Public Company News

ASX-listed Calidus Resources said the near-term development strategy for its 1.25Moz Warrawoona gold project in the Pilbara has received a shot in the arm after the project was granted a streamlined State and Federal environmental approval process. The WA office of the EPA has advised Calidus that it will assess the project as an “Accredited Assessment”. Calidus is targeting 100,000 ounces of gold per year at Warrawoona.

In a stunning turnaround, AusIndustry has reversed its decision to deny Northern Minerals’ $24.16m research and development tax offset grant relating to its Browns Range heavy rare earths plant in the Kimberley. The ATO will now review the claim and it looks likely that the outcome will be so profound that it will allow Northern Minerals to thrive and possibly even submit a further multi-million dollar claim for FY19.

Spectrum Metals is not sitting idly by while shareholders consider a takeover bid by ASX-listed Ramelius Resources Ltd. In fact, Spectrum is gearing up for another bunch of drill holes around the various deposits that make up its Penny West gold project. It is targeting resource additions to add to an already healthy maiden estimate of 799kt at 13.8g/t for 355,500 ounces of contained gold.

With rhodium and platinum touching record prices, Podium Minerals has revealed a swathe of notable rhodium assays at its Parks Reef PGM project near Cue in WA. Demand for the rare metal is forecast to soar ahead of its increasing use as a catalyst in automotive catalytic converters, a vehicle part that cleans up exhaust fumes. The company is now looking at rhodium as a potential “credit” metal, with re-assay results averaging about 3% to 4% rhodium within the platinum, palladium plus gold zones across the entire Parks Reef deposit.

Lithium Australia has received a notice of acceptance from IP Australia, all but ensuring that the patent applications for its “LieNA” lithium processing technology will be approved. The company patents will provide for 20 years of protection for its intellectual property with the technology set to revolutionise the lithium industry by increasing lithium recoveries by more than 85% from fine spodumene ore, waste or even tailings streams.

AVZ Minerals is on the home stretch of its mammoth DFS, which is due to hit the market next month, with phase two metallurgical test work delivering another exceptional batch of results that reinforce the potential economic viability of its Manono lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A bulk 2,000 kilogram sample yielded a 160-kilogram concentrate grading 6.1% lithium oxide at over 60% lithia recovery.

In a potentially transformative move, Impact Minerals has formed a strategic “Broken Hill Alliance” with fellow ASX-listed companies, Castillo Copper and private group, Squadron Resources, to amalgamate what will be the largest landholding that surrounds the world-class Broken Hill zinc-lead-silver mine in NSW. Importantly, Impact will retain the rights to explore for all platinum group metals, nickel, copper and other precious metals across its tenements.

Lindian Resources' maiden auger drilling program at its Gaoual bauxite project in Guinea has confirmed that the company is sitting on a very high-grade conglomerate-hosted bauxite deposit, with drill holes encountering exceptional grades of over 60% aluminium oxide right across the Bouba Plateau. The thickness of the mineralisation varies and in some areas is over 15m according to Lindian.

MGC Pharmaceuticals recently unveiled Murcury Pharma, a new medicinal cannabis-based line for Australian and New Zealand markets. MGC has now seen an 85% increase in orders for its product, including Mercury Pharma 100, a prescription-only 100mg/mL canibodol solution and other white label cannabidiol products that are used for treatments such as anxiety, cancer and arthritis. The company’s revenues have now reached over $430,000.

Coziron Resources has recently vectored in on gold mineralisation at the Top Camp prospect at its Croydon project in the Pilbara with one 8m drill intercept going 10.2g/t gold, including 1m at 66.1g/t. Coziron’s technical team is now joining the dots from its Top Camp gold prospect to De Grey Mining’s new Hemi gold discovery, via a geological feature Coziron calls the Tabba Tabba shear zone.

Perth-based ASX listed Impact Minerals is cashed up with over $3m now in its war chest to throw at its exciting Broken Hill PGM project just as palladium and rhodium prices touch record highs. Impact locked away a $2.1m capital raise this week on the back of palladium prices hitting USD$2500 an ounce and rhodium prices bursting through the USD$10,000 an ounce mark.

Hot Chili is on track to deliver some exceptional drill intersections at its rapidly growing Cortadera porphyry copper-gold discovery in Chile with its first expansion diamond drill hole for 2020 still in mineralisation at 900m with 550m of mineralised porphyry already in the bag from the 350m mark. The company said it would extend the hole that is a 100m step-out from the largest porphyry to around 1,100m.