticultural expert Tyson Bennett and his Perth-based company Chemicals Direct, placing it in the lead for high-density, high-performance production systems for permanent tree crops. Mr Bennett specialises in the outperformance of high-value tree crops through the management of tree canopies.

Surefire Resources has procured the prospective, yet under-explored Victory Bore vanadium project near Sandstone, WA, from ASX-listed High Grade Metals in a cash and scrip deal worth $1.25m. The company now holds a global combined inferred mineral resource of 237.2 million tonnes grading 0.43% vanadium pentoxide, which incorporates the large Victory Bore deposit and the nearby Unaly Hill deposit.

Hawkstone Mining has generated further wide, high-grade mineralisation in two separate ore horizons from drilling at the Northern Mineralised Zone of its Big Sandy lithium clay project in Arizona, US. Better results included 17m @ 2,152 ppm lithium from 12m down-hole in the Upper Zone and 36m @ 1,892 ppm lithium from 31m down-hole in the Lower Zone, within the same vertical drill hole.

Ongoing metallurgical test work of ore from Caravel Minerals’ flagship copper project in the Wheatbelt region of WA has established that it can be treated using standard process techniques with high recoveries. Testing has found that high recoveries can be achieved using low reagent doses, which could lower processing costs. The company has also revised resources to 1.3Mt of copper, up from the previous estimate of 1.28Mt.

Australian Potash is constructing evaporation ponds to assess the most cost-efficient technique for commercial-scale ponds at its Lake Wells SOP project near Laverton, WA. The company is also drilling up to three large diameter production bores that could support a resource expansion at the project and is carrying out additional long-term pump testing to help finalise the ore reserves estimate.

Black Rock Mining’s Chinese EPC partner Yantai Jinyaun has generated high quality, large flake dominant, graphite concentrates grading 98.7% purity at 95.5% recovery from pilot plant studies on the company’s Tanzanian Mahenge ores. The test work was observed by customers, partners and potential investors and completed to validate the company’s optimised circuit design and processing flowsheets.

Venus Metals has identified three, near surface high-grade gold drilling targets at its historical Currans Find mining lease, only 25km south of its Youanmi gold mine in the Murchison region of WA. Priority areas include the new gold-bearing, quartz lode discovery at Taylor’s Reef and two prospects at the Red White and Blue mine and Currans North mine defined by anomalous gold assays in drilling and surface sampling.

Middle Island Resources has identified new targets at the southern end of its Sandstone gold project in WA, which the gold explorer says indicates the area could host the densest clustering of gold deposits within the entire Sandstone greenstone belt. The targets lie within 2.5km of the company’s gold processing plant and significantly enhances the potential to contribute to a mill recommissioning decision.

Novo Resources has appointed two Perth-based technical consultants to examine development options for its East Pilbara gold assets, including the 900,000 ounce Beatons Creek conglomerate project near Nullagine in WA. The company has several prospective gold projects outside of Beatons Creek, including the Blue Spec gold-antimony deposit to the east and the under-explored Talga Talga deposit, located 35km north of Calidus Resources’ 1.25 million ounce Warrawoona gold project.

Rox Resources has completed due diligence of an expansive drilling database from the Youanmi gold project in the Murchison region of WA and confirmed a 1.2 million ounce gold mineral resource estimate for the mine area. The company last week entered into a deal with Venus Metals under which it has the right to acquire a majority position in the Youanmi gold mine.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has inked a deal with Chinese e-commerce import platform YuShop Global to sell the Perth-based company’s cannabis-based nutraceuticals into the Chinese market. The deal will see MGC Pharma’s products sold via YuShop’s online platform and network of 1,500 retail channel partners across China, including a luxury spa chain.

Infinity Lithium said that recent metallurgical test work studies completed on its San Jose lithium project in Spain have produced positive results and replicated the ore upgrades it achieved in 2018’s Scoping Study. In March, the company increased its ownership in San Jose to 75% and is now accelerating its PFS works for the project, which is on track for completion in June or July this year.

Rock chip sampling at Hammer Metals’ Mt Philp IOCG project near Mount Isa, Queensland, has returned up to 16% copper and 2.41g/t gold from the Mt Philp and Rangeview target areas and identified previously unrecognised bedrock mineralisation associated with soil anomalies. Sampling has also identified new prospects at the Kings, Alice and Deadlock areas in the Malbon region.

Altech Chemicals has raised $18m through a share placement to support the Stage 2 engineering and construction works for its high purity alumina plant in southern Malaysia. The company is planning to produce up to 4,500 tonnes annually of HPA at its Malaysian plant from very pure kaolin clays sourced from a shallow open pit mine near Meckering in WA, which has low levels of impurities.

Lithium Australia has confirmed the discovery of spodumene-bearing lithium mineralisation in multiple pegmatite dykes at its Medcalf prospect near Norseman, WA, that extend over at least 450m of strike and 100m of combined width. Samples up to 5.13% lithium oxide, with elevated levels of the pathfinder elements tantalum, caesium and rubidium were returned during the current program.

Venus Metals and Rox Resources have acquired a 90% stake in the historical high-grade Currans Find prospect located 5km from Spectrum Metals’ high-grade Penny West gold deposit in the Murchison region of WA. Historical records show that 6874 tons at an average grade of 13g/ton gold were treated from Currans Find, which has similar rock types to those that host the Penny West and nearby Columbia–Magenta deposits.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has received the green light to import its medicinal cannabis-based epilepsy drug CannEpil into the UK after it was awarded a controlled drug import licence permit. The permit allows the company to immediately expand distribution of CannEpil into the UK medicinal cannabis products market. It is also finalising negotiations with licensed distributors in the UK and Australia.

Buru Energy is preparing to kick off its 2019 drilling season in the Canning Basin in northern WA with the mobilisation of the NGD Loc 405 drill rig from Perth to its Ungani-6 horizontal oil production well, which is expected to spud in the first week of May. Work has also started on the drill pad for the Ungani-7 horizontal production well, which is located next to the existing Ungani-4 well.

Spectrum Metals has drilled additional wide, high-grade gold intersections at its Penny North gold prospect near Youanmi in WA. New intercepts included 6m @ 47.4g/t gold from 150m down-hole, located 40m down-plunge of March’s discovery hole and 11m @ 25.8g/t gold from 120m down-hole directly up-dip from the discovery hole. The company is raising $5m to support ongoing exploration and development at the emerging project.

Middle Island Resources has launched a formal takeover bid for Alto Metals, offering five of its shares for every Alto share, which could amalgamate the parties’ substantial Sandstone gold assets in WA. The addition of Alto’s gold resources could provide initial mill feed and critical mass to a combined entity with synergies that may potentially benefit the shareholders of both companies.

Calidus Resources has completed a review confirming that wide, surface outcropping gold mineralisation will be available from the start of any potential open pit operation at its Warrawoona gold project in the Pilbara, WA. The company is progressing exploration drilling to define additional resources in the broader project area and expects to complete a pre-feasibility study in the September quarter of 2019.

Bellevue Gold has unearthed three extensive, regional gold trends from a combination of historical data reviews and recent fieldwork adjacent to its 1.53 million ounce Bellevue gold resource located near Leinster, WA. The prospective structural corridors outlined at the Government Well, Bellevue North West and Bellevue West prospects are all set down for drill testing once regulatory approvals are in place.

Hot Chili has started its maiden RC drilling campaign at the large Cortadera copper-gold porphyry deposit located adjacent to its flagship Productora project in central Chile. The company said that drilling was progressing well, with all drill holes recording visual intersections of copper oxide and copper sulphide mineralisation. The first batch of samples have been dispatched for analysis and assays are expected in the coming weeks.

Buru Energy will soon gain a clearer understanding of the Butler conventional oil and gas prospect that straddles both its EP 129 and Rey Resources’ EP 487 in the Canning Basin, northern WA. London-based Doriemus, who is earning a 50% interest in Rey’s permit, is preparing to drill the Butler-1 well to test the gross unrisked mean prospective resources of 3.14Tcf of gas and 42 million barrels of associated condensate.

Small cap listed explorers Rox Resources and Venus metals have joined forces to breathe new life into the historic Youanmi gold mine in a deal that looks like a win win for both parties. With the gold price hovering at around AUD$400 an ounce in 1997, Youanmi was closed down with well over a million ounces still in the ground at good grades.