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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.

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”

 

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.”

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.”

 

 

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.”

Morning News Bites – June 17

Bidders for Virgin Australia have outlined their plans, ASX had a big day for Jun 16 and recovery in the job market starts to occur.

Metals X has provided an update of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves for the Renison Tin Operation, which it holds a 50% stake. An annual update has provided a Total Renison Proved & Probable Ore Reserve of 8.61 Mt at 1.40% Sn for 120,300 tonnes of contained tin. Mike Spreadborough CEO of Metals X indicated its been another good year post some significant exploration “Renison is a world class tin deposit and Australia’s largest primary tin producer. The results from the 2020 Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve update represent yet another outstanding year for the operation and will support a mine life in excess of 10 years. After our significant exploration success during 2018 and 2019, I am excited to report a maiden Ore Reserve for Area 5 hosting some 61,900 tonnes of contained tin at a grade of 1.87% Sn, with further resources still available at depth. As we ramp-up production in this area we will see the expected increase in mined tin grades flowing through the operation”.

Bombora has proven to be a very fruitful project for Breaker Resources. Several new high grade lodes have been discovered from deeper drilling at the Lake Roe project east of Kalgoorlie. Four drill holes produced significant gold mineralisation with visible gold, including 4.6m @ 12.5g/t Au including 1.3m @ 42.7g/t within a broader zone of 19.6m @ 3.13g/t. These results highlight the potential for growth at depth for Bombora. Breaker Resources Executive Chairman Tom Sander said “The success we have achieved through the recent shallow discovery 3km to the north, and now directly below the northern part of the 1Moz Bombora open pit Resource, shows the multiple options we have to grow the project – something that differentiates it from many of its peers. The new drilling has confirmed a 2km strike length of high-grade gold mineralisation situated directly below an extensively de-risked open pit Resource, 80% of which is in the Indicated category. The results highlight strong potential for a significant increase in the Resource at grades typically amenable to underground mining”.

White Cliff Minerals has completed a full data review of its Midas Cu-Au Projects. The review of Table Top and Coolbro Creek has identified 21 targets for further review. White Cliff have recently named the projects Midas and continues to investigate the area according to Technical Director, Edward Mead “The more work we do on the project, the more opportunities we see for potential structural fluid pathways, and geological units that have potential as traps for mineralised fluids. White Cliff needs to get on the ground and the recent rain that has delayed the geochemical sampling program is frustrating. The Company was aiming to utilise a crew already in the area as a way of minimising the costs of the program. “The Patersons Province has seen a lot of activity over the last 12 to 24 months, including the great success of Greatland Gold/Newcrest Mining at Haverion”.

CarSales has given a market update and shows an improvement since April 22 – June 16 on lead and traffic volumes. The total inventory of Carsales.com has decreased based on a significant reduction in time to sell due to increased demand from car buyers following the easing of social distancing restrictions. Also dealers have been facing challenges obtaining used and new car stock in the current environment and carsales research indicating an increase in first-time car buyers and people adding an additional car to their household as consumers look to avoid public transport. A total support package provided to dealers in FY20 will be approximately $26m.

Independence Group subsidiary IGO Newsearch Pty Ltd, has taken an opportunity to enter a 70% interest in Matsa Resources Symons Hill at Fraser Range. The deal worth around $7 million in total is set to take place over a three year period. Symons Hill is approximately 70sqkm in area, with the Nova haul road running directly through the project. Matsa has completed exploration work and identified mineralisation in the area. Executive Chairman at Matsa Paul Poli said the focus of Matsa wasn’t Symons Hill recently, but maintained it was of value “The Symons Hill nickel project has been on the backburner for some time with Matsa’s focus on the Lake Carey gold project, but we always maintained it held considerable value. To partner with someone of IGO’s calibre demonstrates that value. I look forward to IGO using their vast knowledge and experience to exploit Symons Hill, while allowing Matsa shareholders to keep an exposure by retaining a 30% joint venture interest. It’s worth noting that Matsa controls some 170sqkm in its own right within the Fraser Range that is also of high value.

Morning News Bites – June 16

Around 1 in 5 in the UK – according to a survey by Visa, are reluctant to head into bricks and mortar until there is a vaccine for COVID-19 While 56 per cent of small business owners are concerned for their future and the damage from COVID-19. While in Australia 1 in 5 home loan deferrals appear to be in financial strife according to the banks. This equates to around 96,000 loan borrowers.

  • Viva Energy has released its unaudited financial guidance for the 1st half of 2020.Total sales volume is expected to be around 6,100 to 6,200 million litres. Aviation consumption and services have dropped, however regional and cargo operations have been strong. A major maintenance plan for the Residual Catalytlic Cracking Unit will continue at a reduced cost and extended timeframe. The previously announced buy back will commence this month while the first half 2020 Group Underlying EBITDA is expected to be approximately $257.5 – 287.5 million with underlying NPAT (RC) approximately $20.0 – $50.0 million.
  • Diamond Drilling is expected to commence at Golden Camel Gold Zone and RC drilling at Toolleen Gold Zone is earmarked to commence by the end of June 2020 for Catalyst Metals. A previous drill hole for Golden Camel revealed 13 metres @ 4.0g/t. The Golden Camel Zone is located 20km east of the Fosterville gold mine in Victoria – Australia. The RC drilling at Tooleen will look to test down plunge and strike extensions of the high-grade gold zones intersected in historic drilling. Following from the completion of the diamond drilling at Golden Camel, Catalyst is expected to have earned a 50.1% interest in the Golden Camel Joint Venture with Golden Camel Mining Pty Ltd, via its wholly owned subsidiary Nomad Metals Pty Ltd.
  • Rox Resources has announced impressive gold grades at Youanmi in the OYG JV area including  25m @ 34.79g/t Au. Rox Resources is in a Joint Venture with Venus Metals at Youanmi. Rox has paid $2 million and in due course will receive a further $1m either by the issue of RXL shares at 2.4 cents each, subject to shareholder approval at a proposed General Meeting scheduled to be  held in August, or if approval is not given by 9 August 2020, in cash.  Rox Resources Managing Director Alex Passmore said “These very impressive results are the best we’ve seen and significantly, are from the deepest drilling at Grace to date. The exploration model we are applying at Grace is continuing to work well, delivering what is shaping up to be a substantial high-grade deposit. We look forward to updating the market on further assays as they become available.”
  • OK Underground Mine drill results have given the Norseman community a glimmer of the recommencement of mining activity. The results have been announced for Pantoro Limited at Norseman. Drilling has been underway on the 22 development level of the high grade OK Underground Mine and achieved highlights such as 6.05 m @ 22.90 g/t Au, 6.85 m @ 8.07 g/t Au, 1.56 m @ 59.62 g/t Au and 2.75 m @ 9.09 g/t Au. Managing Director Paul Cmrlec has given some indication that mining at OK will be back and gave some confidence to the area.  “These additional results from the OK Underground Mine demonstrate the consistent high grade nature of the deposit beneath the historic workings. The outstanding results that the drill program has delivered gives us confidence that the OK Underground Mine is likely to be one of the first developments when we Pantoro restarts operations at Norseman.”
  • An updated mineral resource for PNX Metals in the Pine Creek region in Northern Territory has been announced. The update gives a resource of 2.94 Mt at 1.7 g/t Au for 156,000 oz Au. PNX Managing Director James Fox said: “This updated Mineral Resource estimate will be used to inform existing pit optimisation and proposed mine schedules to support mining at Fountain Head. The Company is currently assessing a number of proposals to assist with the project capital required for development.” The resource upgrade has provided a 13% increase in resource and 18koz Au.There are also signs of a future growth in resources along the strike.

 

Morning News Bites – June 15

Infrastructure programs across Australia are set to be fast tracked to kick start the economy. The projects include the inland Brisbane to Melbourne Railway, Iron Ore projects in WA and an electricity interconnector from Tasmania to the mainland.  Altogether these projects are worth around $72 billion!

Recently Boral has had some interest in its shareholding from Seven Group Holdings and now Boral has announced a new CEO – Zlatko Todorcevski. Mr Todorcevski has had a vast amount of experience in oil and gas, logistics and steel building products sectors. Boral’s Chairman of the Board, Kathryn Fagg, said “With exceptional commercial acumen, strategic insight and a focus on return on capital, Zlatko has a strong track record as a senior executive in a number of large industrial and energy companies, with international operations. His experience in leading major transformations, including business turnarounds, as well as in capital allocation and strategic portfolio management, are critically important for Boral. He will then deliver a strategy to strengthen the financial performance of the Company and to improve returns for our shareholders.” Mr Todorcevski takes over the reigns from Boral’s current CEO & Managing Director, Mike Kane.

South 32 has signed a contract to engage K2fly with its Resource Governance solution RCubed for its mineral inventory reporting for five years. Chief Commercial Officer Nic Pollock said “It is a great honour to be working with South32. This adds to our growing list of diversified customers like Rio Tinto, Teck Resources and Nexa Resources.” K2Fly also provides a natural resource governance – Infoscope, an Enterprise Land Management, Natural Resource Governance and Stakeholder Relations solution for the Energy and Resources market.

GR Engineering Services has been awarded a contract for the Lake Way Project. The project with Salt Lake Potash is to provide services for non-process engineering design and the management of procurement, construction and commissioning of the Lake Way Project processing facility and associated infrastructure.  Managing Director Geoff Jones said “We are extremely pleased to have been engaged to play a key role in the delivery of the process plant and non-process infrastructure for the Lake Way Project. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Salt Lake Potash to deliver safe and successful outcomes. GR Engineering looks forward to Salt Lake Potash emerging as a significant new Australian SOP Producer.” The Lake Way Project is a 245kt per annum Sulphate of Potash project over a life of around 20 years, south of Wiluna in Western Australia. Salt Lake Potash Tony Swiericzuk, Chief Executive Officer pointed out that GRES has been involved with Salt Lake Potash from the design stage  “We are very pleased to have executed these contracts with GRES who have been a critical contracting partner by our side throughout the design development of the Lake Way processing plant and off-lake infrastructure since early 2019. The finalisation of these major Project contracts and the substantial engineering and procurement activity to date has further de-risked the Lake Way Project execution and confidence around the capital budget.”

Core Lithium has announced a 52% increase to new Finniss Lithium Mineral Resource Estimate  to 15Mt at 1.3% Li2O. This will allow an update to the mine plan for the Finniss project. Managing Director, Stephen Biggins said the announcement validates the project and potential “Core’s announcement today is further validation of the enormous potential that our flagship Finniss Lithium Project holds. “We are very pleased to have reached a global Mineral Resource of 15Mt @ 1.3% Li2O for the Project and we are excited to see the life of mine significantly improve as a result of this, when mining studies are completed later this month,” Finniss is located in the Northern Territory and around an hour drive from Darwin.

The potential from the Cayley Lode is progressing for Stavely Minerals with a hit of 87m at 1.74% copper, 0.57g/t gold and 20g/t silver (SMD087) . The results come from the ongoing resource drilling program in a shallow high grade copper-gold discovery at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect. According to Executive Chairman, Chris Cairns,“We continue to be surprised by the incredible consistency and continuity of mineralisation in the Cayley Lode, with the results reported today including significant intervals of strong copper-gold mineralisation in the northern portion of the deposit. “Due to the large overall interval of strong copper, gold and silver mineralisation in SMD087 and the significant gold grades in the high-grade sub-intervals, we consider this intercept to be on a par with the assays from the discovery drill hole SMD050 (32m at 5.88% Cu, 1g/t Au and 58g/t Ag).”

 

Morning News Bites – Jun 12

AFL was back with a numbing draw, The Aussie dollar this morning is buying 68.2 US cents and markets are expected to be lower on early trade.

  • Lithium Australia is progressing towards a patent grant for a revolutionary extraction technology for recovering lithium from fine and variable-grade spodumene. LieNA® can recover lithium from the fine and variable grade spodumene that may otherwise report to waste or tailings streams during current concentration processes Lithium Australia MD Adrian Griffin “Recovering material that would otherwise go to waste is a fundamental building block in Lithium Australia’s quest to enhance sustainability, reduce costs and negate environmental impacts throughout the ASX Announcement, Li chemicals Page 3 battery production cycle. If we as a society want to maintain current living standards, we cannot afford to squander resources and need to minimise out environmental footprint. Commercialisation of LieNA® will take the lithium industry one step closer to achieving that goal.”
  • Beacon Minerals has given a Production update for May, with 2,246oz produced. Stage three drilling at the Panther tenement was completed on June 1. Results of which are being reviewed and an announcement made when results are known. 20 holes were RC drilled for a total of 1308m. Managing Director Graham McGarry also let the market know there was an extended trial during this period on low grade silcrete.  “The mine and mill are in “steady state” operations with record tonnage processed during the month of May. Further production increases are possible as site management eliminate minor bottlenecks. The month of May featured an extended trial on low grade silcrete stockpiles totalling 8,700 dmt at a head grade of 1.05 gpt (current stockpile assigned grade is 0.93gpt).  A long‐term tailings strategy has been developed in conjunction with our external consultants.   Sterilisation drilling of the proposed IWL area and the necessary approval processes have commenced.”
  • There has been several changes to the ASX as part of the quarterly rebalance. Into the S&P ASX 20 comes Aristocrat Leisure, while Amcor heads out of the S&P ASX 20.
  • Yandal Resources are seeking to raise up to approximately $3,342,399 by a pro-rata non-renounceable rights offer of up to approximately 13,369,595 shares on the basis of 1 new share for every 5 shares held at an issue price of 25 cents per New Share. The raise is expected to accelerate exploration upon the Gordon’s Project as well as the Mt McClure Project.
  • Parent company of Zip Pay, Zip has posted another strong month and is looking at global growth. Zip Pay is a buy now pay later provider of services for the consumer in the retail space. Monthly revenue of $15.6 m was up 78% year on year, monthly transaction volume was up and repayment success rates are on par with the pre COVID-19 environment. Managing Director and CEO Larry Diamond said “May was another strong month for Zip – the performance of the business, both in terms of the continued strong transaction volume, and in particular the outstanding repayment performance, demonstrates the resilience of the Zip business model.  The prudent tightening of credit, both onboarding and behavioural, together with the repositioning of the business over the last few months, have us very well placed to accelerate as the economy begins to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. We remain on track to hit our FY20 target of $2.2b in annualised transaction volume set at the beginning of the year.”