Morning News Bites – September 7

In Today’s Morning News Bites for September 7. Victoria announced its road map out of their COVID19 second wave, Hancock Prospecting leads the field of top 500 private companies taking over from Visy and Novak Djokovic out of US Open after hitting a linesperson in a non deliberate but serious manner.

Dreadnought Resources Limited announces that a 36 hole, ~3,500m RC drill program has commenced at the Illaara Gold-VMS-Iron Ore Project, located 160km northwest of Kalgoorlie. Drilling will commence at Metzke’s Find (19 holes and ~2,300m) which has previously returned high grade gold intercepts including; 2m @ 12.8 g/t Au from 51m including 1m @ 24.8 g/t Au from 51m. Rig will then move to the recently defined Longmore’s Find (17 holes and ~1,200m) and is expected to be completed in 3-4 weeks with assays expected throughout October 2020.

The National Battery Stewardship Scheme to boost spent battery collection and recycling according to Lithium Australia. The ACCC has authorised the Battery Stewardship Council to establish and operate a national stewardship scheme for managing end-of-life (‘EOL’) batteries. The Scheme will impose a levy on batteries at their point of sale, with the funds generated used to subsidise their collection and recycling. The value imputed by the levy will provide a commercial incentive to divert batteries from landfill, a positive environmental outcome of the Scheme. Diverting EOL batteries from landfill will provide more material for processing at the Melbourne, Victoria-based mixed-battery recycling facility of Envirostream Australia Pty Ltd (a 90% subsidiary of the Company).

Auroch Minerals Limited is pleased to announce RC drilling has commenced at its Valdez Prospect, part of the Leinster Nickel Project (Leinster) in Western Australia. 1,000m Reverse Circulation (RC) drill programme is underway at the Valdez Prospect targeting a recently-defined nickeliferous basal channel coincident with both magnetic and surface electromagnetic (EM) anomalies. All drill-holes will be surveyed with downhole electromagnetics (DHEM) to better define the surface EM conductor and provide targeting for potential massive nickel sulphidesfor the next round of exploration.

Hammer Metals Ltd provides results from its diamond drilling program undertaken on the Shadow and Toby prospects located within the Mt Isa East Joint Venture area and on the Koppany prospect located within Hammer’s JV with Mount Isa Mines. Two holes were drilled at the Shadow prospect, for a total of 372m and a further hole was drilled at Toby (252m). The drilling at Shadow confirms that the Shadow trend is mineralised and has the potential to host a significant Copper Deposit. With the presence of a wide zone of copper mineralisation in the first two holes the JV has committed to expanding the work program along the remainder of the 4km magnetic trend and the surrounding Mt Philp areas. This work program will consist of soil sampling and field mapping with the aim of identifying targets for follow up drilling.

WA-focused gold exploration and development company Classic Minerals Limited announce that it has received assays results from its maiden auger soil program at its Forrestania Gold Project in Western Australia. The Company completed a total of 310 auger holes at the Kat Gap project. The auger drilling has delivered a substantial gold anomaly located in the granite west of the main granitegreenstone contact where Classic has identified an inferred gold resource of 975,722t at 2.96g/t for 92,856 ounces. Kat Gap is strategically located approximately 70km south-south east of the Company’s Forrestania Gold project containing the Lady Magdalene and Lady Ada gold resources.

 

Morning News Bites – September 3

In Today’s Morning News Bites for September 3. Tax relief on the cards for employees and businesses as Australia records a recession. 92 per cent of West Australians backing Mark McGowan on his hard border policy. BHP will pay investors around a 76.6c dividend on Sep 22.

Gold and base metals explorer Carawine Resources Limited today announced the acquisition of a major new gold exploration project in the world-class Tropicana region of Western Australia’s north-eastern goldfields. Managing Director Mr David Boyd said the acquisitions will create a dominant landholding in the northern Tropicana region of Western Australia, marking the start of a new and exciting stage in the Company’s history. “On completion of these two acquisitions and assuming all Phantom and Carawine tenement applications are granted, Carawine will have secured a large, highly prospective ground position in one of Australia’s premier gold exploration addresses and further strengthened its position in the emerging
Fraser Range nickel province,” Mr Boyd said.

Macarthur Minerals Limited is pleased to provide an update on its continued progress towards completing its route to market for the flagship Moonshine magnetite deposits at Lake Giles. Macarthur and RCR Mining Technologies have completed a site visit to the Port of Esperance in conjunction with representatives from Southern Ports Authority and Arc Infrastructure. Subject to approval by Southern Ports Authority, RCR MT’s cutting edge ‘Helix Dumper Wagon’ (“Helix Dumper”) transport solution for Lake Giles Iron Project can be developed within the Port envelope at Esperance. Macarthur’s market-lead proposal for the development of the Helix Dumper solution will allow optimisation of existing Berth 3 ship-loader capacity at the Port of Esperance, enhancing its current performance from the current 2,220tph throughput to over 4,500tph capacity.

An update on RC drilling activities at the Bulong and Fingals Gold Projects has been provided by Black Cat Syndicate Limited. The first 18 holes (~1,904m) at Fingals Fortune have been completed, targeting shallow extensions to the Fingals Fortune open pit. Results were encouraging with almost every hole intersecting multiple mineralised veins, with highlights including; 3m @ 17.81 g/t Au from 69m (extensional) and 3m @ 40.99 g/t Au from 79m (extensional). Managing Director, Gareth Solly said: “Early results from Fingals Fortune are looking good and provide confidence in the potential for rapid growth of the existing Resource and extensions to the Fingals Fortune open pit.”

Marmota is pleased to provide an update on the current drilling program at Aurora Tank. The first batch of drilling assays from the July/August drilling has yielded an excellent 4m intersection averaging over 25 g/t gold (from 52m downhole). Marmota is expanding this program from approximately 7500m to over 11000m
(still being finalised), with extra holes added at a number of locations including the NW flank and eastern
extensions. Drilling is expected to be completed next week.

Kaiser Reef Limited announce that it has commenced the company’s inaugural drilling programme at the Stuart Town gold project. The drilling will initially test several targets, including the Rockdale mine and the Specimen Hill mine and will commence with RC drilling with some diamond drilling later in the programme. The programme has been targeted with the assistance of geophysical investigation and will initially investigate a few of the prospects within the prolific numbers of historic gold workings in the region. The project has enjoyed very little modern investigation since the main gold mining periods commenced in the mid 1850’s, with the geological model and source of the gold remaining a subject of conjecture.

Morning News Bites – September 2

In Today’s Morning News Bites for September 2. Former Facebook CEO says new ban on news ‘threatens all Australians’. China announces suspension of Barley imports from Australian CBH Grain. De Grey Mining Limited reports an update at the Hemi Gold Discovery. 

De Grey Mining Limited reported the following drilling update at the Hemi Gold Discovery, located approximately 60km south of Port Hedland in Western Australia. Recent drilling has delineated a highly brecciated and extensively sulphide altered subvertical intrusion. This new intrusion has been named Falcon, which has been intersected for over 1.8km in strike, up to 80m thick and to 200m below surface. The intrusion remains open along strike and at depth. Gold mineralisation defined over 1.5km in aircore drill assays with additional assays from drilling along strike is pending. Initial aircore results include a highlight of 21m @ 3.4g/t Au from 40m and 19m @ 2.1g/t Au from 68m.

Metalicity Limited announced the return of the drone magnetic geophysical interpretation for the DCC and Altona Trends from the Kookynie Gold Project in the Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia, approximately 60 kilometres south southwest of Leonora. The company has received all data and interpretations from the ultra-high-resolution drone magnetic survey. The results indicate 21 targets that have similar geophysical and structural settings to known mineralised areas. Furthermore, drilling is still being conducted, there are 24  drill holes remaining at the laboratory pending analysis, which is due imminently with further samples being dispatched periodically, for the Kookynie Gold Project. Commenting on the target generation, Metalicity Managing Director, Jason Livingstone said: “The Footprint of the Kookynie Gold project continues to grow with a further 21 targets across granted tenure being generated from this exercise, this is incredibly exciting.”

Wiluna Mining reports high‐grade results from a further 68 holes and 18,584m of resource development infill drilling at the Wiluna Mining Centre, WA. The Company continues to drill with six rigs currently on site. Infill drilling at Golden Age produces ultra‐high grades up to 880g/t. Milan Jerkovic, Executive Chair commented: The outstanding results provide confidence in our Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates as we release them on a rolling basis from September 2020 through to December 2020 and into next year.”

Strong new drilling results confirm potential to expand existing 4.1Moz Resource at King of the Hills for RED 5 Limited. Latest assays continue to emphasise the scale and quality of the King of the Hills Mineral Resource and opportunities for future Resource extensions, with results including 5.1m @ 56.4g/t Au and 19.2m @ 5.4g/t Au. Managing Director Mark Williams, said recent drilling at King of the Hills (KOTH) had delivered a host of excellent results. “This has been a highly successful drilling program that has both increased our confidence in the existing 4.1 million ounce KOTH bulk Mineral Resource model as well as identifying targets for future Resource growth.”

Further strong assay results from recent aircore (AC) drilling at the East Lynne prospect for Kin Mining, located 3km north-east of the proposed plant site at its Cardinia Gold Project, located near Leonora in Western Australia. The latest East Lynne results confirm mineralisation over 1.3km of strike length. Highlights include, 20m at 0.96g/t Au from 20m, 4m at 2.21g/t Au from 20m and 12m at 1.28g/t Au from 12m. Commenting on the latest drill results, Managing Director Andrew Munckton said:  We are eagerly awaiting results from the remaining eight lines of this broad-spaced AC program to get a clearer sense of the potential scale of this target ahead of follow-up RC drilling.

Morning News Bites – September 1

In Today’s Morning News Bites for September 1. WA motorists face toughest penalties in Australia if caught using mobile phones while driving. Telstra profits slide 15% for FY20, sighting disruption from the pandemic and bush fire crisis. Lefroy report results from Hang Glider Hill and Lucky Strike Gold exploration hubs 50km South-East of Kalgoorlie. 

Lefroy Exploration Limited provided results from an 279-hole aircore (AC) drilling program completed at the Hang Glider Hill (HGH) and Lucky Strike exploration hubs within the Eastern Lefroy project 50km to the South-East of Kalgoorlie, WA. A total of 12,436m were drilled in a 279- hole program covering the Hang Glider Hill, Lucky Strike and Havelock areas. Results include: Hang Glider Hill – enhanced gold prospectivity of the target area that has highlighted a 3.5km corridor adjacent to the Hang Glider Hill fault to focus additional exploration. Lucky Strike confirms highly oxidised BIF over 700m of strike with gold anomalies. Enhanced potential for further discoveries along the remaining 1.3km strike of the trend.

Legacy Iron Ore Limited announced the completion of the first round of PQ size (85mm) diamond drilling for metallurgical studies at the Mt Celia project in Laverton, WA. The drilling was undertaken to generate cores for metallurgical test works. A total of 4 drill holes have been completed, with 1 more hole to be drilled in September 1st week to generate a few more composite samples. Geological logging of the PQ cores resulted in the visual confirmation of expected mineralised zones providing increased confidence for the upcoming metallurgical test works. 4 diamond PQ drill holes for metallurgical studies completed at the Kangaroo Bore and Blue Peter gold deposits.

RC Drilling is nearing completion at New Bendigo, part of the Tibooburra Gold Project in New South Wales. Manhattan Corporation has completed 34 RC holes for 4,175 metres. Approximately 900 metres remains to be drilled and is expected to be completed by Saturday 5th September. The first batch of samples (approximately 2,000 samples) are undergoing sample preparation at ALS Global Laboratories in Adelaide. Results are expected late September 2020. A second batch of samples (~1,800 samples) has been dispatched from site and are expected to arrive at the laboratory this week.

Results from early stage metallurgical test work for Chalice Gold Mines has been completed on a range of mineralisation styles from the Gonneville PGE-Ni-Cu-Co discovery at its Julimar Project in WA. Early stage sighter metallurgical testwork completed on limited samples of high-grade sulphide mineralisation from the G1 Zone, as well as disseminated sulphide mineralisation and oxide mineralisation (composite from four RC holes) from the Gonneville Intrusion. All sulphides in the G1 zone float readily under standard conditions at 75µm grind size – a positive indication that the sulphides appear to be amenable to conventional flotation concentration techniques. Managing Director Alex Dorsch commented, saying “The early stage metallurgical test work completed to date has returned promising results from selected samples, giving us good early encouragement that the sulphide-hosted mineralisation at Gonneville will be amenable to conventional flotation.”

Essential Metals reports that a drilling programme has commenced to test the northern extent of the Sinclair Caesium Deposit, 140km South of Kalgoorlie, WA. A mineralised corridor has been modelled using existing high grade caesium drill intersections which confirm mineralisation extends up to 80m from the northern open pit wall of the Sinclair Caesium Mine. The drill programme will target a total length of 120m as well as aim to infill and widen the mineralised zones around the existing drill intersections.

Morning News Bites – August 26

In Today’s Morning News Bites for August 26.  Kalgoorlie-Boulder wakes to a 3.1 magnitude earthquake at around 3:15am local time this morning. Seven Group Holdings report Westrac’s FY20 revenue up 15 per cent. PM raises concerns about Victoria’s state of emergency extension with Daniel Andrews.

Conglomerate Seven Group Holdings has reported a 12 per cent rise in full year revenue to $4.56 billion. This was facilitated by the Groups Caterpillar equipment business and its work associated with the mining industry. However (on a statutory basis) its net profit after tax fell 42 per cent to $115.8 million, primarily due investments associated with Seven West Media (a major shareholder) and a $117 million impairment of a US oil and gas operation. WesTrac’s FY20 revenue was up 15 per cent, with strength across both product sales and product support. This was encouraged by WesTrac’s strong product sales results supported by the delivery of equipment to major mining projects. In addition, WesTrac’s product support revenue improved 10 per cent driven by a record 6.6 million parts lines shipped in WA and NSW. Chief Executive Ryan Stokes commented, saying “In particular our Industrial Services portfolio has delivered solid growth with WesTrac executing a standout performance, reflecting the strong demand from customers who remain active in mining production and construction.”

Macmahon Holdings Limited delivered record financial results for FY20, in-line with the increased guidance provided at the half year result. Revenue grew by 25% over the prior year to $1,380.4 million, this was primarily driven by driven by increased activity across the company’s projects in Australia and Indonesia from predominantly Gold and Copper/Gold operations, the eleven-month contribution of the acquired specialist underground contractor GBF Group and successful ramp up at the Tropicana Boston Shaker contract. This growth in revenue underpinned record earnings for Macmahon in FY20. To date, there has been minimal net impact on business performance from COVID-19.

An exploration update of the Saxby Gold Project has been provided by Strategy Energy Resources. The drill rig has commenced mobilisation in northwest Queensland with drilling scheduled to commence in early September. A cultural heritage survey has cleared the area and a drill contract has been executed with DDH1 Drilling. Recent structural, alteration and geophysical work have upgraded the prospectivity of the surrounding district and Strategic Energy Resources has now pegged the entire belt. A comprehensive regional geophysical review with a view to commencing district-scale geophysical data collection in the near future.

Paterson Resources report that planning is underway for the validation diamond drilling recommended in the report on an estimate of Gold Mineral Resources at Hackneys Creek and Lucky Draw located at the Burraga Copper Gold Project in the Eastern Lachlan Fold Belt in NSW. The diamond drilling is designed to validate the existing drill assay data used in the inferred resource estimation at Hackneys Creek by twinning approximately 6 holes. A further 10 diamond drill holes recommended to validate the existing drill assay data at the remnant Lucky Draw inferred resource are also planned. Validation of this drill data along with the collection of additional geological and structural information will enable the upgrading of the current resource from inferred to a higher category. Highlights from past drilling carried out by RGC Exploration at Hackneys Creek that were included in the inferred resource estimation are: 21.3m @ 9.19 g/t Au from 89m, including 4m @ 40.38 g/t Au, 33.6m @ 2.27 g/t Au from 71.4m, including 5m @ 5.83 g/t Au, 25.0m @ 3.57 g/t Au from 20m, including 4m @ 7.48 g/t Au.

5,000m drill program commences at Pilbara Gold Project by Kairos Minerals. Reverse Circulation drilling has commenced as its 2020 exploration program continues to gather momentum. The program, comprising 5,000m of RC drilling in total, has commenced at the large Fuego gold target (located on the Croydon Project), with the initial reconnaissance program expected to be completed there over the next 2-3 weeks while drill pad preparations are completed at the Mt York Project. The rig will then relocate to Mt York to complete the balance of the program. Kairos’ Executive Chairman, Terry Topping, said, “Our 2020 exploration campaign across the Pilbara Gold Project has now stepped up a gear with drilling underway, which is a really exciting development for our team and for our shareholders. Due to logistical considerations including timing of heritage clearances and drill pad preparation, we have commenced the program at the exciting Fuego target first rather than Mt York, as previously advised.”

Morning News Bites – August 25

In Today’s Morning News Bites for August 25. Resolute confirms supply lines to the Syama Gold Mine continue, despite political tension in the south of Mali. Largest diamond unearthed this year discovered in Africa. Victoria report another 9 COVID-19 related deaths. 

SRG Global provided results for FY20, with revenue at AU$545 million. The impact of the global pandemic is mentioned and the negative effects on key drivers are explained. These include a repositioned and simplified business – core business, clients and geographies, continued plan to execute strategy to transition business mix to annuity earnings, significant liquidity with available funds of $73m (banking facilities renewal not due until FY22), net debt reduced in 2H to $8.4m (inclusive of $26m of equipment finance debt) and final fully franked dividend of 0.5 cents per share (total FY20 dividend of 1 cps). Despite this, Managing Director David Macgeorge maintained a positive outlook into the future, saying ““The decisive actions taken in FY20 has us well positioned for long-term sustainable growth, underpinned by an earnings profile of two thirds annuity-based in FY21 and beyond.”

Breaker Resources announces more strong drilling results which confirm the presence of extensive mineralisation over 2km between the Kopai and Crescent prospects within its Lake Roe Project, 100km east of Kalgoorlie. The latest results are from 40 reconnaissance reverse circulation (RC) drill holes for 5,202m, and two diamond drill holes for 269m. Breaker Executive Chairman Tom Sanders said the latest results are significant particularly given the reconnaissance nature of the drilling.“This 2km stretch of mineralisation sits just 3km north of our existing 1Moz Bombora deposit and highlights the outstanding growth potential of a rare emerging greenfields gold district on Kalgoorlie’s doorstep,” Mr Sanders said.

Significant new assay results from the ongoing resource drilling programme at the shallow high-grade copper-gold discovery at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect for Stavely Minerals Stavely Copper-Gold Project in Victoria. Very broad zone of copper mineralisation including a significant shallow intercept of 18m at 1.11% Cu intersected in the interpreted near-surface position of the parallel Copper Lode Splay (CLS) in drill hole SMD093: 299.7m at 0.40% Cu from 35m down-hole, including 64m at 0.68% Cu from 35m and 18m at 1.11% Cu from 36m in the interpreted Copper Lode Splay.

Buxton Resources informed shareholders that IGO Limited has commenced on-ground activities for the West Kimberley JV 2020 season. Diamond drilling has commenced at Merlin and ground EM will commence this week at Quick Shears. IGO has provided the following updates to Buxton which includes a new EM plate has been identified from the 2019 low temperature SQUID survey at Merlin. This anomaly is directly down plunge from the high tenor magmatic sulphide intersection (2.19m @ 4.6% Ni, 1.37 % Cu & 0.12 % Co from 236.0m). Modelling of this anomaly has returned two overlapping targets, a 125m x 90m 10,000S conductance plate and a 110m x 90m 9,700S conductance plate.

Horizon Minerals provides an update on the Nimbus silver-zinc project, adjacent to the Boorara gold mine, 15km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the goldfields of Western Australia. Past production between 2003 and 2007 recovered 3.6Moz silver from the processing of 320kt grading 352g/t Ag with the plant now decommissioned, removed and the site rehabilitated. The current global Mineral Resource estimate stands at: 12.1Mt grading 52g/t Ag for 20.2Moz of Silver and 0.9% Zn for 104kt zinc. A high grade lode exists within this resource immediately below the historic Discovery Pit and has a Mineral Resource estimate of  260kt grading 774g/t Ag for 6.4Moz silver and 12.8% Zn for 33kt zinc.

 

Morning News Bites – Aug 11

In today’s Morning News Bites for August 11. Gage Roads Brewery is to establish a flagship venue in Fremantle, Western Australia. Clean up continues after storms hit NSW South Coast. Victoria record 331 new cases and another 19 deaths.

Anglo Australian Resources provided an update on the ongoing drilling program at the company’s Mandilla Gold Project, south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The results from the first four diamond holes drilled include highlights of: 13.4m @ 7.02g/t Au from 180.4m in MDRCD228 plus 1.82m @ 15.71g/t Au from 222.28m and 10.9m @ 1.52g/t Au from 196.2m in MDRCD229 plus 15.55m @ 1.12g/t Au from 260.45m. Managing Director Marc Ducler said: “We are keenly waiting assay results from the remaining holes in the program – with recently completed diamond holes intersecting albite/silica alteration, quartz veining and numerous occurrences of visible gold.”

Mandrake Resources Limited report the commencement of drilling targeting gold mineralisation at the Berinka Pine Creek Gold Project in the Northern Territory. Limited historical drilling at Terry’s prospect identified gold mineralisation – best intersections include: 4m @ 6.6g/t from 32m, 6m @ 3.8g/t from 18m and 5m @ 2.6g/t from 30m. Mandrake will be completing approximately 1,350m of RC drilling focused on strong gold anomalies derived from historic soil, rock chip and trench sampling across four separate prospects – Vegetation Anomaly, Terry’s Gap, Cross and Sandy Creek.

Phase 2 drilling at Mt Aubrey in Lachlan Fold Belt NSW has begun. Godolphin Resources Ltd report that the start of the drill programme (which was delayed by heavy rainfall in late July) has begun, with the first RC drill hole completed on Thursday 6 August. With a depth of 126 metres, intersecting good visible quartz veining. Drill samples from TMAR032 have been submitted to the laboratory for assay.

Drilling commences at historical high-grade gold mine, Mt Freda, located south of Cloncurry in Queensland. Ausmex report recent drilling results in this location, these include highlights of: 5m @ 7.90g/t Au incl 1 m @ 32.70g/t Au, 6m @ 4.80g/t Au incl 2m @ 13.2g/t Au and 1m @ 21.80g/t Au and 4m @ 6.30g/t Au incl 1m @ 19.20g/t Au. Mine planning, geotechnical and prefeasibility to commence after upgrade of Mt Freda

QEM Limited provided more highly successful results from recent independent processing test work at Julia Creek vanadium and oil shale project in North Queensland. Impressive vanadium extraction results achieved through testwork, including efficiencies up to 92% on shale ash, with a majority of extraction completed after 3 to 6 hrs. Further optimisation is possible and will be the focus of future programs. Managing Director Gavin Loyden said, “As Julia Creek has the potential to produce both vanadium and oil products, efficient extraction of both commodities is crucial for us to maximise the significant value potential we can derive from Julia Creek,”