Month: June 2020

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Morning News Bites – June 30

End of the Financial Year! Business owners are struggling to recruit staff as jobless look to handouts over jobs.

  • Ramelius Resource has announced an extension to its life of mine plan across 6 years to FY2026 with 1.4Moz gold at an average AISC of A$1,250 – A$1,350/oz. Managing Director Mark Zeptner, said “Building on last year’s landmark result of over 1Moz contained within a detailed mine plan, the forward outlook of almost 1.5Moz following a record production year in FY20, is a very pleasing result for Ramelius. It is a further testament to the work done by all our team that we can articulate a longer term plan with production scale, strong margins and an achievable approach to reserve replacement that gives us confidence that this visibility around mine life can be extended going forward.” In a boost to exploration, a $25-30M exploration budget allocated for FY2021, spread across the portfolio. Penny Gold Project Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) results have indicated production of 230koz at an AISC of A$703/oz with development commencing December Quarter 2021. These results have also shown exceptional grade and margins that promise to return significant cashflows to the Company from late FY2022.
  • The Macnaughtan prospect within the Tandarra Gold Project has delivered some highlights in recent aircore drilling with one result – 3 metres @ 94.9g/t Au from 87 metres in drill hole ACT475. The Tandarra Gold Project is around 40km north of Bendigo in Victoria. Catalyst are in a Joint-Venture in the project with Navarre Minerals Limited for the Tandarra Retention Licence, RL006660, which is where the AC drilling has been located. Catalyst Technical Director, Mr Bruce Kay said “The high grades and continuity of gold mineralisation revealed by this AC drilling are highly encouraging, confirming the potential of the southern Macnaughtan prospect to become the second significantly mineralised structure at Tandarra, in parallel with the high grade gold intersections at the Tomorrow Zone, 250 metres to the east.”
  • Manhattan Corporation has announced a further drill program of 5,000m of additional Reverse Circulation (RC) Drilling will take place at New Bendigo commencing in August. The drilling will be targeting the recently discovered shallow high-grade “Western Lode” located 250 metres west of the previously known New Bendigo mineralisation. Recent drilling returned 7m at 18.16 g/t Au from 87m. Drilling is also planned to target between the Western Lode and the Main Zone where there has been no previous drilling.
  • Assays have been received for Legend Mining for its Mawson project.  Legend Managing Director Mark Wilson indicated further analysis would occur before the next step of drilling, “The paydirt grades returned over 35.95m in hole 17 confirm this to be the best hole drilled at Mawson to date. The mineralisation remains open to the northeast, southwest and east of the current diamond drilling and requires further analysis of all datasets prior to planning step out RC/diamond holes.” Hole 17 RKDD017  intersected three significant intervals of massive sulphide, 9.55m @ 2.07% Ni, 1.27% Cu , 0.11% Co from 158.60m, 2.80m @ 2.84% Ni, 2.06% Cu, 0.15% Co from 193.10m and 19.80m @ 2.71% Ni, 1.79% Cu , 0.13% Co from 227.80m. Future plans for Mawson include the continuation of a 3,000m RC drilling programme targeting known sulphide mineralisation, geochemical anomalies and gravity features. and to continue infill aircore drill programme across the greater Mawson area.
  • Results from from Aircore drilling for Yandal Resources has confirm bedrock RC gold targets at Gordons Dam project. Yandal Resources Managing Director Lorry Hughes said “Assay results from 1m re-sampling of anomalous 4m intervals from AC drilling completed in May at Gordons Dam have confirmed the significance of the initial results. Intercepts of +0.5g/t gold were returned from several bottom of drill hole samples where the limit of depth penetration of AC blade drilling into bedrock was reached. These results are similar to those previously drilled east of the palaeochannel mineralisation prior to the discovery of higher grades at depth with RC drilling.” Mr Hughes also gave an indication the funds raised from the current entitlement issues would be directed to RC and Diamond drilling at Gordons Dam which is due to commence in July 2020.
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Morning News Bites – Jun 29

Record approval ratings for the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, The 20th anniversary of the implementation of the GST in Australia is approaching and a cleaning contractor responsible for cleaning the Australia Border Force office at Melbourne Airport has tested positive to COVID19.

  • Fisher and Paykel Health care has posted that operating revenue to March 31 2020 was up 18% over last year. Net profit after tax is expected to be in the vicinity of $287 million.  The increase for the demand with health products related to COVID19 has driven Fisher and Paykel however, Managing Director and CEO Lewis Gradon pointed out that Fisher and Paykel was on track for a strong year without the COVID19 impact “The 2020 financial year was already on track to deliver strong growth before the coronavirus impacted sales, Beginning in January, the demand for our respiratory humidifiers accelerated in a way that has been unprecedented.” Fisher and Paykel product Optiflow nasal high flow therapy demand and hospital hardware sales were also strong.
  • Kin Mining is embarking on Phase 3 drilling for its Cardinia Gold Project in Western Australia. Phase 3 will involve a 45,000m drill program will involve Aircore, Reverse Circulation and Diamond drill with the aim to help identify a maiden Mineral Resource estimate.  Andrew Muckton Kin Mining Managing Director said “The exploration programs conducted over the last 6 months show strong potential to rapidly expand the existing 945,000oz Mineral Resource estimate at Cardinia. The round of drilling just commenced is aimed at delivering maiden Mineral Resource estimates at the most advanced target – Cardinia Hill as well as a second round of resource definition drilling at Comedy King and follow up RC drilling at Faye Marie, Black Chief and Hobby. ” Earlier drilling revealed outstanding results and delivered better understanding of the project.
  • A second diamond drill hole has been completed for Toro Energy at its Yandal Gold Project. The drill hole was to target around 50m beneath a gold, nickel and platinum group anomaly identified in 2018-19.  Drilling has now moved on to the third diamond drill hole to test for continuity of nickel and gold mineralisation at depth. Yandal Gold Project is 50km east of the Mt Keith nickel deposit.
  • A maiden underground Mineral Resource for Ora Banda Mining’s Callion (Indicated and Inferred) has been revealed as 411Kt @ 5.8 g/t Au for 77,000 oz Au. The upgraded Callion Mineral Resource (Indicated and Inferred) increased by 72% to: 680,000 t @ 4.9 g/t Au for 107,000 oz Au for the total resource. Ora Banda Managing Director, David Quinlivan, said: “This update completes the resource estimation process for the imminent DFS. The deeper, high-grade drilling results received to date from Callion indicate there is significant potential for a lower tonnage, higher grade underground mine and we continue to evaluate this opportunity as we believe it could make a significant contribution to the larger Davyhurst Gold Project.”
  • The proceeds of a sale of listed securities has provided additional funding of $430,000 to Discovex Resources. The funds form the sale have enabled Discovex to conduct further exploration, which has commenced with follow-up AC drilling at the highly prospective Hornet West Prospect. Future drilling also includes RC and diamond drilling – anticipated for Aug/Sept this year from the latest round of Aircore drilling that is currently underway. With drill testing of the recently defined priority targets at the Newington Gold Project near Southern Cross in Western Australia also due in the second half of 2020. Hornet West is located within the Edjudina Gold Project, within proximity of the Sunrise Dam and Carosue Dam gold mines.
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Morning News Bites – June 26

It’s Refrigeration Day… Thats pretty cool. Australia New Zealand announced as Host for FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup.

  • Earlier this week details on the final milestone for the Manganese Project, Butcherbird with Element 25 were announced. Today, Element 25 has announced details on a water bore drill program to provide sufficient process water for the beneficiation plant at the Project. Earlier water exploration identified a prospective supply and also  two aquifers, a shallow aquifer in near surface calcretes and a deep aquifer in palaeochannel sands. This project helps de-risk the project and to progress the timeline for production.
  • Qantas has completed its approximate $1,360 million fully underwritten placement of approximately 372.7 million new shares. 94% of the shares were taken by exisiting investors  “The fact that there was significant demand for this offer shows clear support for our recovery plan and confidence in the fundamentals of this business. The plan involves some difficult decisions but we are extremely well positioned to get through this crisis and start growing again on the other side.” Qantas is expected to recommence trading today. As stated previously, the proceeds from the equity raising will be used to accelerate the Group’s recovery, strengthen its balance sheet and position it to capitalise on opportunities aligned with its strategy.
  • Assay results have been received by Aldoro for its Penny South project. The 1m samples include 3m at 2.5g/t Au from 193m, inc. 1m at 6.7g/t Au from 194m and 3m at 2.8g/t Au from 221m, inc. 1m at 5.2g/t Au from 222m. This initial RC program was quite wide and shows a mineralised structure extending for a strike length of over 400m. Aldoro’s Managing Director Caedmon Marriott said: “We are encouraged by the results of the Company’s first RC program at Penny South. This widely spaced program, with lines 100m apart, appears to show a mineralised structure in the southern target area over a strike length of 400m, with assay results not too dissimilar to the Youangarra and Magenta Prospects at Ramelius Resources’ neighbouring Penny Project. The results warrant further follow up drilling hoping to find areas of increased grade and/or thickness.”
  • The commencement of drilling at Mandrake Resources Berinka Pine Creek Gold Project in the Northern Territory will commence in July after approval from the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Resources. Previous drilling has identified intersections of 4m @ 6.6g/t from 32m, 6m @ 3.8g/t from 18m and 5m @ 2.6g/t from 30m. Mandrake Resources also has interest in a Ni-Cu-PGE Project north east of Perth. There is currently field exploration work at the Jimperding Ni-Cu-PGE Project with assay results from 44 rock chip samples to be known in around two weeks.
  • A hit of 4m at 99.5g/t Au, including 1m at 390g/t Au (repeat assay 502g/t Au) has been revealed by Middle Island Resources from drilling at its Sandstone Gold Project. The result comes from the new Ridge deposit as part of initial Phase 2 RC drilling. The particular drill hole that gave the result as mentioned, MSRC530 – is the most northern hole and adjoins the Shillington Gap target, which where exploration drilling will take place towards the end of the Phase 2 campaign. Reports that the drill program has completed 9000m and is running to schedule were also released. The Feasibility Study update is also progressing well for Middle Island.
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Morning News Bites – June 25

An arts funding boost is due to be announced by the Prime Minister today, Military to assist in Victoria`s COVID response and via the AFR – Australia is a star world performer when it comes to the only advanced economy to have its economic outlook upgraded by the IMF.

  • Central Systems PTY LTD which is a subsidiary of Resources Development Group, has been awarded a contract with Fortescue Metals Group construction of an overpass at FMG’s Cloudbreak mine site which is due for completion in late November 2020. While  Crushing  Service  Solutions  Pty  Ltd  which RDG has an 80% interest in has  also  been  awarded a crushing and screening services contract with Tianye SXO Gold Mining Pty Ltd to provide  these  services  in  order  to feed the Minjar Gold Plant near Southern Cross, Western  Australia fro around 12 months.
  • After an announcement yesterday that rocked the market by Red 5 – its share price dropped from .335c to .220c. Today Red 5 has announced a Final Feasibility Study Progress Update. As part of the update it was revealed GR Engineering Services has produced the design and costings for the Process Plant and other on-site infrastructure, A hydrology  study report is completed and a draft Tailings Storage Facility study has been drafted. Approvals for site works have been lodged to conduct early site works. Managing Director Mark Williams said “We continue to systematically progress towards completion of the FFS, with mining and engineering studies well advanced and project approvals on schedule. Strong progress is being made with planning for site early works and ordering of long-lead items, with the delivery of a recently-purchased accommodation village and offices expected to coincide with the planned commencement of site early works in the second half of CY2020. The successful completion of these work streams will put us on track to deliver the FFS on schedule in the September 2020 Quarter, marking a major milestone towards the development of one of Australia’s most exciting new gold development projects.”
  • An approval, key to commencement for Calidus Resources Warrawoona Gold Project in WA has been achieved with the Environmental Protection Authority. The final approval now sits with the Environment Minister Stephen Dawson. Drilling activities have resumed at site, including Pre-Collars for diamond drilling below the existing Klondyke Resource as well as additional water Exploration drilling to further de-risk water supply. Calidus Managing Director Dave Reeves said “The recommendation by the EPA is a key milestone in development of the Warrawoona Gold Project and significantly advances the timeline for permitting the development of the Project. We acknowledge the work of our consultants and the positive dialogue with the EPA throughout the assessment process. With all tenure now in place and the Feasibility Study on track for completion in the coming quarter, Warrawoona is rapidly moving towards development.” Warrawoona is located in the East Pilbara of Western Australia.
  • Qantas has placed itself into a trading halt pending a capital raising. Qantas is seeking to raise $1,860m of equity, comprising: – Approximately $1,360m fully underwritten institutional placement and up to $500m non-underwritten share purchase plan. Placement will be conducted at $3.65 per new share. In terms of passengers and capacity,  group domestic capacity reduced to 5% until mid Jun-20 and now at 15% of pre-COVID-19 levels. Qantas expects average domestic capacity of ~70% in FY21 and 100% in FY22.  There is strong demand for freight, however international service cancellations  have been extended through to late Oct-20.
  • New wide high grade intercepts at depth have been confirmed by diamond drilling outside of current ore reserves at Bardoc Gold`s Aphrodite Deposit. Results included 15.1m @ 6.58g/t Au from 418.1m including 5.3m @ 15.86g/t Au from 418.1m and 6.7m @ 3.01g/t Au from 402m. RC Drilling is underway for Bardoc at Zoroastrian, Excelsior and Aphrodite, with a planned resources update in Q3 2020 planned. The results of RC Drilling at Mayday North are due in coming weeks. Managing Director Robert Ryan said “The strong drilling results from Aphrodite continue to build confidence in our mine plan, which underpins the strong financial metrics within the PFS. The in-fill drilling to date has been a resounding success with widths and grades at all deposits being above modelled expectations. Reverse Circulation drilling has now commenced at Zoroastrian, Excelsior and Aphrodite, as we work towards our next comprehensive Mineral Resource update for the Bardoc Gold Project which we are targeting in the September Quarter. These programs should generate steadily increasing news flow in the weeks ahead.”

 

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Our Latest News Bites, Podcasts and Members

Early yesterday (Tuesday June 23 Aussie time) something was released that I get excited about, Apple developer updates. If you are part of our email base who is reading this on an android iApologise (It’s ok, that is the last of the jokes.)

The first virtual World Wide Developers Conference gave us a taste of what’s to come as part of iPhone, iPad and more with tech giant Apple. The iOS 14 comes with a stack of new features including a redesigned home page with more data and sizes. The App library is a new way to view all of your apps easier and there is full picture in picture support. This means you can stream from Netflix or Amazon Prime while you type messages. Very cool during a virtual group watching of Laugh Out Loud Australia.

Siri can send an audio messages now too and there are features to assist with voice translation when travelling. The Message app gets an overhaul and this will make group messages even more immersive. Carkey (not the colour) is a new feature used to unlock your car and start it with your iPhone! App clips is new and will have a huge impact on business and in particular retail and hospitality. Oh and when your iPhone rings, it will appear as a notification, rather than interrupt your whole screen!!

Why am I sharing this with you? Well I get excited about this… But more so, if you are in business and are looking for a tech edge, embracing new technology and new features will put your business at the forefront when it is launched. No one remembers Melbourne Cup place getters…

I’ll return to my geek corner for now.

Glenney Wilson
Industry Link Media – Digital Manager

LATEST NEWS – MORNING NEWS BITES

June 24, 2020

South Australia announces recipients of its Accelerated Discovery Initiative, Red 5 looks to transitional production strategy after Great Western comes into the fold (Red5 price dropped around 30% on open) and Mincor in a Trading Halt.

Drilling results from Apollo Consolidated Limited’s Rebecca deposit have been announced as ongoing shallow infill and exploration drilling has revealed multiple gold intercepts in locations within and below current Mineral Resources. Intercepts included 13m @ 2.76g/t Au from 115m, 5m @ 3.29g/t Au from 66m and 6m @ 2.51g/t Au from 107m and 6m @ 2.72g/t Au from 164m and 5m @ 2.69g/t Au from 209m. Read more here

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Morning News Bites – June 24

 

A $225,000 grant has been awarded to Marmota from the South Australian Government as part of the Accelerated Discovery Initiative. Chairman Dr Colin Rose said “Marmota is delighted to receive the Accelerated Discovery Initiative grant. We extend our grateful appreciation to the Department of Energy and Mining and to the South Australian Government. The grant will significantly accelerate our biogeochem gold exploration program and expand its scope. On behalf of all our shareholders, I extend warm congratulations to our exploration team.” The Accelerated Discovery Initiative grant will be used by Marmota for Expressions of Mineralisation in Surface Plant Biogeochemistry on the NW Galwer Craton otherwise known as tree sampling exploration.

An agreement by Sultan Resources to acquire 100% of the Lachlan Fold Belt focused Colossus Metals Pty Ltd has settled.The board of Sultan have been encouraged by the Big Hill and Tucklan targets. First pass rock chip results already announced for the prospects at Tucklan included  1.11g/t Au, 0.48g/t Au, 0.25g/t Au 0.27g/t Au. Jeremy King, Sultan Chairman said previously of the Big Hill target “To have such high grade gold and copper results returned from within new large scale soil anomalies, coincident with the right rock types, porphyry style alteration and mineralisation, all sitting above a large magnetic complex confirms the Big Hill area as one with significant potential”.

A decision by Red 5 to mine its recently acquired Great Western is now sought as an inclusion into the Darlot Mining Hub mine plan for FY21 and has therefore will be included into a transitional production strategy. A plan to commence mining of the project in December 2020 and at the same time scale down underground operations of King of the Hills is underway as part of the strategy. Red 5 Managing Director, Mark Williams, gave further details on the decision to mine Great Western “The decision to commence open pit mining at Great Western and scale down underground mining at King Of The Hills during the second half of 2020 is consistent with our previously articulated growth vision of establishing a major new production hub at KOTH and developing an expanded long-life mining and processing hub at Darlot. While we are disappointed that Darlot production has again been impacted in the short term due to the issues outlined in this release, we are confident that the measures implemented will stabilise production and improve predictability to put us on track to achieve our FY21 forecast. This transitional production strategy is a critical step towards establishing two independent long-life production hubs in the Eastern Goldfields as the foundation for a significant mid-tier Australian gold producer.”

Drilling results from Apollo Consolidated Limited’s Rebecca deposit have been announced as ongoing shallow infill and exploration drilling has revealed multiple gold intercepts in locations within and below current Mineral Resources. Intercepts included 13m @ 2.76g/t Au from 115m, 5m @ 3.29g/t Au from 66m and 6m @ 2.51g/t Au from 107m and 6m @ 2.72g/t Au from 164m and 5m @ 2.69g/t Au from 209m.  As part of the recent exploration, new results south of the high-grade Jennifer deposit are located in a Saddle area and will likely extend that part of the pit. There is also further RC drill results pending from the Duchess to Cleo exploration corridor and diamond drilling follow up on the Maddy structure.

Mincor has requested back to back trading halts from the start of trading June 24. This trading halt is due to pending capital raising and is set to be in place until June 30 orremain in place until the earlier of release of the Announcement. Mincor`s current market cap sits at $283.73m.

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Morning News Bites – June 23

The ASX has had some good news on opening including Crown Casino announcing the reopening of its Perth site, Gold is up $1755.50US/oz and Apple announces changes to it mobile operating system.

  • After a name change and rebrand, Blackham Resources (ASX:BLK) has been renamed Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMX) With this also came some results from Wiluna Mining on drill results. This included highlights such as 8m @ 5.31g/t from 168m, incl. 2m @ 18.12g/t and 8m @ 15.20g/t from 248m, incl. 5m @ 23.00g/t. There are currently Seven drill rigs currently in operation at Wiluna with 45,000 metres of drilling to be completed by the end of June 2020. Mineral Resource updates are due in late September 2020 with a reserves update in December 2020.  Wiluna Mining’s Executive Chair Milan Jerkovic said “These ongoing outstanding results “under the headframe” are continuing to deliver into our Stage 1 sulphide strategy as we initially pursue shallow high-grade sulphides targets. These results will lead to new resource and reserves updates and mine planning work scheduled over the coming months. Wiluna Mining is a development and growth Company currently focused on Stage 1 Sulphide development by September 2021, as well as expanding our Mineral Resources and increasing grade to feed into Stage 1 and to make new discoveries. The current underground sulphide resource at Wiluna averages 4.8 g/t but historically the average grade mined was between 7 to 8g/t, and the Bulletin shoot alone produced 900,000oz @ 8 g/t. We’re targeting high-grade shoot discoveries because every 1 g/t increase in the grade in the sulphides, could result in an additional 25kozpa of production in Stage 1 and 50kozpa under our Stage 2 scenario so grade is obviously extremely important to the project’s economics. Our 4-5-year goal with the development of Stage 2 is to become a Tier 1 gold mine in a Tier 1 jurisdiction”.
  • Perenti Group has released a business update and revised Half Year 20 interim dividend payment date. Perenti has brought forward a payment of 3.5 cent per share interim dividend to 23 July 2020. However with the news of a dividend due, came details of a fatality at AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi Gold Mine in Ghana of an Underground Mining Alliance employee. Perenti have an interest in UMA as a joint venture partner. As part of the update by Perenti, the impact of COVID-19 caused temporary shut downs to operations in Egypt, Burkina Faso and Senegal. Perenti confirmed it also expects FY20 underlying NPAT in the range of $106 million to $110 million. Perenti Managing Director Mark Norwell said: “My thoughts are with the family and friends of the UMA employee who tragically lost his life earlier this month. Our underground team are directly supporting UMA to ensure a thorough investigation occurs. I am proud with how our people have responded to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, living by our principles in delivering for our clients whilst also making sure we look after each other. In particular, I would like to thank our expatriate workforce and their families for their commitment during a challenging and uncertain period.” The divestment of Perenti`s BTP (Best Tractor Parts) business was also considered in Feb 2020, however Perenti did not receive a binding offer that was acceptable to Perenti and therefore the sale process has formally concluded.
  • Two priority targets have been revealed by Deep Ground Penetrating Radar by Krakatoa Resources for the Britannia mine near Bathurst in News South Wales. A shallow target that corresponds with the historical mine sequence and a deeper target (from 60m below surface) which remains completely open and untested has been outlined. The greater Turon project lies within the Lachlan Fold Belt’s Hill End Trough. Krakatoa’s Executive Chair, Colin Locke gave some further details on the DGPR “The DGPR survey results provide a focus and advance the Britannia target to drill-ready status. The alignment between the interpreted DGPR anomaly’s with the historical workings, known veining and drill-intersected mineralisation could potentially represent something substantially more than a technical success. The Company is thrilled with the outcome, especially after recently identifying a remnant pod of high-grade mineralisation that may be amenable to further testing and early exploitation.”
  • Several extensive gold anomalies have been defined from a recent soil geochemical survey at DevEx Resources Basin Creek Project. Preparations are now underway for a drill program to test these priority gold anomalies. The gold anomalies are within the +4km long gold system defined at the Main Ridge Prospect.  This further enhances the Lachlan Fold Belt and area which is under a bubble of exploration at the moment.
  • Gold/Silver mineralisation has been identified at Burracoppin for MOHO Resources at the Crossroads project. Drill results have shown up to 0.61g/t Au & 5.53 g/t Ag in bottom of hole samples – three holes ended in >0.1g/t Au. Drilling was quite shallow with the deepest of the campaign around 59m. Moho is in a farm-in joint venture agreement with IGO Limited. MOHO Managing Director Shane Sadleir said  “Moho and our exploration team are highly encouraged by these latest assay results which confirm that the Crossroads prospect hosts bedrock gold and silver mineralisation. Significantly, the mineralisation is open to the south, east and at depth and may be associated with an intrusive-related mineralising system”

 

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Morning News Bites – Jun 22

As the shortest day for the Southern Hemisphere passes, Victoria COVID cases spark second wave fears and big miners back a decarbonising future.

A manganese project has reached the final milestone for the granting of a mining lease for Element 25 for its Butcherbird project. An access agreement has been signed between Element 25 and and the owner of the Bulloo Downs Pastoral Lease, Ms Chandra Ridley. The Agreement allows Ms Ridley appropriate contracting opportunities, contains certain milestone cash payments as well as setting up a cooperative framework to foster a strong working relationship going forward. Managing Director Justin Brown said “E25 is very pleased to be able to report this important milestone in what we hope will be a long and mutually beneficial relationship. Importantly, it paves the way for the grant of a Mining Lease over the planned production area and is a critical development step for E25”. The Butcherbird Project has a reported current JORC resource in excess of 263 Mt of manganese ore.

A record quarter is on the cards for Ramelius Resources with current production figures of 74,371oz and a production guidance upgrade for the financial year. Production for the quarter will still include two gold pours and is expected to reach over 80,000oz. While for the annual figures, previous guidance showed around 210,000 to 220,000oz will likely reach over 225,000oz. Mark Zeptner has said “We are obviously delighted by the operational performance in achieving records in both quarterly and annual gold production, particularly against the backdrop of COVID-19 and the additional administrative requirements the pandemic has necessitated. We remain confident that Ramelius, with its high-performing team, excellent cash generation and enviable balance sheet, is very well positioned for the next stage of growth.”

RC Drilling is set to commence in three weeks for Marmota at its Aurora Tank Gold project. Recent test results have show mineralised lodes can be expected to geologically continue to depth below the zone currently drilled. Around 85 holes for 7,500m is earmarked for the RC program which is fully funded and expected to take around 3 – 4 weeks. Marmota Chairman Dr Colin Rose said “This is Marmota’s largest ever RC drill program at Aurora Tank and with a special focus on primary mineralisation extensions. It is shaping up as one of our most interesting, varied and exciting drill programs to date.”

Another announcement of RC drilling has occurred today with Legend Mining commencing RC drilling at the Mawson prospect at Fraser Range. Legend Mining Managing Director Mark Wilson said “This RC programme is an important step in the development of the Mawson story.  “The new aircore assays show a developing eastern geochemical footprint. There is now a cluster of holes around holes 823 and 825 with assay results equal to or better than the best ones in the western footprint. These assays have upgraded the prospectivity of the Mawson eastern footprint.” Around 3000m of RC drilling will occur at Mawson.

A Queensland project has revealed high grade copper and gold for Zenith Minerals. Flanagans results include – gold to 5.3 g/t Au, silver to 100 g/t Ag and copper to 8.0% Cu. Flanagans is around 100km from Cracow. While another prospect – Great Blackall, revealed– gold to 3.4 g/t Au, silver to 273 g/t Ag and copper to 13.9% Cu. CEO Mark Clifford said “These are very early stage soil and rock-based results at the Flanagans Project. We are however encouraged by them particularly given that we were following up on some historical positive third-party results. This work follows on from some more advanced positive drill results at our nearby 100% owned Red Mountain Project. This geological region in Queensland has a history of commercial gold and base metal discoveries and we feel that we have given ourselves a good shot at success. Both Projects (Flanagans and Red Mountain) require a significant amount of follow up work to test and validate.”

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Morning News Bites – June 19

Australia is being targeted by a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor” “This activity is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors, including all levels of government, industry, political organisations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure.” According to PM Scott Morrison this morning.

A board led review of its heritage management has been announced by Rio Tinto. This follows on from events recently at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia. The review will be conducted by Michael L’Estrange AO, with the board, employees and the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people involved and with consultation of a number of groups. Simon Thompson, Chair of Rio Tinto said ” On behalf of the Rio Tinto board, I would like to apologise to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people. The decision to conduct a board-led review of events at Juukan Gorge reflects our determination to learn lessons from what happened and to make any necessary improvements to our heritage processes and governance. I am very grateful to Michael for agreeing to conduct the review on behalf of the board.”

An impairment to Evolution Mining at Mt Carlton is how Executive Chairman Jake Klein describes a decrease in the ounces from the operation. Mt Carlton is set to produce 60,000oz for the 20FY (down from the 70,000 – 75,000 ounces reported for January 10 announcement) and around 50,000oz for the 21 FY.  “We are disappointed to be recording an impairment at Mt Carlton. We will be working hard over the next six months to optimise the future of the operation and to further understand the size and quality of the Crush Creek project.” Drilling at Crush Creek continues to bring exciting results for Evolution with highlights such as 31.7m (27.5m etw) grading 5.68 g/t Au from 61m including 9.0m (8m etw) grading 11.78g/t Au from 63m. Two diamond drill rigs are currently on site and an RC drill will be on location during the September quarter.

Drilling at Anglo Australian Resources Mandilla discovery has more than doubled the potential scale of mineralisation. Results at Mandilla East has revealed 26m @ 8.29g/t Au from 76m, 21m @ 3.7g/t Au from 35m, 17m @ 3.71g/t Au from 59m, plus 19m @ 0.55g/t Au from 83m. Mandilla South around 1km from Mandilla East brought results of 27m @ 1.79g/t Au from 168m and 10m @ 1.76g/t Au from 123m. A 3,000m diamond drilling program is underway and a 10,000m RC drilling program commencing in July. Managing Director Marc Ducler said: “This is the most significant drill program undertaken at the Mandilla Gold Project targeting mineralisation within the Mandilla Syenite. With over 9,000m of drilling already completed and another 13,000m to come, the mineralised footprint of the discovery from only three months ago1 has already more than doubled in size and remains open to the north and south. “The strong results support our view that there is a significant low strip ratio open pit opportunity. The recently completed DroneMag survey is also providing excitement with a number of anomalies yet to be followed up.”

Travel and airlines have been one of the most affected COVID-19 industries. Passenger Numbers at Sydney Airport have been revealed with 62,000 domestic passengers during May 2020 and 29,000 international passengers for a total of 92,000. Reverse to May 2019 and numbers for Domestic were 2,217,000 and International 1,294,000 for a total of 3,511,000. Around 2,000 domestic passengers per day passed through Sydney Airport in 2020 compared to 71,516 in 2019. While around 41,741 international passengers passed through Sydney airport in 2019, but for May 2020 it was merely around 935 per day.

Production runs for Australian Mines at its Perth demonstration plant using processed ore from it’s Queensland Sconi source has been completed. The aim of which is to supply battery-grade cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate to potential offtake partners. Australian Mines Managing Director, Benjamin Bell, commented: “Our recent successful production runs further demonstrate our ability to consistently deliver battery-grade precursor chemicals of cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate that can be applied directly into the manufacturing process of electric vehicle batteries, and support our negotiations with potential offtake and financing partners. Mr Bell also outlined the continued operation of the demonstration plant to seek a partner. “We will continue to operate the demonstration plant to produce premium-grade scandium oxide for a potential R&D partner that is working on new uses for scandium, which is now recognised as a critical commodity.”

 

 

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Morning News Bites – June 18

ASX Early trade has fallen and Australia’s population growth could be heading to zero.

  • With a Western Australia set election due within 12 months, the WA Nationals have ceased their iron ore tax policy. The policy sought to lift the 25c special iron ore lease rental to $5 per tonne and would raise a considerable amount for WA in the process.  A huge campaign was created against the policy for the 2017 election which saw the then leader Brendon Grylls lose his Pilbara seat.
  • A semi permanent camp is being set up for Marmota at its Aurora Tank gold discovery in South Australia. This forms a pathway top production for Marmota which has recorded drill results previously of 120g/t from 21m, 105g/t from 38m and 93g/t from 32m. Marmota Chairman, Dr Colin Rose, said: “ I am delighted that we are setting up a semi-permanent camp at Aurora Tank to provide critical infrastructure. It is also a transition point for the Company and enables us to expedite the operations pathway at our Aurora Tank gold discovery. ”
  • Drilling has commenced at Munni Munni near Karratha with a 13 hole, 1,820m RC drilling program under Artemis Resources. The program has been designed around the resource area to test depth extensions and to undertake DHEM, which will test the electromagnetic (EM) signature of the ore zone. Artemis’s Executive Director Alastair Clayton, commented: “It is terrific to be back exploring at the Munni Munni PGE Project. Drilling using an RC rig is designed to grow the footprint of the known reef-style PGE mineralisation and test for, what our technical team believes, may be a second reef below and subparallel to the primary reef.” Mr Clayton also spoke about the previous Empire Transaction and the Joint Venture nature of the project “Whilst the previously announced Empire Transaction regarding the proposed sale of 51% of the Company’s 70% beneficial interest in the Munni Munni PGE Project Joint Venture (to be effected through the sale of a 72.9% shareholding interest in the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary Munni Munni Pty Ltd) has yet to close, we and our 30% partner in the Munni Munni PGE Project Joint Venture, ASX-listed Platina Resources Limited believe it is imperative to keep the Project moving forward with the stated aim of generating a JORC 2012 resource as soon as practicable. Our prospective partners in the Empire Transaction are also supportive of this programme. Artemis, through the proposed Empire Transaction, would retain both direct and indirect exposure to the Munni Munni PGE Project via becoming the single largest shareholder in Empire Metals Limited for its 58.6% in MMPL, which will continue to hold a 70% interest in the Munni Munni PGE Project, and retain a 27.1% shareholding in MMPL, free carried to completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study.”
  • EMetals has completed the acquisition and settlement of the Poona project pursuant to the binding tenement sale and purchase heads of agreement from Venus Metals. The announcement of the deal includes the assumption of Venus Metals existing joint venture arrangement with Bruce Legendre in relation to E20/885, which entitles Mr Legendre to a free carried 10% interest until such time as eMetals makes a decision to mine on that tenement. Also included in the transaction is a royalty to Venus of A$0.50 per tonne of ore extracted for mining purposes.
  • A $1 million capital raising has been completed for Dampier Gold to accelerate exploration programs. The development of the company projects will continue its exploration and development strategy of its significant gold project holdings located near Kalgoorlie in WA. Dampier Gold’s Executive Chairman, Mr Malcolm Carson is optimistic on what this program will bring “The strongly supported capital raising reflects the continuous market recognition and confidence in Dampier’s gold projects in the highly endowed Kalgoorlie district of Western Australia. Building on the success of our Credo drilling program, Dampier will use the proceeds of this capital raising to fast track drilling its priority targets at Zuleika, with the goal to define resources in the near term. The Zuleika Shear has historically produced more than 20 million ounces of gold and is one of the richest gold regions in Australia. The Dampier team is optimistic about discovering new gold deposits on the Zuleika tenements. The Company appreciates the support of Alto Capital in facilitating this capital raising.”