Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

ASX listed Northern Minerals has brought its Browns Range pilot plant project in W.A.’s Kimberley region to mechanical completion and has produced about 100 tonnes of xenotime concentrate for commissioning into the hydrometallurgical plant. The company can now start production of export quality rare earth carbonate, making it the only significant dysprosium and terbium producer outside of China.

Calima Energy has raised $25m through an oversubscribed two tranche private placement of 462.97 million shares priced at 5.4c each to fund its upcoming drilling campaign in the revered Montney oil and gas play in Canada. The placement was corner-stoned by Australian boutique fund manager Tribeca Investment Partners, who has also agreed to arrange a project development finance facility of up to $40m.

Research house EverBlu Capital has set a price target of 17c a share for aspiring copper producer Hot Chili, based on its 80% ownership of the flagship Productora copper project in Chile. EverBlu says the $30m company could be worth as much as AUD$511m if Hot Chili could process a higher-grade ore blend, by incorporating 10% of its annual sulphide ore feed from small satellite copper mine deposits currently being developed by the company.

Terrain Minerals has outlined a number of new gold exploration targets on its Wild-viper exploration licence that completely surrounds its Great Western gold project, north of Leonora in W.A. The company will shortly commence reconnaissance geological mapping and soil sampling programs over the areas of interest. Terrain also said this week that drilling results from its RC drill program at the Red Mulga exploration play near Geraldton are imminent.

Artemis Resources’ JV partner Novo Resources has shown that a highly prospective gold-bearing conglomerate unit strikes for at least 1.2km at the Purdy’s Reward project near Karratha. Recent field work has located fault structures and a distinctive mafic marker horizon that control the distribution of gold. The JV partners are presently diamond drilling at Purdy’s Reward and preparing to take bulk samples of the deposit.

Strike Energy’s Jaws-1 horizontal coal seam gas well in the Cooper Basin of South Australia, is currently flowing water at a rate of about 1,100 barrels per day and rising with the electric submersible pumps operating near their lowest setting. This indicates significant reservoir inflow from the targeted Vu Upper coal seam and the company will continue to ramp up water production until sustained operations are achieved.

Infinity Lithium has started a scoping study that will look into the potential for the company to economically produce lithium hydroxide alongside its San Jose lithium mine in western Spain. The study is due to be released in September and could result in the company progressing its ongoing feasibility study towards producing a higher value lithium hydroxide battery chemical product rather than lithium carbonate.

Myanmar Metals has commenced a 15,000 metre resource development drilling campaign at its Bawdwin polymetallic mine in central Myanmar. The program is expected to grow the project’s mineral resource estimates and define a large ore reserve, underpinning a feasibility study due for release in late 2019. The drilling will also allow a more thorough evaluation of the mine’s copper-cobalt-nickel potential and help delineate extensions of the existing lodes.

Babylon Pump and Power has secured a $1.5m asset finance facility from National Australia Bank to support its contract to supply power generation to BHP’s Mining Area C surplus water pipeline project. The facility and $4.5m raised through a convertible loan issue gives the company cash reserves to grow its asset fleet and pursue larger contracts.

Blackstone Minerals has discovered new cobalt and gold mineralisation at its Erebor prospect, located less than a kilometre from the company’s flagship, Little Gem project area in British Columbia, Canada. It is the first new find of cobalt in the district since the 1930’s. The company is also awaiting results from a geophysical survey and assays from regional soil, rock chip and stream sediment sampling programs.

Neometals will demerge its valuable Barrambie project and associated non-lithium technology assets into a new ASX listed entity, allowing the parent company to focus on its advanced lithium business. The new company will oversee the initial development of the massive Barrambie titanium-vanadium project and create a direct shipping operation of magnetic concentrates out of W.A.

ASX listed Australian Potash has appointed former WesTrac Managing Director and well known Perth businessman Jim Walker as its Non-Executive Chairman to help develop marketing and financing relationships. Former Executive Chairman Matt Shackleton has been appointed the company’s Managing Director. Australian Potash expects to release a definitive feasibility study for its Lake Wells potash project in 2019.

Hammer Metals’ consulting geologist Ziggy Lubieniecki has discovered four new copper-gold prospects in Queensland’s Mount Isa region that have returned some amazing rock chip assays of up to 36% copper and 6.8 grams per tonne gold. 56 of the 100 rock chip assays from the Spiros and Paddy B prospects returned copper values of more than 1% copper.

Tyranna Resources has announced it is about to kick off a resource development drill program at the Eureka gold project north of Kalgoorlie, after acquiring the historic project outright earlier this month. The work will lead to the estimation of a JORC compliant mineral resource later this year. The company will then instigate a feasibility study to evaluate the opportunity for mining and toll-treating the ore.

St George Mining’s new step-out drill hole near Leonora looks to have hit the goods after intersecting high grade nickel-copper sulphides in the eastern section of the Investigators Prospect at the Mt Alexander Project near Leonara. Portable XRF readings show up to 8.6% nickel and 2.6% copper. A down-hole electromagnetic survey will assist in identifying the extent of the massive sulphides around the drill hole.

Geopacific Resources has discovered some seriously high grade gold and copper anomalies from soil sampling at its Woodlark project in PNG. Samples of up to 32g/t gold and 1.4% copper were returned from soils across several mineralised corridors in the southern region. At Loluai, soil values peaked at 0.56% copper and 0.79g/t gold, whilst at Norac, soil values peaked at 0.97% copper in a 3 square kilometre corridor.

Calidus Resources has uncovered multiple walk-up exploration drill targets from a detailed soil sampling program across its flagship Warrawoona project, located 25km south of Marble Bar in the east Pilbara region of W.A. All targets lie within a 15km radius of Calidus’ major Klondyke deposit. The cashed-up explorer is continuing its infill and extension program ahead of a resource upgrade due in the December quarter.

Legend Mining has identified a 24km zone in the southern region of its Rockford Project in Western Australia’s revered Fraser Range region that sits on the same trend as the recent Independence Group Andromeda copper-zinc discovery. The company is planning to carry out a combination of aircore drilling and electromagnetic surveying in this area in September.

Venus Metals has announced some excellent upgrades and recoveries from metallurgical test work on fresh ore composites from its Youanmi vanadium project in the Murchison region of W.A. Results showed that vanadium pentoxide grades from a select sample nearly doubled from about 0.7% to 1.34% via simple crushing and separation of a magnetic concentrate. Further test work is underway to improve the overall recovery of vanadium.

Aspire Mining’s 80%-owned subsidiary Northern Railways has secured an 18 month extension from the Mongolian Government to meet the remaining conditions for its Erdenet to Ovoot Rail Concession Agreement. The company is targeting completion of the Definitive Environmental Impact Assessment and Management Plan and land use agreements by the June 2019 quarter and it will also look to have funding in place by then.

Calima Energy’s review of horizontal drilling in the Canadian Montney oil and gas formation has left it confident that its planned wells will match the best practice of other successful operators in the region. The company plans to kick off drilling in December with one vertical well before drilling two horizontal wells that will be fracture stimulated and then production tested for 4-6 weeks.

Galena Mining has appointed former Paladin Energy Chief Executive Officer Alex Molyneux as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer with effect from the 1st of September 2018 as the company moves towards becoming a base metals producer. Current Chief Executive Officer Ed Turner will remain as the company’s General Manager of Geology and Exploration from the same date.

BlackEarth Minerals has delivered a maiden resource estimate of 11.2 million tonnes grading 7.1% total graphitic carbon at its emerging Razafy graphite prospect in Madagascar. The recent work will form the backbone of the Maniry project scoping study which is scheduled for delivery in the last quarter of 2018. The company also issued a massive exploration target for Maniry, ranging from 260-380 million tonnes @ 6-8% TGC.

King River Copper has announced further outstanding drilling results from the narrow, but high grade Trudi Vein at its Mt Remarkable gold project near Kununurra in W.A. Several intersections returned bonanza grades near surface at the intersection with the Grahame Vein. The best result was 4m @ 36.77 g/t gold from 7m down-hole, including 1m @ 70.9g/t from 9m. Exploratory drilling is ongoing at the property.

Calima Energy now has 100% of its lucrative 72,000 acres of oil and gas ground in the revered Montney formation in Canada. The company recently announced the acquisition of its joint venture partners in the project, TSV Montney and TMK Montney. The move is expected to attract greater market interest, provide improved access to capital and remove any risks relating to partner funding of development costs.

MGC Pharmaceuticals expects revenues to rise thanks to strong demand for its range of 18 cannabis based skin care products that has prompted UK luxury retailer Harvey Nichols to make them available in two additional stores. The company said the exposure provided by its skin care products may also provide a ready made pathway to market for its fledgling medicinal cannabis business.

Latest assays from drilling at the San Antonio copper mine suggest Hot Chili may have found a large, high-grade, shallow copper resource that could transform the economics of its flagship Productora development just 20kms away. Best results include 27m at 1.3% copper and 5m @ 2.5% copper. Copper mineralisation is continuous over a 700m strike length and remains open along strike and at depth.

Classic Minerals has implemented an exploration target review of its Fraser Range nickel-copper-cobalt project, located 45km northeast of the famed Nova-Bollinger deposit and less than 10km north of the Creasy Group’s very promising new Silver Knight find in the Fraser Range of W.A. The focus will be on nickel-copper mineralisation at the Mammoth prospect and copper mineralisation at the Alpha prospect, discovered by Classic in 2013.

Legend Mining will carry out a moving loop electromagnetic survey over its intriguing Area D prospect at the Rockford nickel-cobalt-copper project in W.A’s Fraser Range region to identify targets for diamond drilling in the fourth quarter. The 32km2 survey is the first recommendation of a geophysical review over Area D and is expected to take up to six weeks to complete.

Auroch Minerals has commenced its maiden drill program at the Arden base metals project north of Adelaide this week. The 2,500 metre campaign will drill three prospective looking zinc, copper and cobalt targets across the project. The company has previously announced high grade surface base metal assays from the Ragless Range and Kanyaka prospects, whilst Radford Creek showed highly anomalous lead, zinc and silver.

Tyranna Resources has announced that it has finalised the acquisition of the Eureka gold project, located 50km north of Kalgoorlie in W.A. Approved resource development drilling programs will now take place, to bring the project in line with current JORC-compliant standards of reporting. Up to 2,000 metres of drilling has been scheduled and will provide structural information regarding the quartz-hosted gold mineralisation and samples for metallurgical test work.

Artemis Resources has reported a swathe of high grade gold, cobalt and copper drilling intersections from its Carlow Castle project east of Karratha in the Pilbara. Bets results were 22m @ 6.1g/t gold, 0.55% cobalt and 2.35% copper from 133m down-hole at the Carlow Castle South East prospect, whilst the Carlow Castle South prospect produced 31m @ 1.65g/t gold, 0.11% cobalt and 0.47% copper from just 37m.