Public Company News

Latitude 66’s share price jumped 20 per cent to 7.8 cents after the company released a scoping study on its KSB gold-cobalt project in Finland. The study revealed a high-grade, low-cost operation with a post-tax NPV of US$310m at US$2500 an ounce gold. The project has an all-in cost of just US$996 with cobalt credits and will pay for itself in 16 months.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has completed a maiden reverse circulation drilling program to test its recent Lighthorse gold discovery at the company’s Pinjin project, 140km northeast of Kalgoorlie. KalGold drilled 16 holes along three 100m-spaced lines for 2446m to a maximum downhole depth of 222m. The laboratory assays are now being fast-tracked.

Canadian-listed Rio2 Limited has secured a US$25m prepayment from a US-based precious metals investment firm, Wheaton Precious Metals International, under a precious metals purchase agreement with Rio2’s Fenix Gold project in Chile’s Maricunga belt. Rio2 views the funding as a strong endorsement of its development strategy and a key milestone in its push to bring the mine into production by year’s end.

Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits examine some notable drill intercepts revealed on the ASX this week, including Axel REE’s 8m hit going 13,604ppm TREO from 55m at its Caladao project in Brazil. Other interesting intercepts were reported by Resouro Strategic Metals from its Tiros project in Brazil and Caspin Resources’ Bygoo tin project in NSW.

The latest drilling blitz at McLaren Minerals’ titanium project in WA’s Eucla Basin has revealed thick new intercepts of heavy mineral-rich sands coupled with an unexpected groundwater discovery and confirmation of an in-ground gypsum source. The campaign is focussed on infill drilling within a previously identified mineral sands strandline about 40km west of Balladonia. McLaren expects to wrap up the 6000m air core drill program by mid-April.

Larvotto Resources continues to pull in good results from the company’s high-grade Hillgrove gold antimony project in NSW, with big hits that included 0.6m at a stunning 183.5g/t gold equivalent from 493m. Four diamond rigs have now completed more than 8400 metres of drilling at its Bakers Creek and Eleanora-Garibaldi prospects, hinting at new rich mineralisation near existing underground infrastructure.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Tlou Energy. It says share sellers are gone, and the Botswana energy firm is back to business as usual. Renewable solutions group GreenHy2 announced a tech contract with a leading Euro supplier, Besra recouped some share price losses as it focussed on its substantial Bau gold project and Trek found glimmering visual gold in drilling core samples as the gold price cracked US$3000 an ounce.

Novo Resources is set to kick off a maiden air core drilling program before month’s end to test a promising part of the Sholl Shear in its Balla Balla gold project in WA’s West Pilbara region. The program will target structurally complex zones in and near the shear. The ancient fertile structure is one of four main fault and shear zones that make the region ripe for exploration.

Great Southern Mining has jagged high-grade gold with an eye-opening intercept of 1 metre grading 70.94 grams per tonne gold within a 5m section of 14.57g/t gold from 41m at its Duketon gold project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields. The company's 3678-metre reverse circulation drilling campaign to test earlier identified shallow mineralisation kicked off in January and is now complete.

Neometals has unveiled the first assay results from its maiden reverse circulation drilling campaign at its Barrambie gold project in WA, breathing new life into an historic high-grade gold region that’s been dormant for decades. An initial 11-hole program was carried out at the company’s Ironclad and nearby Mystery North prospects, confirming gold mineralisation aligned with historical data, ahead of a planned mineral resource estimate later this year.

Management at Canadian-listed Rio2 Ltd has put the band back together to repeat its prior success at Peruvian gold mine, La Arena. Rio2 has a similar looking massive heap leach gold operation in Chile that is about to spring into production. Initially, its 4.8m-ounce Fenix gold mine is forecast to pump out 91,000 ounces of gold a year for the first 12 years at an uber-low cost of US$1250 per ounce.

Aurum Resources has scored another big hit from its Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire, intercepting 9m at 24.61g/t gold from 221m, including 4m at 54.64g/t from 222m. The 4m hit includes 1.3m going 156.61g/t gold. The discovery was made in one diamond hole put into the company’s BM Target 3. A second hole intercepted 2.68m assaying 10.94g/t gold from 45.7m, including 1.68m running 16.88g/t.