Public Company News

Torian Resources’ drilling campaign continues to impress with another clutch of encouraging gold hits at its Mt Stirling project in WA. The company says it expects to complete an interim mineral resource update for the project’s Mt Stirling deposit by month’s end. The existing inferred resource estimate for the deposit stands at 727,021 tonnes of ore going 1.45 g/t gold for 33,893 ounces of contained gold.

Buru Energy has completed its first oil lifting for the calendar year with 70,000 barrels of crude oil from its Ungani oil field in WA’s top end leaving the port of Wyndham and netting the debt-free company approximately A$2.5m. Buru said Ungani continues to produce oil in line with predictions despite some disruptions to operations due to seasonal rains in WA’s top end.

Neometals has reported encouraging results from preliminary metallurgical test work done on mineralisation from the Armstrong deposit at its Mt Edwards nickel sulphide project near Kambalda in WA that points to “commercial grade” nickel concentrate. The test work returned a 48.8 per cent recovery for nickel, an enhanced nickel grade of 12.8 per cent, a 55.4 per cent recovery for palladium and a resultant palladium grade of 20.4 g/t.

ASX-listed nickel explorer, Estrella Resources has recently completed an “experimental” seismic survey over the major basal contact at its Carr Boyd nickel project about 80km north-north-east of Kalgoorlie. The Perth-based company described the survey as a necessary de-risking tool it says will increase the success rate of deeper drilling targeting the basal contact for nickel sulphides.

Things are starting to get spicy for Hot Chili in its copper hunt in South America. Already boasting a 724 million tonne resource grading 0.48 per cent copper equivalent across its Costa Fuego suite of tenements in Chile, the company has defined what appears to be a second large porphyry copper system at the newly acquired Santiago Z tenure.

After two successful years of mining, the zircon-rich Boonanarring deposit in the North Perth Basin, mineral sands miner Image Resources has an eye to the future as it looks to bring the 9.5 million tonne Atlas project into production. A mining lease for Atlas has now been granted with transition to the project predicted for the December quarter next year.

ASX-listed clinical-stage oncology company, PharmAust has pocketed $755,594 after the ATO accepted its application for a Research and Development rebate in recognition of the innovations under development by the company’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Epichem and Pitney Pharmaceuticals. PharmAust said it plans to plough the cash straight back into ongoing clinical trials of its therapeutics on humans and animals.

ASX-listed pharmaceutical company, PharmAust continues to kick goals in its endeavours to develop antiviral treatment and prevention therapeutics for COVID-19. The company has once again demonstrated that its lead drug candidates monepantel and monepantel sulfone appear to show protection against cell death in non-human primate systems. Human clinical trials are now on the cards with production of the drug suitable for human consumption having already commenced.

Torian Resources has extended the interpreted strike length of the gold-bearing zone at its Mt Stirling gold project near Leonora in WA to more than 1.1km. It comes in the midst of the company’s ongoing drilling push aimed at building on an existing resource for Mt Stirling of 727,021 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.45 g/t for 33,893 ounces of contained gold.

St George Mining’s ongoing exploration at its Mt Alexander project in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields is gradually painting a picture of what could be a significant mineralised system. Its latest efforts saw multiple down-hole EM conductors light up adjacent to diamond drill holes positioned on the north-western extension of the Cathedrals Belt prospect. The company also has two sets of drill rods spinning simultaneously targeting more massive sulphide mineralisation.

Aspiring iron ore producer, CZR Resources has pegged and lodged a mining lease application taking a key step in bringing the 89.1-million-tonne Robe Mesa iron ore deposits into production in the Pilbara. DFS works are accelerating following the recent release of a PFS which demonstrated the economic potential of the project underpinning the drive towards production.

Calidus Resources says it has inked final agreements with Macquarie Bank for project loan facilities totalling $110 million in relation to its developing Warrawoona gold mine in WA’s East Pilbara. Under the terms of the debt funding package, the company also locked in a mandatory hedging arrangement covering the delivery of 125,000 ounces of forward gold sales from Warrawoona across the 3.25-year tenor of the loan facilities.