Tag: Ardea Resources

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What You Missed in the News This Week

IGO’s Nova Mine will cease operations for several weeks after a fire started in the diesel engine room.

No one was injured in the fire, but the West Australian mine safety authorises have launched an investigation into the incident.

The mine is located in the Fraser Range, 160km east of Norseman.

IGO’s acting chief executive, Matt Dusci said “We are thankful that all our people are safe and unharmed. We have activated our contingency plans and will work to re-establish operations at Nova as quickly and safely as possible.”

IGO’s Nova Mine

 

The Saint Barbara Festival took place last week in Kalgoorlie.

The annual event consists of the Miners Memorial Service on Thursday 1st December and the St Barbara’s Parade on Sunday 4th December.

St Barbara’s Parade

Codrus Minerals has announced high grades at their Niobium-Rich Karloning REE Project in north of Mukinbudin in the Wheatbelt.

Codrus Managing Director, Shannan Bamforth said: “We are excited by the high grades returned from 3 samples that exceeded the upper detection limit in the original assaying. Seeing grades for heavy REE elements of this magnitude is very positive, particularly given that these metals are intrinsically linked to the decarbonisation thematic.”

 

The S&P/ASX 200 closed on a lower note this week. Starting at 7,321 points on Monday, before finishing at 7,213 points on Friday.

Champion Iron and Sandfire Resources were top performing shares, gaining 5.15% and 4.81% respectively.

The All Ordinaries finished on 7,406 points, falling from the high of 7,551 from Monday.

 

Gold dropped on Tuesday from $1,810.70USD to $1,7744.54USD before rising again over the last few days to finish up at $1,798.80USD.

Silver also fell significantly on Tuesday from $23.49USD to $22.63USD but gained it back during the week to $23.44USD

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What You Missed in the New this Week

Surbiton Associates has announced Australian gold production for the September 22 quarter is down 9% from the June 22 quarter.

The September quarter saw 76 tonnes compared to the 83 tonnes from the June quarter.

Surbiton Associates director, Dr Sandra Close said gold production for the quarter is somewhat disappointing and stated “some wet weather and Covid-19 problems affected output adversely” but is confident these effects are slowly receding.

Gold Fields has awarded their Barren Lands open pit project to establish a new mine at their Agnew Gold Mine, 150km Northwest of Leonora to MLG Oz.

The project will run alongside their current St Ives cooperation.

MLG founder and managing director Murray Leahy said “we are very proud to continue to support Gold Fields at their St Ives and Agnew operations extending what has, and continues to be, a long and rewarding relationship.”

Metal Hawk Limited has announced diamond drilling at their Berehaven Nickel Project has commenced.

The project, located 20km Southeast of Kalgoorlie Boulder, continued after high grade nickel sulphide was discovered in the area last year.

Minerals Resources is offering starting salaries of over $140,000 to New Zealanders in an entice them to Perth. The campaign is set to see several hundred New Zealanders over the next 6 months.

 

 

The S&P/ASX200 stumbled slightly on Monday before recovering to start the month on a high of 7,372 points yesterday. The markets finished off the week on 7,302 points, dropping 0.72% from yesterday.

The All Ordinaries peaked at 7,572 points yesterday, finishing at 7,504 points today.

 

 

Gold was relatively stable at the start of the week, before picking up on Wednesday to finish the week at the biggest high since August at $1,802.25USD/oz.

Silver followed suit, starting stable before reaching the biggest high since June at $233.04USD/oz.

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What You Missed This Week in the News

BHP has offered Oz Minerals a takeover offer of $28.25/share, including $9.6B, three months after their initial unsolicited offer.

BHP offered a$25/share, $8.4m takeover offer in August, which Oz Minerals rejected, saying it failed to properly value the company’s portfolio.

The offer comes after the two renewed talks on Thursday, and Oz Minerals board have accepted the offer, OZ Minerals Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Cole said: “BHP’s Revised Proposal is a clear reflection of OZ Minerals’ unique set of highly strategic, quality assets in quality jurisdictions. We look forward to working with BHP in a collaborative way to progress the Revised Proposal in the best interests of OZ Minerals’ and its stakeholders.”

 

MetalsGrove Mining has announced that drilling contractor Topdrill has mobilised its drill rig in preparation to commence the inaugural drilling at their Upper Coondina Lithium Project.

The project is located 100km south of Marble Bar, near Port Hedland.

 

Town of Port Hedland

BHP, Curtin University and Greening Australia have partnered to trial vegetation barriers to improve air quality and capture dust in the West End scheme in Port Hedland as part of BHP’s Pilbara Air Quality Program.

Phase 1 which involved planting 80,000 seedlings, has been completed and another 80,000 is scheduled to be planted in the next few months.

 

The ”What’s Down the Track” Forum was held in Kalgoorlie Boulder on Thursday. The event, run by the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce, provides a 12-month forecast into the drivers that support the growth and opportunities that exist within the region.

The event included speakers and exhibitions from BHP, Kai Rho Contracting, Deep Yellow Limited, St Ives, Northern Star, Lynas Rare Earths, Evolution Mining and Epiroc.

 

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce

The S&P/ASX200 markets stumbled at the beginning of the week, starting off on the month’s high of 7,196 points before falling to 7,106 points on Wednesday. The markets made a comeback to finish the week at 7,152 points. Oz Minerals was the top performing stock, up 3.92% after their takeover offer from BHP.

The All Ordinaries us up too, finishing the week on 7,355 points.

 

Gold is trading at $1,765.52USD after a stable week, and silver at $21.35USD, after peaking early on Tuesday at $22.28USD.

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Tonight’s Top Story – Is Nickel The New Gold?

David Southam, Managing Director of Mincor Resources gave a lively presentation about their Kambalda operations and positioning themselves to be a major player in the Nickel sector.

He boldly declared that: “Nickel is the new gold!”, which raised a few eyebrows before going on to give a compelling case. David is sure that we are moving into a third wave of nickel in the Kambalda region. The first was the boom that put Kambalda on the map in the 60s and 70s.  It wasn’t until the 90s, when WMC divested themselves of the mines in the same region that the second wave occurred.  He believes that 2020 is the start of the third wave and Mincor will be well positioned to make the most of it.

They currently have an ore reserve of ~71,000t of contained nickel, they are fully funded to production and have appointed Pit N Portal as their mining contractor. The company has some exciting prospects with Cassini emerging as a major site for them. The Cassini Main site has a mineral resources of1.5Mt @ 4.0% Ni for 58.7kt of contained nickel and Ore Reserves of 1.2Mt @ 3.3% Ni for 40.1kt of contained nickel.

The newly discovered Cassini North site is showing a lot of promise with an Intercept of 2.5m at 6.6% Ni from the first hole.  David believes that it will be very similar to Cassini Main when fully explored.

David got excited when he spoke of the “Golden Mile” which is untested ground between the Durkin North and Long sites. This ground is now controlled by Mincor and David is keen to explore this ground that has yet to be explored and sits between two very lucrative sites.

As you would expect, David was very bullish on Mincor’s prospects, but this is based on his belief that nickel is about to shine again.  With low production costs and a rising nickel price, maybe it is Mincor’s time to have some time in the sun.

Bardoc Gold:

CEO Rob Ryan outlined Bardoc’s operations 40 kilometres North of Kalgoorlie. They currently have a 3Moz resource, a pre-feasibility study completed earlier this year and are well funded with AU$30M cash in bank.

Bardoc have pulled together a series of small projects that now come under one banner. It is anticipated that at current resources they have a mine life of eight years with a production target of 1.02Mozs.  A low cost of production will make the mine a lucrative money spinner for the company.  The plan is to sell 50% of the gold as a concentrate and the remainder in Dore from their Aphrodite.

Bardoc is sitting on ground that is ripe for exploration as there has been insignificant drilling carried out in the area.  This will see the resource grow and a low cost operation could be a going concern for many years to come.

Ramelius Resources.

It seems to be the year for records for this miner.  Production up 17% to 230koz.  Record net profit up $20% to A$113M.  The return to shareholder in dividends doubling from 1c to 2c and the company is now on the ASX200 bourse.

Ramelius is currently operating at about A$1,250 per Oz across its sites after working hard to get their cost management to a satisfactory level.  They have a series of mines around the Mt Magnet area including Vivien, Penny , Galaxy and Morning Star.  The Penny mine has proven to be a high grade resource with average grade of 15g/t.

These are complimented by the Edna May plant at Westonia in the wheatbelt.  Gold from Marda Gold and Edna May mine currently feed this plant.  Tampia mine will be up and running soon with long lead items ordered.  Meanwhile, Symes Find which is nearby is being drilled to prove up resources.

This is a snapshot of what occurred on day one of Diggers and we look forward to bringing you more valuable information from those presenting on day two.

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Morning News Bites – October 12

The largest mining conference in Australia has kicked off today, with Diggers and Dealers now underway. KCGM set to recruit 700 jobs in Kalgoorlie Boulder as the Premier announces a mining extension has been granted at Super Pit special event.

Beacon Minerals Limited provided an update of activities at the Jaurdi Gold Project, announcing that it  produced 2,790 oz of gold during the month of September 2020. Beacon exceeded its production target from Jaurdi for the September 2020 quarter of 6,400 to 6,800 oz’s, with 7,453 ozs produced during the quarter, approximately 10% above the high‐end guidance and expects production from Jaurdi for the December 2020 quarter to be 6,600 to 7,000 oz’s. Debt $18.0 million (in the form of debentures) to be repaid today one year ahead of the repayment due date. On repayment of the debentures the company will be debt free.

Thomson Resources Ltd has managed to secure the RC drilling rig that undertook the Company’s maiden drilling program at the Yalgogrin Gold Project, for a short follow up drilling program commencing towards the end of October 2020. COVID-19 restrictions and the increased mineral exploration activity has meant that access to drilling rigs has become tight. The Company is pleased that Australian Mineral & Waterwell Drilling Pty Ltd were able to make the drilling rig available for Thomson between commitments to other customers.
Thomson’s drilling program in July 2020 discovered thick low-grade gold mineralisation from surface as well as deeper high-grade lodes, essentially on one north-south drill section. The follow up drilling program is proposed to extend the mineralisation by drilling sections either side of the first drill section and following the
mineralisation east and west. Samples will be analysed for gold and results should be available in November-December.

Ardea Resources Limited has announced that their first ever metallurgical testwork has been undertaken on four metallurgical samples selected from Ardea’s Big Four Gold resource, located on a granted mining lease within the Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project (GNCP), 65km north west of Kalgoorlie. It reports very high gold
recoveries from Big Four Gold deposit, with overall gold extractions of 97.7%. Significant proportion of gravity-recoverable gold revealed with potential for stand-alone toll treatment or incorporation into Ardea’s
broader gold strategy.

Terrain Minerals Limited updated the market of the drilling results from Terrain’s maiden RC Drilling Program at Smokebush Gold Project. A total of 12 RC holes (11 holes at the Monza prospect and 1 hole at Target
13) were completed for a total 981 metres as part of this first pass exploration program. The RC Drilling program was carried out over a 200-250m area to improve confidence in grade continuity and orientation identified in historic drilling and to test interpreted extensions to mineralisation. The drilling was concentrated at the Monza prospect area because this was identified as the most advanced target within the Smokebush project for hosting significant gold mineralisation. Multiple significant intersections were returned from drilling associated with shearing and alteration within meta-dolerite and felsic intrusive host rock.

Lefroy Exploration Limited reported initial results from the multi target drill program that Gold Fields Limited commenced in July 2020 on the company’s tenements over Lake Lefroy. The program is a follow up to the extensive foundation AC drilling that commenced in late January 2019 and is part of the AUD25 million Farm-In and Joint Venture (JV) agreement between Lefroy and Gold Fields that commenced in June 2018. The results from the ten initial RC holes continues to reinforce and advance understanding of the geological prospectivity beneath Lake Lefroy. Significant results include, 9m @ 3.58g/t Au from 96m including 1m @ 18.55g/t Au from 97m. 3m @ 3.25g/t Au from 82m including 1m @ 7.88g/t Au from 82m.  Gold Fields has completed the AUD4 million minimum exploration spend and is required to fund an additional AUD6 million for AFY2021 to earn a 51% interest in the Western Lefroy Joint Venture, which is part of the wholly owned greater Lefroy Gold Project (LGP) located 50km south east of Kalgoorlie.

 

 

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Morning News Bites – Aug 13

In today’s Morning News Bites for August 13. Telstra has reported a full year profit of $1.84b, down 14.4 per cent on the previous year staying within the telco’s guidance range. Flight Centre Travel Group has developed a longer liquidity runway to help it
overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19. Australian retail industry is hit the hardest since ABS recorded data.

Northern Star Resources reports that it is set to generate significant increases in production, cashflow and mine lives over the next two years. This strong growth outlook stems from its exploration success and accretive acquisitions and will require relatively limited capital expenditure. FY21 production guidance for Australian operations is 540,000-600,000oz at AISC of A$1,425- A$1,525/oz. Group Resources increased by 3.2Moz to 22.3Moz (after depletion of 912,000oz and acquisition of Bronzewing Project). Group Reserves increased 12%, or 600,000oz, to 6Moz (after depletion of 912,000oz). Executive Chair Bill Beament said the company was poised to achieve a new level of sustainable production,“We are entering the next chapter of growth on all levels of our business.”

Evolution Mining Limited has today released its financial results for FY20. It announces a strong performance in safety and sustainability; no material impact to operations from COVID-19. Statutory net profit after tax increased 38% to a record A$301.6 million (FY19: A$218.2 million). It also reports that it will pay a record final dividend for the year of 9 cents per share fully franked delivering a total FY20 dividend of 16 cents per share, a 68% increase on FY19.

Western Australian nickel company St George Mining Limited provides an update on the drilling programme underway at its flagship highgrade nickel-copper sulphide Mt Alexander Project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields, WA. Deep drilling intersects intrusive rocks at both the Investigators and Cathedrals Prospects, confirming the prospectivity for nickel-copper sulphides at depth. Diamond drilling continues at Investigators and underway at the Fairbridge Prospect.

Ardea Resources announce significant gold in first RC drilling at Aphrodite North, located approximately 80km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, WA. RC drilling at Aphrodite North has intercepted significant gold mineralisation in newly-defined mineralised lodes. Highlights include; 6m at 3.60g/t Au from 44m, including 2m at 9.99g/t Au from 44m. Managing Director, Andrew Penkethman, said, “On the basis of the initial results, a 2,600m follow up RC program has been designed, aiming to commence a drill out of the target zone to further define the gold mineralisation grade tenor and geometry.”

Confirmation of the securing of a drilling contractor to undertake RC drilling at its Pharos Project has been announced by Scorpion Minerals. Located approximately 50kms north west of Cue in the Murchison district of WA, it has signed a contract with iDrilling Australia to undertake a minimum of 5,000m of RC drilling to be completed during 2020, with an initial programme of 2,500m to commence from next week. All relevant approvals for drilling are in place.

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Morning News Bites – Aug 12

In today’s Morning News Bites for August 12. Gold plummets over $100USoz. Clive Palmer looks to sue WA by 30 billion. Downer report a net loss of $156 million in FY20, attributable to its parent company.

The commencement of a research project with Australia’s national science agency the CSIRO has been announced by Ardea Resources. CSIRO’s Regolith Geosciences team is studying the behaviour of gold within and adjacent to the critical mineral deposits of the Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project located in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The main aim of the Ardea-CSIRO project is to gain a better understanding of gold and critical mineral behaviour in the Goongarrie laterite to assist exploration and future development.

Kin Mining NL reports further encouraging assay results from ongoing Phase 3 RC drilling across multiple prospects at its Cardinia Gold Project near Leonora in Western Australia. The latest drilling continues to highlight the presence of significant mineralisation outside of the known deposits, reinforcing the substantial exploration upside at Cardinia. The latest drilling has returned particularly strong results, with highlights including 5m @ 3.72g/t from 74m, 13m @ 1.30g/t from 46m and 6m @ 2.41g/t from 22m.

Great Southern Mining Limited is pleased to report drilling results have been received on the 20-hole RC drill program at it’s Mon Ami Gold Project, located 12km south of Laverton, Western Australia. It has identified significant high-grade gold intersections, including: 11m @ 7.9 g/t gold, including 4m @ 15.9 g/t gold from 26m and another highlight of 4m @ 12.4 g/t gold from 80m.

Peak Asset Management has acted as Corporate Adviser and Lead Manager in relation to a capital raising undertaken by Golden Deeps Limited to raise $2,346,000. The funds will enable the Company to accelerate exploration on the recently acquired, highly prospective and historically under-explored gold projects in the Lachlan Fold Belt in NSW.

Regis Resources Limited has entered into agreements to acquire tenements that form part of Stone Resources Australia Limited’s North Brightstar Project, located north of Laverton, Western Australia. Regis has acquired the project area for $10 million in Regis shares and a capped 1% net smelter royalty on a tenement which hosts the Ben Hur Deposit. The royalty will begin to be paid after the production of the first 100,000 ounces.

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Morning News Bites – July 10

China is not happy with the Australian Government’s offer to assist Hong Kong citizens with a pathway to residency. A Victorian won $80 million in Powerball Lotto, pretty ironic as they cant go anywhere to spend it and Spot Gold is at $1803US/oz Iron Ore – $107.05US/t and Nickel ended down on Wall Street trade at $5.9914us/lb.

  • Legend Mining has released its quarterly to the market this morning with the first phase of diamond drilling completed at its Mawson project bringing in a highlight grade of  4.5m @ 3.05% Ni, 2.32% Cu, 0.19% Co from 103.7m and a best intercept to date – 19.8m @ 2.71% Ni, 1.79% Cu, 0.13% Co from 227.8m. A 3000m RC program is underway and is expected to be completed in 4 – 6 weeks at Mawson on targets identified in the upper Ni-Cu sulphide zone between diamond holes RKDD007 and RKDD015, the main gravity high and the eastern aircore Ni-Cu-Co geochemical anomaly. Legend also raised $20M via placement to existing major shareholders, institutional and sophisticated investors. Legend also updated its Top 20 shareholders list and after the recent placement shows the top 2 share holders being Creasy Group have a 26.66% share and IGO (Independence Group) 14.12% share. Also during the quarter Legend was added to All Ordinaries Index and nominated for Mining News “Explorer of the Year” award.
  • Exploration work at Silver Lake Resources Deflector mine is resulting in mineral resource and ore reserve growth. Ore Reserves increased to 447,000 ounces and 7,000 tonnes copper, an increase of 30% or 102% after FY20 mine depletion and ore grade increasing 15% to 6.3 g/t. While Mineral Resources increased 54% to 1.27 million ounces (80% post FY20 mine depletion) and Resource grade has increased 18% to 13.5 g/t. Since Silver Lake’s acquisition of Doray Minerals Limited in April 2019, Deflector’s Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources have grown significantly in scale and quality, with Ore Reserves now at their highest in Deflector’s history.
  • Follow up drilling has commenced for Ardea Resources at the Aphrodite North gold target within the Bardoc Tectonic Zone. Assay results from resampling at 1 metre intervals has included 43-44m 1m at 2.46g/t Au 120-127m 7m at 2.48g/t Au.  According to Managing Director Andrew Penkethman the history of the area and some encouraging startpoints is proving significant. “ The land holding was originally acquired by Ardea for nickel-cobalt laterite, which occurs on major crustal structures on a specific ultramafic rock unit termed the Walter Williams Formation. Those same structures host some 100Moz of gold to the south along structure from the GNCP (Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project). Ardea thus controls a significant “greenfields” gold portfolio in which systematic gold drill evaluation is just commencing. Although AGSA0013 with 7m at 2.48g/t gold is an encouraging start, far more significant in the Aphrodite North aircore program was the confirmation of dolerite host rock, diorite and intensity of alteration over a 2.4km strike length and width up to 320m, all totally hidden beneath transported lake clay cover”. He said.
  • Further extensions have been confirmed at Brolga for De Grey mining in the Pilbara of Western Australia. Highlights have included 26.9m @ 1.5g/t, 19m @ 2.7g/tAu – with 3m @ 14.7g/t Au from 203mAu and 16m @ 1.2g/t Au. De Grey Technical Director, Andy Beckwith, said “The potential for Brolga to expand continues to grow with an 80m x 80m RC program currently underway at Brolga (South) and Crow. At Crow, the initial program of 160m x 80m spaced RC drilling has recently been completed with results expected in the coming weeks. Diamond drilling is currently focused on depth extensions beneath Aquila. The Company’s next twelve month drilling strategy involves expanding resources at Hemi, initially on 80m x 80m drill spacing to define “Inferred Resources” and then infill drilling to define “Indicated Resources”, aircore drilling for new discoveries along the Greater Hemi corridor and testing the many structural and new intrusion targets elsewhere within the 150km long Mallina Gold Project.” Mr Beckwith also confirmed 6 rigs are on site (2 AC, 2 DD 2 RC) operating at Hemi and advancing at Scooby and Antwerp prospect areas.
  • Bryah Resources has a 2,000 metre RC drilling program currently underway in the Bryah Basin Gold Copper project after recent RC drilling May delivered a best result of 3 metres @ 4.32 g/t Au from surface. At Bryahs Joint Venture Manganese project (which it hold 80%) Potential direct shipping grade (>30% Mn) manganese was intersected after a recent RC program and follow up drilling will commence in the September quarter. While at the Gabanintha Gold-Copper Project, the progression of a lease application for Tumblegum South Mining Lease is underway and there are negotiations to monetise the Tumblegum South Prospect on-going. Managing Director Neil Marston said”  During the quarter Bryah Resources has been working up its manganese assets, funded by our joint venture partner, OM (Manganese) Limited. A 1,680 metre RC drilling program yielded some very encouraging high-grade manganese results and the intention in the next quarter is to continue drilling to extend these zones of high-grade manganese and to test new target areas. Bryah completed a short gold drilling program at the end of our manganese drilling in May, with 3 holes drilled to test for the near surface extensions of high-grade gold intersected in 2018 drilling. One of the holes hitting a 12-metre zone of gold grading 4.32 grams/tonne from surface, including 2 metres at 17.19 g/t Au, which Bryah considers an excellent result.” Mr Marston also said the strongly supported share placement will be used to fund a drill program at the Windalah prospect. “Our plan for the next 6 months is to use these funds to undertake a rolling program of drilling to test the high priority Windalah prospect as well as numerous other gold target areas. Drilling is underway on a 2,000 metre program, so we look forward to reporting the first assay results in August.” he said.