Public Company News

ASX-listed Australian Potash has started final field programs in the Definitive Feasibility Study for its Lake Wells sulphate of potash project near Laverton, WA. The company will drill up to three production wells for long term pump testing to confirm flow rates and construct trial evaporation ponds to establish the optimal commercial-scale pond design, in terms of cost of construction and effectiveness of the design.

Blina Minerals has exercised an option to fully acquire the Maintirano copper project in western Madagascar, after completing extensive due diligence. Recent field work turned up very encouraging results with several samples exceeding 5% copper, including a sample that registered 37.5% copper and 33ppm silver. The company will now carry out airborne surveys to assist locating additional mineralisation.

Vonex has added more than 1000 new registered PABX users in less than one month, double its typical growth rate of about 500 users per month. This takes its total registered user base to 27,000 as at 21 February 2019. The growth is due to in part to its new channel partner-focused sales software that significantly reduced average deployment time for a hosted PABX customer and the continued rollout of the NBN.

BlackEarth Minerals’ Maniry project in Madagascar now extends over 5km of strike, with the company locating wide, high grade graphite mineralisation over 52m grading 7.03% total graphitic carbon at its new Razafy SE prospect. The trench samples represent the true width of the mineralisation and may outline the potential for significant additional high-grade graphite resources to enhance the value of the project.

St George Mining has started a 37 hole RC drilling campaign that is aimed at discovering more nickel-copper sulphides at its Mt Alexander project near Leonora in WA. The program will initially target the new West End prospect to test for a continuation of the highly mineralised Cathedrals Belt towards the regionally important Ida Fault zone before moving on to test the new Fairbridge prospect.

Northern Minerals is ramping up rare earths output at its Browns Range pilot plant in the East Kimberley region of WA to steady state levels to assess the quality of the rare earth carbonate produced. Data collected from the production of 7.2 tonnes of rare earth carbonate to date has provided the company with a better understanding of its ability to produce rare earths at the required specification.

Great Southern Mining has stepped on the gas and will fast-track a program of infill and extensional drilling at its emerging Mon Ami gold project near Laverton in the north eastern Goldfields region of WA. The work aims to rapidly expand the current 59,000 ounce resource by drilling down-dip to the west, down-plunge to the north and along strike up to 1km south of the existing resource.

Lithium Australia has initiated the next stage of development for its LieNA spodumene processing technology after preliminary R&D showed that further work on the process was warranted. The process seeks to recover lithium from spodumene without the need for expensive, energy-hungry roasting by using a caustic solution to leach the lithium from spodumene and recover it as lithium phosphate.

Canadian conglomerate gold specialist Novo Resources has reported encouraging and consistent gold grades averaging 2.55g/t from a regional, bulk sampling program at its Beatons Creek gold project near Nullagine in WA. The current mineral resource sits at 8.38 million tonnes grading 2.47g/t gold for 667,000 ounces and will be updated this quarter using the bulk sampling results and a new 3D geological interpretation.

Caravel Minerals has confirmed a new geological model for the flagship Bindi deposit, located near Perth in WA, after drilling multiple new zones of copper sulphide mineralisation up to 202 metres wide grading 0.31% copper at its namesake project. The company will use the new data to update the mineral resource model and estimate for the Bindi deposit later this quarter.

Spectrum Metals has started spinning the drill bit at its new Penny West project in the Murchison mining district, one of the highest grade open pit gold mines ever worked in Western Australia. The 4500 metre maiden drill campaign is primarily aimed at defining and extending the mineralised envelope below the Penny West open pit. Final assay results are expected during April.

PharmAust has kicked-off its highly-anticipated Phase I clinical trials for its flagship anti-cancer drug Monepantel in dogs using the first batch of 2000 tablets manufactured to its new and better-tasting formulation. The initial component of the trial is designed to validate the performance of the drug in different dietary settings that dogs may encounter at home. First results are expected in the middle of March this year.