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Morning News Bites – October 9

Morning News Bites for October 9

Newcrest Approves Cadia and Lihir Projects

The Newcrest Board has approved two projects moving to the Execution phase, being Stage 2 of the Cadia Expansion Project and the Lihir Front End Recovery Project.

The Cadia project primarily comprises the addition of a second Coarse Ore Flotation circuit in Concentrator 1 and equipment upgrades in Concentrator 2, which are projected to result in: Plant capacity increasing from 33mtpa to 35mpta, LOM gold recoveries increasing by 3.5% and LOM copper recoveries increasing by 2.7% and finally AISC reducing by an estimated $22 per ounce.

Estimated capital cost for Stage 2 is $175m, $5 million lower than the October 2019 estimate with the project scheduled to be completed by late FY22.  If all goes to plan the project will be paid back in a little over four years.

The Lihir front end recovery project comprises the installation of flash flotation and additional cyclone capacity, as well as cyclone efficiency upgrades, to improve grinding classification and reduce gold losses through the flotation circuits. This is projected to result in: LOM gold recoveries increasing by 1.2% and incremental LOM gold production increasing by 244koz.

Newcrest Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sandeep Biswas said “It is an exciting time at Newcrest as we advance our growth pipeline with both of these projects adding value to our existing large scale, long life operations while we pursue the development of Red Chris and Havieron and exploration opportunities globally.”

Wet Screening Plant Construction Commences at Riley Iron Ore Mine.

After the recently completed initial stage of mining and dry screening operations at the Riley Iron Ore Mine the Board of Venture Minerals (VMS) has given the go ahead to proceed with the construction of the Wet Screening Plant with site works (Stage One) having already commenced.

In addition, as part of the Wet Screening Plant construction phase, all required long lead items have been ordered.

Commenting on this major development for the Company at its Riley Iron Ore Mine, Venture Minerals’ Managing Director Andrew Radonjic, said:  “Venture’s Board has committed to stage one of the Wet Screening Plant construction as part of its continued ramp up towards full scale production. The iron ore price remains strong, and the Company remains focused on determining the best mining and Screening method at the Riley mine to reduce costs and environmental impact so that we can generate jobs, contracting opportunities and returns to our shareholders.”

The Board’s decision to commence Stage One of West Screening Plant construction ensures that progress towards wet Screening continues while finance is finalised for subsequent stages.

The Company continues to work through several advanced financing proposals for completion of the Wet Screening Plant which will enable nameplate production at Riley.

Mount Gibson Iron Ore Updates Shine Iron Ore Project

Mount Gibson Iron Limited (MGX) has released an update on the planned development of the Company’s Shine Iron Ore Project, located 375km northeast of Perth, in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. Shine represents a near term, low capital production opportunity that will further extend Mount Gibson’s 16-year operational presence in the Mid-West region, facilitated by the Company’s established export infrastructure and logistics arrangements.

Mount Gibson has declared Proved and Probable Ore Reserves of 2.8 million dry metric tonnes grading 59.4% Fe, using a 55% Fe cut-off, within an initial “Stage 1” pit development, for a mine life of two years. Mine life could potentially be extended a further two years by developing a “Stage 2” pit subject to market conditions remaining supportive, based on Measured and Indicated Resources within the modelled pit shells.

The Company is currently finalising commercial and permitting requirements to commence development and achieve targeted first ore sales in mid-2021.

Mount Gibson Chief Executive Officer Peter Kerr said: “We are pleased to be able to capitalise on the positive iron ore market conditions by progressing the Shine Iron Ore Project in order to extend our significant presence in the Mid-West, where we have been an established iron ore exporter since 2004. Our detailed review of the project has confirmed Shine as an attractive production opportunity that can be quickly brought on line and appropriately staged to suit market conditions. Importantly, it will also provide continuing employment and export revenue for the Mid-West region.”

Middle Island Resources Release Impressive Results From Drill Campaign.

WA and Northern Territory explorer and aspiring gold developer, Middle Island Resources (MDI) released further significant gold results emerging from the Company’s Phase 2 reverse circulation drilling campaign at its 100%-owned Sandstone gold project in the central goldfields of Western Australia.

More than 50,000m of drilling in Phase 1 and Phase 2 to date in 2020 has been completed, extending several existing Sandstone deposits and identifying five new satellite open pit deposits.

The Phase 2 RC and diamond drilling program predominantly focused on upgrading existing deposits and infilling and extending the five new satellite open pit deposits, McClaren, McIntyre, Ridge, Old Town Well and Plum Pudding, identified by the Phase 1 RC drilling campaign in the first half of CY2020. All new deposits are located on existing Mining Leases within 2.5km of the Company’s 100%-owned gold processing plant, as shown in Figure 1 below.

The Phase 2 drilling campaign was designed to upgrade existing deposits and infill and extend the five new satellite open pit deposits to an Indicated Mineral Resource classification (nominal 20m x 20m drill pattern). Reconnaissance RC drill traverses were also completed across elements of the 1.1km-long Shillington Gap target, interpreted from high resolution airborne magnetic data to lie beneath shallow transported cover between the Shillington and Ridge gold deposits.

Visible Gold at Core Lithium’s Pickled Parrot Prospect.

Visible gold was discovered on the eastern side of Core Lithium’s (CXO) Pickled Parrot Prospect following up higher soil anomalies from earlier results. Additional samples relating to that area have been submitted to a laboratory for assay and will be reported in due course. A new set of quartz veins has also been mapped and sampled immediately to the southeast where there is currently no baseline geochemical data.

PPP was initially identified at the eastern end of a regional soil line originally sampled for lithium in 2019. Based only on moderately elevated Arsenic and Bismuth, re-assay of conventional soil samples collected by Core resulted in an impressive 828ppb Au anomaly.  Further soil sampling over recent weeks has improved the prospectivity of the area with the gold in soil anomaly now peaking at close to 2g/t gold.

PPP has also been geological mapped by Core over recent weeks and found to be the focus of a series of quartz veins in an area of least 300m in length and 100m wide. These veins vary between 1 cm and 10m wide and individually up to 100m long.

Core Lithium’s Managing Director, Stephen Biggins, commented: “To have discovered visible gold at surface at the Pickled Parrot Prospect, in one of the first geological mapping campaigns, is another very promising indication that we are on the right track with this exciting new prospect. We look forward to updating the market as further assay results come to hand.”

 

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Today’s Top Story – Changes to Superannuation Reporting

Changes to Superannuation Reporting.

There appears to be some welcome changes into how superannuation funds will be scrutinised in the future, hopefully as early as July 2021.

The government is working on making funds more transparent in an attempt to expose those making poor returns for those contributing to them.  The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) will be responsible for testing each fund and any fund that fails the test two years in a row will not be allowed to take on new members.  The testing will be carried out over a rolling eight-year period to smooth out any unusual performances by funds.

The funds will also be more accountable to their members in much the same way ASX listed companies must be to their shareholders.  Details that will need to be disclosed in the proposed changes include: political donations, marketing expenditure, sponsorships, remuneration to executives and payment to industry bodies, trade associations or related parties.

An annual general meeting to face members may also be on the agenda, again, much like publicly listed companies.

A welcome change for super contributors will be the ability to take one superannuation fund from employer to employer, without having to create new accounts that some employers insist on.  This could have a dramatic effect on industry based super funds which have strong ties to unions.

The Productivity Commission has been working on how the testing will be done and Treasury is confident that the methodology will be right.

An issue that will need to be addressed will be the complexity of the reporting system that the funds will be required to do.  Fund members’ eyes could roll back in their head if standard financial reports are issued for them to consume.  A simple reporting system that is easy to read and understand for those that don’t have a financial background will be required if it is to have any meaning.

Another change that should be welcomed by fund members will be the requirement for funds to act in the “best financial interests” of its members.  Previously they only had to act in “the best interest”, which was far too broad a term for it to be truly meaningful.

But what about the government’s responsibility to those contributing to funds?

The maximum someone can contribute to a fund in one financial year is $25,000, after which they are taxed heavily for any additional funds deposited.  If we take a fund member who is approaching retirement, has no debt and accumulating cash in a bank account, why can’t they contribute more?

Currently, banks are offering virtually no return on deposits when compared to even a conservative superannuation fund.  What if the member could salary sacrifice a large portion of their salary into their fund and exceed the $25,000 threshold?  The government could still tax the excess but at a modest level compared to what it is now, and the person would be receiving far greater returns than what the bank is offering.

Afterall, one of the ideas of superannuation is for the person to fund their own retirement without having to rely on any government welfare to get them through.  The long-term savings for the government could be immense for a little pain in the present.  They could limit the pain by only making this option available to those over 60 who are approaching retirement age and more likely to have disposable income that they would like to use to secure their financial future.

Of course, there is also argument about the current and future levels of super contributions by employers.  Some want the level increased at a quicker rate than what is being forecast while others don’t want it increased at all.  For most the argument is about which option is going to be best for them.

Another argument is to abolish superannuation altogether and let individuals manage their own money.  The pros and cons of this are too great to tackle here and it is sure that everyone will have an opinion on this.

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Morning News Bites – October 8

Morning News Bites for October 8

High Grade Hits at Bellevue.

Bellevue Gold (BGL) has reported that it has discovered a new shallow high-grade shoot at its Bellevue Gold Project in Western Australia.

Bellevue Managing Director Steve Parsons said: “The drilling results on the new Armand lode are outstanding, with high-grade mineralisation intersected near existing development hosted within the Bellevue Shear.

With mineralisation outlined over 450m and remaining open along strike and down dip, Bellevue will press ahead with drilling with a view to including Armand in the next resource upgrade.

The company has also hit some high-grade results close and east of their Deacon lode.  This was discovered when drilling a new location, which was partially financed by the Exploration Incentive Scheme

Bellevue has been aggressive in its drilling campaign while still maintaining the project development.

Mr Parsons said:  “We have earmarked $35 million for exploration spending on a full program of drilling and project development work over the next 15 months.

“This substantial investment is central to our dual-track strategy of driving growth in our inventory through aggressive exploration and resource drilling while also advancing the project towards development and cashflow.

“These parallel work streams will maximise our ability to continue creating value for shareholders in both the short and long term.”

Grades included:  6.1m @ 14.5g/t and 3.7m @ 26.2g/t

Dreadnought Announces Encouraging Drill Results.

Dreadnought Resources Limited (DRE) has announced further results from the 17-hole (1,767m) RC drill program at Metzke’s Find, part of the Illaara Gold-VMS-Iron Ore Project. The latest drill program tested extensions of lode mineralisation at depth and along strike confirming mineralisation along ~280m of strike and to a vertical depth of ~100m.

Dreadnought Managing Director, Dean Tuck, in a statement said: “Metzke’s Find continues to deliver high-grade intercepts while we steadily increase our understanding of the system. Identifying the flat lying offset now indicates that the first five drill holes drilled to the north probably ended short. This learning is significant and reopens ~80m of potential mineralised strike. We look forward to redrilling the main structure to the north as well as diamond drilling to further advance our structural understanding of the mineralised lodes. Furthermore, results from Longmore’s Find and Black Oak should be released in mid-October 2020.”

Illaara is located 190km northwest of Kalgoorlie in the Yilgarn Craton and covers 75kms of strike along the Illaara Greenstone Belt. The land was previously under the control of Newmont and until Dreadnought took over the lease, had very little exploration carried out.  The land was previously earmarked for iron ore exploration, but Dreadnought has focused on the gold potential in the area.

Yandal Releases Further High-Grade Results.

Yandal Resources (YRL) released further results from its current drilling program that shows high-grade gold mineralisation at shallow depths in their Gordons Dam prospect.  36 holes from the RC drill program are still pending and the company is keen to include them in their maiden resource estimate.

A further 10,500 metres of air-core and diamond drilling is expected to be completed in the December quarter.

When releasing the latest results Managing Director Mr Lorry Hughes said: “The potential to define an initial shallow Mineral Resource and subsequent open pit development is becoming clearer as infilling wide-spaced reconnaissance holes with high quality RC holes is proving successful. Very high grades can be a common feature of palaeochannel hosted deposits in the region and they are quite often located close to a primary source or structure.

High grades have been intersected beneath parts of the palaeochannel previously and the exploration plan is to continue to explore for deeper extensions utilising geological and structural observations from the pending diamond core drilling.

In the meantime shallow Air-core drilling will continue to explore for new palaeochannel and bedrock hosted gold trends in order to provide new targets for RC testing”.

Some of the results included:  1m @ 73.12g/t Au within 8m @ 11.03g/t Au from 36m and 1m @ 15.13g/t Au within 7m @ 3.48g/t Au from 38m.

Wiluna (WMX) Updates Sulphide Development

Wiluna Mining is advancing its $58m stage-one sulphide expansion project at its Wiluna gold mine, which it said will increase production from circa 60,000 ounces of gold a year to 250k ounces a year by late 2023 when the stage 2 expansion is completed.

In a statement to the ASX the company said that at its last board meeting it was approved the concentrator construction works to be completed by GR Engineering Services.  Construction is planned to start in March next year according to the company’s timetable with commissioning commencing in October.

Milan Jerkovic, Wiluna Mining’s Executive Chair commented: “I’m pleased to report that significant progress has occurred surrounding the sulphide development plan. A significant hurdle was met when the Board of Directors approved the construction of the concentrator and the appointment of GR Engineering to undertake the EPC contract for construction. The timetable is confirmed and the capital requirements for Stage 1 will be fully funded with the expected draw down of the Mercuria second tranche debt facility and work will commence immediately with commissioning planned for September 2021.

The challenge now is to deliver on Stage 1 and scope out the optimum size for Stage 2 given the considerable size of the Wiluna orebody. This will take shape in the Feasibility Study which is currently being undertaken. We are now exactly halfway through our 24 months strategy to turn the Company around, deliver real value to our shareholders and maximise the true potential of the Wiluna Mining Complex. We are delivering on our promises and we plan to execute with precision. The sheer size of Wiluna, which is now the 7th largest gold district under single ownership in Australia, based on JORC Mineral Resources, throws up challenges but nothing worthwhile comes easy and we believe the prize for shareholders of developing this project in a systematic, thorough and staged manner to become a Tier 1 asset in a Tier 1 jurisdiction will be worth it”.

Granny Smith Mine Powered by Renewables.

Continuing its push with renewable energy after its Agnew mine became the first in Australia to be powered with wind-generated electricity, operating a 56MW renewable energy grid, Gold Fields has built a solar system to help power capacity at its Granny Smith operations.

The system has 20,000 solar panels attached to a 2megawatt – 1megawatt battery system to store the energy produced by the panels.  It is expected the solar array will help reduce fuel consumption on the site by more than 10%.

Gold Fields Executive Vice-President Australasia Stuart Mathews is quoted as saying:  “Here in Australia and globally our company is committed to addressing climate change impacts by transitioning towards an energy mix that increasingly embraces renewables and lower carbon fuel sources,” Mathews said.

“The Granny Smith microgrid and the renewable energy solution at our Agnew mine are a clear demonstration of the innovative steps we are taking to ensure the ongoing sustainability of our operations.”

The system was installed by Aggreko and becomes part of the self-contained system on site.

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Today’s Top Story – Federal Budget 20/21

Federal Budget 20/21

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! has been the mantra of the federal government since they started “leaking” details of the budget before its official release last night.  And it seems they have put their money where their mouth is.

Employers, no matter how big or small they are, will receive up to $200 a week for each new employee they take on providing they meet certain criteria; employees will be required to work a minimum of 20 hours a week, and must have received the JobSeeker, Youth ­Allowance or parenting payment for at least one of the previous three months.  Employers must show that their payroll has increased as well as number of employees to qualify.

The scheme is to cost $4B over 12 months if the government’s prediction of 450,000 new positions is to be believed and could come in to law on Wednesday if legislation is passed in an omnibus bill to be introduced by the treasurer.  Called JobMaker Hiring Credit it is sure to go done well with employers.

The government is also pending $1.2B on wages subsidies in the hope that 100,000 new apprentices and trainees will enter the workforce.  This could be a huge boost for industries that still require hands on workers for skilled positions and hold back a looming shortfall in experienced tradesmen.

A win for businesses with a turnover of up to $5B will be the write-off on assets up to June 2022.  It is for capital equipment and will be welcome relief for those businesses looking to expand their business or make necessary capital purchases.  The government is hoping it will be a game changer, unlocking investment and boosting the order books of the nation.

Taxpayers have had a win in the budget with across the board tax cuts for all tax brackets.  The percentage of less tax people will be paying ranges from 3.8% for the highest bracket up to 21.4% for the those in the lower bracket; although the dollar figure is higher for the top bracket.

Some will benefit from the changing of the threshold for some of the lower brackets with people being able to earn more before tipping into a higher bracket.  The government has forecast that the extra money the consumers will have will create an extra 50,000 jobs.

The government will lose out on $12.5B in tax takings for this financial year, which will obviously add to the mounting debt expected to be near a trillion dollars.

There are other incentives to get business going in what will be the biggest budget spend this nation has ever seen.  However it is all predicated on the belief that there will be a vaccine for the Covid19 virus that has landed us in this predicament in the first place.  It is a big assumption to make and if a vaccine isn’t forthcoming then the budget forecasts will be doomed for failure.  For the sake of Australia we must hope that the assumption is right.

The Prime Minister and Treasurer have been quick to boast that this is the right budget for the right time to get spending going again.  The question will be, will those receiving the benefits turn it over in to the economy or will they use it to pay down debt or increase savings?  Only in due course will we know the answer to this.  If it does go back in to the economy then the optimistic predictions of the government may come to fruition.  If people hold on to it or just pay down debt then the less than optimal outcome will be pounced upon by the opposition who will make the most of it in the lead up to the next election.

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Morning News Bites – October 7

Morning News Bites for October 7

De Grey (DEG) Releases Infill Drill Results.

Commenting on encouraging drill results at the Hemi Gold Discovery, De Grey Technical Director Andy Beckwith said:

“The plunging high grade zone at Aquila continues to grow to the west and downdip toward Falcon. Mineralisation at Aquila and Crow has been intersected to approximately 500 vertical metres and remains open.”

 The Hemi Gold Discovery is located approximately 60km south of Port Hedland in Western Australia.

The Aquila and Crow zones are located adjacent and to the north of the large Brolga intrusion at Hemi.

The infill drilling program will continue over the coming months at all the Hemi zones to enable a robust resource estimate targeting a high level of JORC 2012 Indicated category resources. The initial Hemi resource estimate is planned for the middle of 2021.

Black Cat Acquires More Projects.

Black Cat Syndicate (BC8) has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the Trojan, Slate Dam and Clinker Hill gold projects from Aruma Resources , subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions.

Black Cat’s Managing Director, Gareth Solly, said: “This acquisition accelerates Black Cat’s move towards a target of more than 1Moz of Resources. The Trojan deposit has strong synergies to our Fingals Gold Project, presents a near-term mining opportunity with 115,000oz in Resource on a granted mining lease and will become part of our larger Fingals Gold Project. The acquisition increases our total Resources to 826,000oz.”

The Trojan deposit is located 65km SE of Kalgoorlie on mining lease M25/0104. The deposit sits just 15km (via the all-weather Trans-access road) east of the preferred site for Black Cat’s planned processing facility.

Great Northern Minerals Confirms Significant Drill Results

Great Northern Minerals (GNM) has released the final one metre resplit samples (BRRC1012 to BRRC1033) from the Reverse Circulation (‘RC’) drilling programme at the Company’s Big Rush Gold Project in Northern Queensland.

The total recent drilling at Big Rush comprised 22 RC holes for 3,634 metres spread over approximately 900 metres of strike underneath the southern, central and northern previously mined shallow open pits.

GNM Managing Director, Cameron Mclean said when releasing the results: “The one metre results have confirmed the potential for very high grades to extend to significant vertical depth, particulary underneath the Central Pit. Results from underneath the Northern Pit are pointing to excellent further potential in this area and the planned deeper diamond drilling program which is about to commence is designed to test for extensions of the higher grade gold results.”

Victory Mines Confirms Commencement of Drilling Program

Victory Mines Limited (VIC) has announced that drilling has commenced at the Company’s Bonaparte Project in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Victory is conducting a 10 hole drilling program which will include twinning historical drill holes with modern drilling methods and sampling techniques. Drilling is expected to be completed and assays returned to the company for interpretation by late November 2020.

Down Hole Electromagnetic Magnetic (DHEM) tools will be used to help determine the presence and orientation of primary sulphide conductors. The DHEM survey is scheduled for the second quarter of 2021 following the end of the wet season.

Gold – What Goes Up Must Come Down

Gold has continued its roller coaster ride with a significant drop in price over night.  After hitting $1920USD yesterday during trade, this morning it opened about $1877USD.  The drop is attributed to US President Trump calling off talks with the Democrats about any stimulus package for the nation.  At time of writing gold was trading at $2642AUD.

With the US elections about a month away the next few weeks could see more volatility in the sector as the price fluctuates on predictions of the outcome.

Gold stocks on the ASX are down and it has taken back a little of the large gains from yesterday that Northern Star and Saracen experienced after the announcement of the two companies merging to form a B$16.1AUD company.

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Morning News Bites – October 2

Sizzler closes its nine restaurants across Australia, Dancing and more to be back on the Queensland social scene and Google pledges $US1b to publishers for news content. 

Antipa Minerals Limited has announced commencement of a diamond and air core drill program at the wholly owned 144km2 Minyari Dome Project,  which is within 35km of Newcrest Mining’s Telfer Gold–Copper‐Silver Mine and 75km of Rio Tinto’s Winu copper‐gold‐silver development project. This includes a 3,800m resource definition diamond drill programme at the Minyari and WACA and 3,000m greenfields air core drillling.

 

Drilling at Coogee (Victory Mines)

A 30 hole, 4,000m RC drilling programme has commenced for Victory Mines with RC drilling to target areas along strike and below the previously mined high grade Coogee pit. The drilling will extend over the entire 600m long pit trend with Drilling aimed to outline additional gold mineralisation that could upgrade the current resource estimate. Coogee is located south east of Kalgoorlie and on the north side of Lake Lefroy, which is in proximity to GoldFields St Ives. According to Victory Mines, The 4,000m RC drill programme will drill test the down plunge extensions of a number of the high-grade gold shoots within the overall 600m strike length Coogee pit trend and below the previously mined Coogee pit.

An update has been provided for Sabre Resources planned drilling program at Bonanza Gold Project. Drill program approval applications have been lodged at the Department of Mines with drilling companies contacted and a start date announced when approvals have been granted. Sabre are looking at a 1,500m Aircore drilling program planned to test priority targets.

Wiluna Mining Company has updated the market on its Sulphide Development at Wiluna. The approval of the construction of the concentrator was completed by the board and  Milan Jerkovic, Wiluna Mining’s Executive Chair was pleased to report the progress.  “I’m pleased to report that significant progress has occurred surrounding the sulphide development plan. A significant hurdle was met when the Board of Directors approved the construction of the concentrator and the appointment of GR Engineering to undertake the EPC contract for construction. The timetable is confirmed and the capital requirements for Stage 1 will be fully funded with the expected draw down of the Mercuria second tranche debt facility and work will commence immediately with commissioning planned for September 2021.”

Diamond Drilling has commenced on the Andover Nickel-Copper Project (60% Azure / 40% Creasy Group), located in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia. An initial 12-hole, 3,000m diamond core drilling program on defined targets is underway with downhole EM surveying of drill holes. Azure Managing Director, Mr. Tony Rovira said: “We’re very pleased to get our first drilling program at Andover underway so quickly, in what is a target-rich environment for nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation. Azure has hit the ground running with the initial six-week program of ground EM surveying now completed and our first drill program underway.” Mr Rovira also said there would be high priority of drilling the anomalies “The ground EM surveying has identified numerous electromagnetic conductors indicative of bedrock hosted sulphide mineralisation and drilling of these new anomalies will be undertaken as a matter of high priority. Drilling will continue through to the end of the year, with first assay results expected later this month.”

 

 

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Morning News Bites – October 1

Morning News Bites for September 30. PM to announce $1.5 billion manufacturing boost to bring 80k jobs to Australia, experts predicting that half of Australian university researchers face the axe and Victoria COVID-19 death toll reaches 800.

Cyprium Metals Limited commenced analysing the potential of the Nanadie Well Copper-Gold Project, which is located 75km east-northeast of its existing Cue Copper-Gold Project, in Western Australia. The supergene mineralisation has been intersected in shallow drilling over a strike length of 750 metres and remains open along strike in both directions. Typical supergene intersections include, 6m @ 4.79% Cu, 0.36 g/t Au, 1.83 g/t Ag from 1m and 8m @ 2.53% Cu, 0.69 g/t Au, 3.88 g/t Ag from 33m in drill hole. Executive Director Barry Cahill commented, saying “We are pleased to announce the preliminary results of the geological interpretation that we have undertaken at the Nanadie Well Copper-Gold Project. There is significant potential for shallow supergene copper-gold mineralisation above the sulphide mineralisation at Nanadie Well.”

Thomson Resources Ltd has advised that it has completed due diligence on the Hortons gold tenement it is acquiring from private company, Syndicate Minerals Pty Ltd to Thomson’s satisfaction. The Hortons gold tenement is situated 30km of Tenterfield in Northern NSW and has high potential for Intrusion-Related Gold System type gold mineralization. The tenement covers 58 sq. km and has several gold anomalies. This is the first of the key Conditions Precedent to Thomson’s acquisition of the Hortons gold project. The next steps towards completion of the acquisition will now be proceeded with, including, obtaining Thomson shareholder approval to the issue of the equity consideration, this will be sought at the AGM on 26 October 2020 and with Ministerial approval of the transfer of the tenement to Thomson.

Further to its announcement of 16th July, AusQuest Limited reported that drilling of several compelling gold-copper targets at the Gunanya Project in the Paterson region of Western Australia is set to commence in early October under its Strategic Alliance Agreement with South32. The reverse circulation drilling program will consist of 6 to 9 drill-holes for a total of ~1,800m, and will provide an initial test of three magnetic targets to determine their potential to host large-scale gold and copper mineralisation, similar to that found at Winu (by Rio Tinto) and Havieron (by Newcrest). AusQuest Managing Director Graeme Drew said the Company was pleased that drilling of the Gunanya targets was able to get underway this late in the season. “These are compelling targets based on analogies that we have been able to draw with new discoveries in the Paterson Region from both a gold and a copper perspective,” he said. “We are looking forward to reporting on the drilling at Gunanya once the program gets underway.”

Bellevue Gold Limited is pleased to announce that extensional and infill exploration drilling at the Bellevue Gold Project in Western Australia has intersected high-grade mineralisation both outside and within the existing know resource boundary. Drilling has been continuing on site and has included infill drilling to upgrade the indicated resource later in the December quarter and the resumption of exploration step out drilling at the project. Hits up to 163g/t also point to extensions of the Deacon, Deacon North and Bellevue
Lodes; Indicated Resource upgrade set for this quarter. Managing Director Steve Parsons said the Company’s investment in exploration drilling continued to create significant value for Bellevue stakeholders.
“We have hit more high-grade mineralisation in previously-untested areas,” Mr Parsons said. “These results extend the known limits of the mineralisation. At the same time, our infill drilling continues to return strong results which should help drive an increase in the Indicated Resource.”

Barra Resources Limited is pleased to advise that reverse circulation and diamond drilling is scheduled to commence mid-late October at the Burbanks Gold Project. The drilling program will specifically follow-up encouraging RC drill results from 2019 which intersected high-grade mineralisation to depths of 100m below the surface, along 600m of prospective strike along the Burbanks Shear Zone between the Main Lode underground mine and the Burbanks North deposit. Mineralisation is open at depth and the planned program aims to test the prospective 600m of strike to depths between 130m and 350m below surface where mineralisation is open and untested. The drilling program is estimated to take between 4 and 6 weeks with results to be announced within 2 weeks of program completion.

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Morning News Bites – September 30

Morning News Bites for September 30. Hydrogen boom set to hit $11 trillion USD, national contact tracing network unlikely to be in place until 2021 and Trump is about to go head to head with Biden in the first presidential debate. 

TSC Limited announced the commencement of RC drilling at the Rover Project in WA’s Goldfields. Around 33 holes for 1,800m is planned, to test four main areas. The RC drilling campaign is designed to follow up on previous significant results. Notably, the focus is to test new anomalous gold results at the Rover Project, following on from TSC’s auger drilling and soil geochemical programs. Results to be released progressively over the coming weeks as they come to hand.

Superior Resources Limited reported an update on the second batch of assays from the Resource Drilling
Program at the Steam Engine Gold Deposit, located approximately 210 kilometers west of Townsville, Queensland. The results further boost the consistently strong intersections returned in the first batch of assays from both the Steam Engine and Eastern Ridge Lodes. The second batch of assays returned a thick, high grade gold intercept at Steam Engine Lode, with highlights including; 14m @ 4.9 g/t gold from 0m (surface), incl 7m @ 9.2 g/t gold from 7m and incl 1m @ 47.5 g/t gold from 7m. Upcoming revised Mineral Resource Estimate expected to be upgraded from current 1.27 million tonnes @ 2.3 g/t gold (approximately 94,000 ounces), followed by completion of a scoping study.

Initial reconnaissance fieldwork programs at the recently-acquired Jimblebar and Pincunah gold projects in the Pilbara region of Western Australia have returned positive results for Trek Metals Limited, confirming strong prospectivity for gold mineralisation. The fieldwork program comprised mapping and sampling programs across both project areas and included the reprocessing of geophysical data to assist with geological interpretation. This work delivered a series of maps that combined airborne magnetic and radiometric data, as well as aerial photography, topography and processed satellite imagery. In combination with historical drilling results, these maps were then used to prioritise targets for sampling programs and later interpretation.

Toro Energy Limited reported that the reverse circulation drilling programme at the Golden Ways Target Area on the company’s owned Yandal Gold Project has been successfully completed. The Project is located in the Yandal Greenstone Belt some 15km NE of the world class Bronzewing Gold Mine and some 50km east of the world class Mt Keith Nickel Deposit in Western Australia. A total of 35 RC drill holes for 2,416m were completed in the programme over the Golden Ways target area, being 416m more than the 2,000m planned. Geological assessment of the drilling program is now underway. Drill chip samples have been selected for geochemical analysis and sent to the laboratory for assaying. It is expected that assay results will be returned in October.

Sultan Resources Limited provided an update on results from extension soil and rock chip sampling returned from ongoing exploration programs at the Big Hill AuCu porphyry project in the Company’s Lachlan Fold Belt. The ongoing exploration program is designed to identify drill targets with high potential to host
porphyry-style Au-Cu and/or epithermal gold mineralisation across the three highly prospective targets at Big Hill, Ringaroo and Tucklan. Jeremy King, Chairman of Sultan Resources commented saying, “Sultan’s methodical approach and boots on the ground exploration strategy has again paid off, revealing Razorback Ridge: outcropping chalcopyrite, malachite, chalcocite with good gold over a kilometre long, and unreported by previous explorers. It is testament to the quality our now expanded ground position that such outcropping
mineralisation can still be discovered walking the ground half way between Cadia and Boda. Razorback adds even more compelling ingredients to our Big Hill Porphyry Target, giving us more confidence to fast track further exploration not only around Big Hill and Razorback, but at Ringaroo and Tucklan where we eagerly await IP and soil results, as we turn toward drilling.”

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Morning News Bites – September 29

Morning News Bites for September 29. Thousands of people impacted by the Office 365 outage, Sydney to Auckland travel bubble is looking likely and the Hotel Quarantine failures “caused 768 deaths”, inquiry told. 

Alto Metals Limited provided an update on the final 1m fire assay results from its latest phase of RC drilling targeting high grade gold mineralisation beneath the Lord Nelson open pit and at the new Orion gold lode discovery, located 200m south of Lord Nelson, within the Company’s flagship Sandstone Gold Project 600km north of Perth in the East Murchison Mineral Field of Western Australia. The update relates to results received for a total 5,562m of RC drilling, which included infill and step out drilling at the new Orion Lode and infill drilling beneath the Lord Nelson pit. Infill drilling at the Orion Lode confirms excellent continuity of the shallow high-grade gold mineralisation from oxide and transitional zone, with highlights including, 29m @ 3.5g/t gold from 49m, incl.7m @ 7.9g/t gold from 53m and 13m @ 3.3g/t gold from 83m, incl.2m @ 8.8g/t gold from 85m. Alto’s Managing Director, Matthew Bowles commented saying, “It is a really exciting time for Alto with our next drilling program about to commence to follow up on these latest results. The 30,000m of drilling we have planned is the biggest drill program Alto has undertaken in a number of years and we are keenly anticipating ongoing results.”

Torian Resources Limited announced that drilling on the Mt Stirling Gold Project has now commenced, located 40km northwest of Leonora in Western Australia. The approximately 15,000m drilling campaign kicked off today at the Diorite East prospect on the Diorite Block. 9 holes comprising of approximately 1,000m of drilling have been planned for this prospect to follow up on a number of historical gold-in-soil anomalies which were recently uncovered. Phase 1 drilling has demonstrated Mt Stirling Project as a potentially large gold system with ore grade Au now intercepted over 100m below previous drilling and extends over 1,000m strike length. Assays from Phase 1 drilling returned grades of up to 4m @ 8.84 g/t (including 1.0 m @ 33.10 g/t) and 24m @ 1.26 g/t (including 7.0 m @ 2.89 g/t). Torian Executive Director Mr Peretz Schapiro said, “Today’s announcement ushers in an exciting phase for our company and our shareholders as we embark on one of our largest and most comprehensive drilling campaigns in recent times. I would like to thank our geological team and fellow Directors for all their hard work over the last couple of months to ensure that the program goes ahead and that it is given the greatest opportunity to succeed.

Drilling is underway at the Gum Creek Gold Project in Western Australia for Horizon Gold Limited. The drilling program will comprise a total of 38 RC holes for 4,680 metres. The program will consist of infill and extensional drilling to improve definition of the modelled mineralisation and to target potential extensions to the Swan and Swift Mineral Resource. Horizon Executive Director, Jamie Sullivan, said: “It is great to be drilling again at the Gum Creek Gold Project, with the initial program targeting the high-grade Swan and Swift deposits. This marks the start of a new phase of exploration for the company in this highly prospective belt. Along with our comprehensive review of previous geological data, which is well underway, we look forward to planning a more expansive drill program leading into 2021”.

West Australian kaolin and silica sand exploration company, Suvo Strategic Minerals Limited announced that it has executed a mining access agreement with the private land owner and occupier of the tenement that contains its maiden Inferred JORC Resource of 31.5mt of bright white kaolinized granite at its 100% owned White Knight Kaolin Project in Gabbin, Western Australia. Drilling contractors and associated support personnel are scheduled, and the drilling campaign will commence shortly. The purpose of the drilling program is to determine a JORC Compliant Measured Mining Reserve which is expected to be completed in December 2020. Bulk samples of raw product will be sent to the United Kingdom for further metallurgical test work, the results of which will further define enduser specifications and potential product pricing.

Dampier Gold Limited has detailed an update on further Aircore drilling has commenced at Paradigm East on the Zuleika Gold Project tenements under the joint venture with Torian Resources Limited. The Zuleika Gold Project sits within the gold rich Kundana district of the Kalgoorlie Goldfield with an extensive land holding along significant regional structures and within highly prospective stratigraphy Following on from the successful Phase 1 RC (Reverse Circulation) program at Paradigm East, phase 2 Aircore drilling of 1200m testing 400m further along strike on the mineralised structure is underway. The program is testing for the extension of the gold system to then be later infilled and tested with RC drilling. Dampier has identified the Paradigm East prospect as a high priority target within the granted tenements of the Zuleika Gold Project. Previous results include 7m @ 9.8 g/t Au including 2m @30.9 g/t Au. There are several strong intercepts over a 250m strike length and the zone is open in most directions. Phase 1 RC drilling program at Paradigm East completed in September 2020 returned significant intercepts from 11 of 12 drill holes with best results including repeats of up to 7.97 g/t Au over 1m from 117m.

 

 

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Morning News Bites – September 25

Cricket world in shock over Dean Jones death in India yesterday. Gold drops to around $1850US/oz but sits at $1869us/oz as of time of publish and Home buyers set to be winners after lending laws placed around the GFC set to be dropped. 

Northern Star Resources has release details on its forward strategy yesterday. Highlights in the presentation included a World record in development metres at Millennium and Kanowna Belle record annual mill throughput from Kalgoorlie Operations. Jundee mining tonnage increased 38% and Processing Plant Expansion ~30%, Pogo Operations have been modernised and positioned for growth, now contributing strong cashflow and KCGM Long-life robust mine plan that delivers beyond FY2034 based on current Ore Reserves
of 9.7Moz.

An acquisition agreement has been reached by Pursuit Minerals to acquire the Gladiator Gold Project, comprising 4 exploration licences located 10km northwest of Laverton in Western Australia. CEO Mark Freeman said “The strategic acquisition of these Exploration Licences has come following our regional review and identification of priority area in this rapidly developing and highly prospective area northwest of Laverton. We look forward to commencing geological mapping, rock chip and soil geochemistry, along with planning for an initial drill program.” Previous drill highlights have included 11m @ 4.64g/t Au from 61m, including 1m @ 37.2g/t Au from 65m, in drill hole WGC89 and 11m @ 2.75g/t Au from 59m, including 1m @ 11.47g/t Au from 60m and 1m @ 4.06g/t
Au from 67m, in drill hole WGC98.

Strong Broga infill and extension drilling results have been announced by De Grey Mining. Highlights included 81m @ 1.7g/t Au from 37m in drill hole HERC192 and 9m @ 3.7g/t Au from 62m in HERC189. While follow up intrusion defined additional mineralisation drilling produced 7m @ 5.4g/t Au from 163m in HERC170 (Brolga South). According to De Grey Mining Technical Director Andy Beckwith the infill results give strong support and the intrusion at Brolga South appears to parallel the Falcon Extension “This first round of infill drilling to 80m x 40m spacing at Brolga provides strong support and confirms the consistency and continuity of gold mineralisation as expected. The infill drilling program will continue over the coming months at all the Hemi zones to enable a robust resource estimate targeting a high level of JORC 2012 Indicated category resources by the middle of 2021. The Brolga South intrusion is becoming a strong target as it narrows and remains open to the south. Overall, the intrusion appears to parallel the new Falcon intrusion making the southern extensions a prime aircore drilling target.”

Australian Potash via Twitter

As Australian Potash is set to make a final investment decision in Quarter 1 of 2021 on its Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash Project, an update to the market has been provided. The Project finance due diligence processes are under way and according to Managing Director and CEO Matt Shackelton the approvals and permits have been approved by the EPA “The various approvals and permits required for us to commence works under the Minor and Preliminary Works approval previously granted by the EPA are now being finalised, with site activities being scheduled for Q4 2020”. “Notwithstanding the operating restrictions caused by the COVID pandemic, it is very pleasing to report that APC remains on track to complete all of the above work programs and make a final
investment decision on developing the LSOP in early 2021.” he said.

Results from Resolution Lode drilling for Navarre Minerals has provided results of 5.0m @ 10.0 g/t Au from 273.9m in RD027
and 9.4m @ 5.3 g/t Au from 355.6m, including 3.4m @ 9.2 g/t Au in RD028.  Managing Director Ian Holland said “Resolution Lode continues to deliver consistently strong intersections of high-grade gold mineralisation from within a well-defined lode channel. We are becoming more confident that the geometry and style of gold mineralisation encountered to date has the potential to grow into a large deposit similar to Magdala.” The Resolution Lode prospect is located 20kmsouth of Stawell’s 4Moz Magdala Gold Mine in Victoria.