Tag: Drilling

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Morning News Bites – July 13

Senior doctors are concerned about the latest COVID-19 cases in medical staff and the rising hospital cases could have a large impact on the health system in Victoria. New South Wales is on alert after an outbreak at a south west Sydney pub.

  • A Joint Venture between Alkane Resources’ Australian Strategic Metals and ZironTech has produced a 1kg ingot of neodymium metal alloy. Assays of the ingot indicated an intermediate neodymium (87%) and a further electrorefining to produce a 99.9% Nd metal is anticipated before July 31 2020.  The Australian Strategic Materials Managing Director, David Woodall said: “This is a major milestone in ASM’s integrated strategy that includes clean metal production for all products from the development of the Dubbo Project in Central West NSW. This integration of metal production into ASM’s business is consistent with the Australian Government’s objective of adding value within Australia, while ensuring supply security and stability of these critical materials to global and domestic Australian manufacturing sectors.” The metals produced by the Dubbo project feature zirconium, rare earths, niobium and hafnium.
  • A intercept of 4m at 113g/t Au from 0m was a find by Kin Mining from drilling at Comedy King from shallow RC drilling at Cardinia Gold Project. Phase 2 drilling has confirmed potential for significant mineralisation and multiple new discoveries at Cardinia that has been part of the 19,712m drill program. Two trending zones of mineralisation have been made in a clear NW/SE trend. Two zones at Comedy King, where the surface intercepts were made – follow this trend. All assays for the Phase 2 drilling have been returned and this has opened a new phase of drilling underway now across the newly defined areas. 45,000m of Reverse Circulation (RC), diamond (DD) and air-core (AC) drilling, designed to deliver maiden Mineral Resource estimate for the Cardinia Hill target. This will also provide an initial assessment of several compelling regional targets. Also during the quarter the Dismantling and relocation of the Lawlers Gold Processing Plant completed for future development optionality, with key items of the plant safely retrieved and stored. There is the potential for the use of the plant at the Cardinia Gold Project.
  • Dacian Gold produced 31,883oz for the June quarter which was down on guidance of 33,000-36,000oz but consistent with the March quarter production of 31,695oz. The impact on Dacian for the quarter was due to a slower than planned open pit mining rates during June at the Heffernans open pit delaying access to higher grade ore until late in the month, and localised geological variations at the upper boundary of the Cornwall Shear Zone at Heffernans. A Mineral Resource update for the high-grade Phoenix Ridge deposit is due in the September quarter and a FY2021-2023 average annual production of 110,000oz has been reaffirmed at an AISC of $1,425/oz (previously $1,350/oz). Dacian Managing Director, Leigh Junk commented: “Dacian has been busy on multiple fronts, striking the right balance between investing in its operations, to managing the risk profile across deposits, to maximising cash flows over the long term, as well as unlocking the significant exploration potential we see across our tenement package. “I would like to thank all our employees and contractors for their cooperation in helping reduce the risk and minimising any impact COVID-19 has had on our business to date. “Our optimisation work at MMGO has established a solid baseline on which to deliver our three year plan and execute our exploration and growth strategy.”
  • Reverse Circulation drilling is on track for Galileo Mining to commence late July with Diamond Core drilling to follow in August. Brad Underwood, Galileo Managing Director said its time to start on the most advanced targets for the Fraser Range project. “We have built a pipeline of prospects over the past 18 months at our Fraser Range project and it is now time to start drill testing the most advanced targets. Three priority zones will be tested – the area around existing mineralisation, a structural target 200m northwest, and an EM conductor 1.5km along strike. All targets have been carefully assessed and contain features indicative of nickel mineralisation. This is an exciting part of the exploration process and we look forward to updating the market with drill results.” He said. A 1,500 metre RC program is to be followed by a 500-metre diamond drilling campaign at Fraser Range, with Assays from RC due in August and assays from diamond drilling due in September. 
  • Zenith Minerals is set to accelerate its exploration program after a $5.1 million capital raising where support was strong and the raise oversubscribed. The company now – according to Managing Director, Mick Clifford has sufficient funds to accelerate exploration. “We are very pleased that the Company now sufficient funds to evaluate its portfolio in a systematic manner. The funding allows us to accelerate exploration activities to unlock what we believe to be the potential of the Company’s project portfolio. The more rapid evaluation of the portfolio will also generate significantly more news for the Company”. He said. Zenith now has a drill rig on a full-time basis and pending positive follow-up assay results the rig will work a continuous roster at Red Mountain. While further surface geochemical sampling and associated field work has also recently been completed at the Company’s 100% owned Flanagans gold and Develin Creek copper-zinc projects in Queensland.
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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.
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Morning News Bites – July 8

Restrictions tighten to get in to Victoria as blame continues on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Deloitte cuts staff and tax relief may come soon according to Josh Frydenberg

The creation of an integrated monitoring and governance platform for Tailing Storage Facilities is a cause of Memorandum of Understanding between K2Fly and Decipher. According to Chief Commercial Officer Nic Pollock, the synergy is about best practice and ensuring the stipulations in place by governing bodies are adhered to.  “Our proposed solution will ensure industry has access to a significantly better tool to aid monitoring and governance of TSFs to recognised standards. The solution reflects best practice and will support compliance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management recently endorsed by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and other Global Tailings Review convenors, as well as standards set by national regulatory bodies,” he said. Decipher is a Perth cloud based company which helps manage the earth’s resources to be more sustainable and profitable and is part of Wesfarmers

Apollo Consolidated has hit found some significant new gold intercepts at Lake Rebecca Gold Project which will lead to follow up. 6m @ 9.72/t Au (including 1m @ 49.8g/t Au) was located within 2km of the Duchess deposit and has been identified for an immediate follow up. The results of the RC drilling has been found in a prospective corridor north east of the Duchess gold deposit.  The combined drilling along this magnetic/structural corridor suggests excellent potential for significant new gold mineralisation. The drilling program was designed to continue on the February 2020 maiden estimate, which combined in-situ Mineral Resources of 27.1 million tonnes at 1.2g/t Au for 1.035 million ounces of gold. Now results demonstrate potential for new Mineral Resources in broader Project area.

Saracen Minerals have released a June production update which has shown 145,830oz. Of which the KCGM Super Pit (Joint venture with Northern Star Resources) has produced 53,398oz, while Carosue Dam produced 50,315oz and Thunderbox 42,117oz. Results show a FY20 production figure of a record 520,414oz which was around 20,000oz above guidance. Managing Director Raleigh Finlayson said “We have now met or exceeded guidance for seven straight financial years,” he said. “We are also meeting our undertakings to continue driving growth and we expect this to be clearly evident in our strong news flow over the coming months.” Mr Finlayson has recently been featured on an Industry Link Media podcast discussing Saracen and its Super Pit buy.  

Northern Star Resources has announced its June quarter update. The KCGM Joint Venture holder has announced its postponed FY20 interim dividend of A7.5¢ to be paid on July 16, 2020 – fully franked. Northern Star also drew down an additional A$200 million in debt in the March quarter but advised the market today it has repaid that A$200 million on July 6 2020. The Jundee Operation produced 80,666oz for the June quarter and 300,150oz for FY20 while Pogo produced 49,353oz for quarter and 174,307 for FY20. The Kalgoorlie operations produced 83,945oz for June quarter and 318,759oz for FY20 which saw overall milled tonnes increasing by 10%, head grade increasing by 4% and gold production increasing by 13% compared to the March quarter. And as reported the KCGM Super Pit focus turned to expanding the available open pit mining front 53,397oz per June quarter and 111,961oz for the FY 20.  According to Bill Beament, Executive Chairman Northern Star Resources  “The results at our Pogo mine in Alaska were particularly pleasing given the challenging circumstances emanating from COVID-19 where we effectively managed safe operations with 36 confirmed cases through the quarter. Despite the considerable impacts of COVID-19 at Pogo, the underlying trend of rising production and productivity continued. This further demonstrates the huge potential of this asset in more conventional circumstances. The teams at our Jundee and Kalgoorlie Operations excelled and we made strong progress towards our goal of unlocking the significant upside at KCGM.”

3D Resources has announced a maiden drill program for the Adelong Goldfield in New South Wales. Drilling is expected to start on August 10 2020. Initial focus will start on drilling at Donkey Hill and then continue to Currajong, where the inclusion of which has only recently been approved into the amended mine operation plan. 3D Chairman Ian Hastings said “The Company is excited to announce our maiden drilling program at the Adelong Goldfield Projects scheduled to start next month. Concurrently, we continue to progress our strategic review with a focus on maximising impact for our shareholders. We see tremendous opportunity across the Adelong Goldfields Projects and I look forward to working with the Board to unlock the potential in the coming months.”

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Morning News Bites – July 7

Bushfires burn on the Gallipoli peninsula, Chance of COVID-19 restrictions to return to NSW and AfterPay posts a record quarter

St Barbara Mines has announced its June 2020 quarterly production report which has shown 108,612oz for the quarter and pushes St Barbara over the 100,000 oz mark in the quarter for the first time in two years. The Quarterly figure also brought 20FY figure of 381,887 oz. Signature mine Gwalia produced 171,156 oz for the 20FY with 51,297 ounces produced in the quarter.  Overall for the FY20, The company’s Atlantic Gold deposit produced above guidance. While Gwalia was within and Simberi was just outside of FY20 guidance.  Managing Director and CEO, Craig Jetson, said, “The June quarter performance highlights the extraordinary efforts of our people and business partners in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic. We continue to adhere to our COVID‐19 management plan to care for our people and our partners, safely maintain our operations and manage this ongoing risk. This quarter reflects our strong focus on Gwalia’s production profile, the positive impact of the Atlantic Gold operations and the opportunity that remains at Simberi.  We are working hard to deliver on our current assets as we review our business and operating model to ensure an exciting future for St Barbara.  2020 marks a new era in the evolution of St Barbara.”  Mr Jetson also indicated that the production (of over 100,000oz in the quarter) shows the potential for the company and also pointed out Gwalia achieved its highest mill throughput since 2014.

Guidance for 2020 was achieved for Alkane Resources Tomingley Gold Operations in New South Wales. The company earmarked FY2020 production guidance of between 30,000 oz to 35,000 oz with the production of 33,507 oz. Alkane Managing Director, Nic Earner, said: “The team at Tomingley Gold Operations continues to perform very well, consistently meeting or exceeding guidance. With an updated mine plan soon to be released and the great potential being shown very close to the mine, through our exploration at Roswell and San Antonio, we remain buoyant about the longer-term prospects at Tomingley. The Board and management acknowledge and thank the team at Tomingley for their strong and continued safety and production performance.” Alkane also had preliminary all in sustained costs of $1357/oz produced which was within the $1250 and $1400 guidance.

Global mining tech company IMDEX, has acquired AusSpec in a deal worth $8.5m which included $3m in cash and $5.5m in IMDEX shares. AusSpec ia a leading provider of spectral mineralogy through its unique aiSIRIS platform – Artificial Intelligence (AI) Spectral InfraRed Interpretation System. IMDEX CEO Paul House, said “AusSpec is a strong strategic fit for IMDEX that is consistent with IMDEX’s acquisition and development strategies. The acquisition provides a compelling opportunity to build on our total rock knowledge offering for clients – from the rig to the core farm and the mill. Every mine in the world makes decisions on the four components of rock knowledge – location, texture, grade and mineralogy. Our technology stack currently addresses three of these components and aiSIRIS satisfies the fourth – mineralogy.”

Aruma Resources has applied for a bigger footprint for its Saltwater Gold Project. The 463km2 Saltwater Project is on the same structure as Northern Star Resources’ Paulsens Gold Mine and the Mt Olympus Gold Mine in the region. Aruma has applied for a prospecting licence which covers an area of 96 sqkm. There are now priority targets for Aruma and that includes the Saltwater Anomaly, the Atlantis Anomaly and the Monster Anomaly. The Nanjilgardy fault which runs through the project has enhanced the prospectivity of the Saltwater Project alongside the previous mining activities.

Downer Group has been awarded a South Australian contract valued at an estimated $420 million over a maximum term of 13 years. The contract is with the South Australian Government Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) for its road maintenance contracts. Downer CEO Grant Fenn said “Downer has been maintaining South Australian roads since 2003, Currently, Downer is providing maintenance and emergency road services to DPTI, but under these new contracts Downer will also deliver a range of other services including maintenance of intelligent transport systems, management of third party works and minor capital improvements. Overall, Downer will deliver reliable road networks to ensure efficient and safe journeys and also provide opportunities for local service providers and suppliers.”

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Morning News Bites – July 6

Labor picks up Eden-Monaro, Possibility the Melbourne CBD could be locked down as COVID-19 spreads in Victoria and ASX tipped for a weaker start.

  • Located around 20km from the Super Pit in Western Australia, Pioneer Resources Golden Ridge Project is set to spring to life again. Field reconnaissance programs are underway and the ongoing Gold Prospectively Review has identified other Company Projects with emerging gold potential. Managing Director Tim Spencer, said: “In recent years, the focus at our Blair Golden Ridge Project has been on nickel, however this has not always been the case – particularly for previous holders of the ground, including WMC Resources. “The thick historical gold intercepts outlined above were probably not as interesting for a company looking for big deposits in a sub-A$600/oz gold price environment, but they are certainly interesting with gold over A$2,500/oz. This ground has been intermittently explored and drilled for over 40 years so there is much work to be done in pulling together and interpreting all the historical data as one dataset. We are encouraged that compelling targets have been identified early in this work.”
  • Krakatoa Resources has announced it has expanded its landholding in the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales through direct license application by taking on the Rand Project. Rand is prospective for multi million-ounce mineralisation-styles, including features similar to De Grey’s Mallina Gold Project. Historical data includes Drill results from a 1988 campaign where the program ended in gold mineralisation preserved near the base of an intensively weathered and leached saprolite at the Welcome Find Reef and Show Day Reef with no subsequent exploration work. The Company will undertake a comprehensive review of the historical work completed and publicly available datasets to generate targets for field reconnaissance.
  • A new exploration drilling program for Venturex Resources has been finalised for its Sulphur Springs Copper-Zinc Project in Western Australia. The program will follow up from the 2019 drilling which identified results such as 18m @ 7.75% Zn, 2.03% Pb, 0.25% Cu and 22.8g/t Ag. Venturex Executive Director, Anthony Reilly is looking ahead with the exploration project and its chance to strengthen growth for Venturex “Any new discoveries along the Panorama Trend will strengthen our growth pipeline and potentially either extend the life or increase the scale of a future base metal processing centre at Sulphur Springs, so we are really looking forward to what this next phase of exploration can deliver, We also plan to test several large EM targets highlighted in the 2017 HEM survey over the northern portion of the Panorama Trend. The first target, XA8, shows potential early-stage indications of nickel sulphide mineralisation quite distinct to the Sulphur Springs Cu-Zn orebody, 1,200m to the east.” He said. There is also a share purchase plan underway at $0.055 per share with free attaching options on the basis of 1 option for every 2 shares subscribed.
  • Results of 85m @ 11.6g/t Au from 7m and 8m @ 99.0g/t Au from 7m have highlighted results from Musgrave Minerals from its RC Drilling at Starlight. Results so far confirm and extend the near surface, high-grade gold mineralisation. Musgrave Managing Director Rob Waugh said: “Starlight continues to produce stunning gold results in near surface drilling. Further RC drilling is underway to infill and extend the Starlight mineralisation with the aim of completing a JORC resource update late in Q3 2020. Drilling is continuing with two rigs on site and we are confident we can extend Starlight and the new White Light lode and make significant new discoveries in the belt.” Follow-up RC drilling on the Starlight lode at Break of Day is continuing with further results to be known within a month.
  • Ausmon Resources has completed the field exploration work at Broken Hill. The logistics and soil sampling has been completed and drilling will test the PI2 pyrite/silica zone at 50 m below the surface and the cobaltiferous orthogneiss at 50 and 100 m below the surface. Ausmon have outlined a 1.5 km cobalt, gold and base metals target at the site.

 

 

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Morning News Bites – July 2

Woolworths has been fined $1 million for continuing to send emails to recipents who indicated they no longer wanted to receive correspondence, Victoria goes in to postcode lockdown and Tesla overtakes Toyota as the world’s most valuable carmaker.

SRG Global has provided the market with an update on its operations and also outlined bringing forward a half year dividend which was originally posted as being due 29 October 2020. The first half Interim Dividend payment of 0.5 cents per share has been brought forward to 30 July 2020. As part of the market update, SRG announced the Financial Year 20 Underlying EBITDA expected to be $20m – $21m. SGR Global Managing Director David Macgeorge, “SRG Global’s focus has and will remain the safety and wellbeing of our people and accordingly we proactively implemented a range of safety, supply chain and cost mitigation measures to manage the company through the uncertainty caused by COVID-19. With the actions we have now taken, we expect FY21 EBITDA growth to be circa 50% from underlying FY20. We have a strong pipeline of opportunities in excess of $6b, with positive exposure to Government backed Infrastructure investment, high quality commodities, diverse industries and a tier one client base. This has us well positioned for long-term sustainable growth.” SRG has around  $707m as described as work in hand as at 30 June 2020. With this figure, approximately two thirds of work in hand annuity/recurring in nature. The Company continued to invest in growth capital in 2H FY20 including the commencement of five-year contracts with both Alcoa and Saracen Minerals.

Breaker Resources has announced a hit of 4m @ 21.79g/t Au from 172m from one of three RC drill holes as part of the maiden drilling at the Carbineer Prospect. All three drill holes intersected significant gold mineralisation at the project with assay results for another 11 holes pending. Executive Chairman Tom Sanders recapped the drilling results and also eluded to good results around the Kopai-Crescent area – he said “These two emerging discoveries have the potential to materially expand our shallow gold inventory and complement our success extending the Bombora gold deposit at depth, We are still gauging the extent of the mineralisation footprint in each area on very wide reconnaissance drill hole spacings. So to hit high-grade gold at the Carbineer Prospect on the first two single-hole sections 100m apart, is both exciting and unusual. Further drilling is planned to restart in two weeks. In the Kopai-Crescent area we are seeing significant gold up to 2-4g/t over a very large area. I think that the high-grade intersections will come once we finish scoping the areal extent of the mineralisation and then zero in on the structures controlling the gold.”

Black Cat Syndicate has completed the acquisition of the Fingals and Rowes Find gold project.  Fingals is located around 30 kms south east of Bulong and Rowe’s Find is located around 100 km east of Bulong. The transaction has increased Black Cat`s resource by 145%. Also Silver Lake Resources has emerged as a substantial shareholder (8.7%) in Black Cat and will have the first right of refusal on any toll treating arrangements relating to Fingals and Rowe’s Find. Black Cat’s Managing Director, Gareth Solly, commented: “We are extremely pleased to have completed this transformational acquisition and welcome Silver Lake as our largest shareholder. With the acquisition of Fingals and Rowe’s Find completed, we will now focus on converting the JORC 2004 Resources to JORC 2012 Resources, updating the JORC 2012 Resources and identifying our immediate drilling priorities. We will commence releasing the results of this work later in July 2020.”

The awarding of a the Corunna Downs Mining Services’ contract for Atlas Iron Pty Ltd has been awarded to MACA Limited. The project will consist of open pit mining services including drilling & blasting, and loading & hauling. The contract will generate approximately $230 million in revenue for MACA over the 62 month term. MACA CEO Mike Sutton said “We are pleased to have been selected as the Contract Miner for Atlas building on our workload in the Iron Ore Sector with an existing client. We look forward to being part of the successful development of this project”. MACA has previously worked on Atlas Iron projects at Pardoo, Mt Dove, Abydos and Wodgina operations as well as providing Crushing Services for Atlas at its Mount Webber Operations and Civil works at Corunna Downs.

A planned Financial Year 2021 exploration program has been announced by Australian Potash under the Earn-In & Joint Venture agreement by joint venture partner St Barbara Limited for the Lake Wells Gold Project. The exploration program will cover around 30,000m. Managing Director and CEO, Matt Shackleton said “The results of exploration to date by St Barbara generated compelling analogies to the richly endowed Kundana goldfield endowed with in excess of 8M ounces of gold. St Barbara has confirmed the details of the planned FY21 exploration program, including up to 30,000 metres across targets in the Yamarna and Lake Wells joint venture areas. Subject to access, the program is planned to commence in September and is likely to continue through to the end of Q2 FY21.”

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Morning News Bites – June 26

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

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

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

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

 

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Morning News Bites – June 23

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

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