Tag: Lithium

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Morning News Bites – September 10

Today is R U OK? Day. It’s our national day of action when we remind Australians that every day is the day to ask, “Are you OK?” if someone in your world is struggling with life’s ups and downs. Here is a link to a full list of resources that could help anyone who is in need of support:

https://www.ruok.org.au/every-day-resources

Mid‐tier gold producer and exploration company Gold Road Resources Limited reports on its exploration results and the ongoing strategy to make a meaningful gold discovery that supports a standalone operation. The first eight months of 2020 has seen positive progress with a number of high quality targets emerging. Gold Road’s strategy is to discover a significant gold deposit to support a standalone operation.  2020 drilling to date totals 77,264 metres of aircore, 11,575 metres of RC and 6,985 metres of diamond drilling. Exploration activity has advanced several high-quality targets through our Project Pipeline in the Southern Project Area including Kingston, with the first diamond hole drilled on the prospect intersected 1 metre at 10.39 g/t Au from 181.1 metres associated with high-grade quartz veining in the hanging wall of a highly favourable structural contact.

Estrella Resources Ltd is pleased to provide shareholders with an update on the sale of the Munda Gold Project at Widgiemooltha to Widgie Gold Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Auric Mining Limited, as announced on 13 July 2020. The parties have now executed a formal tenement sale agreement. As part of signing the TSA, the Company and Auric have agreed to increase the upfront purchase consideration to $1,237,000 cash (ex GST) (previously $1,090,000 (ex GST)) to reflect added value since executing the Offer Letter because of the termination of an existing third-party royalty at the Munda Gold Project.

Zenith Minerals report that it has secured a new gold project, Jackadgery in New South Wales. The project with a “walk-up” drill target is highly complementary to the company’s existing gold exploration project portfolio. As previously advised, recent strong investor support in the July capital raising has allowed Zenith to accelerate its planned exploration activities including multiple drill programs over the coming months at its Red Mountain gold and Split Rocks gold projects, located in Queensland and Western Australia respectively. The Company continues to have an active project generation program to ensure it has a fertile pipeline of new gold and copper project opportunities. CEO Comments Commenting on the new project, Zenith Managing Director, Mick Clifford said, “Adding another advanced gold play to the project portfolio is a testament to the Company’s project generation skills, providing investors with further firstrate gold exploration exposure in a region with proven gold endowment”.

Havieron mineralisation extended for Newcrest, with expansion of the northern breccia which includes higher grade sulphide zones. Initial inferred resource for Havieron planned for delivery in the December 2020 quarter. Red Chris drill results confirms the presence of multiple discrete high grade pods in the East Zone reporting 394m @ 1.6 g/t Au & 0.86% Cu from 650m including 166m @ 3.0 g/t Au & 1.5% Cu from 806m. Newcrest Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sandeep Biswas, said “Havieron has continued to expand its mineralisation with further high grade intercepts including 1m @ 100 g/t gold. Drilling results at Red Chris have returned 166m @ 3.0 g/t gold and 1.5% copper, which is significantly higher than we would expect to find in porphyry systems. Red Chris’ results also confirm the presence of multiple discrete high grade pods of mineralisation within the East Zone. We remain on track to commence declines at both projects by the end of this year or early next calendar year which will enable us to accelerate definition and development of these exciting growth options.”

Drilling to commence at Comet Gold Project to follow up high grade historical results for Accelerate Resources near Cue, Western Australia. A reverse circulation (RC) drilling program to commence next week will target high priority mineralised gold trends at the company’s Antarctica and Comet East prospects. The program will consist of approximately 1,200m of drilling to further investigate and extend shallow, high-grade, oxide gold intersections in historical reconnaissance RAB and RC drilling. Drilling to target high grade BIF-hosted gold deposits across several prospective gold trends identified from historical drilling. Past RC and RAB drill results across several targets include highlights of 4m at 7.08 g/t gold from 27m, 3m at 4.53 g/t gold from 60m, 0.4 g/t gold from 27m (ending in mineralisation) and 3m at 2.02 g/t gold from 10m. Cue District is the focus of renewed interest following recent high grade discoveries at Musgrave Resources’ nearby Break of Day (Starlight).

 

 

 

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Morning News Bites – September 9

In Today’s Morning News Bites for September 9. BHP conforms to hard borders and aims to hire from WA only and Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial on hold over ‘potentially unexplained illness’. 

Western Australian nickel company St George Mining Limited is pleased to announce further strong drill results at its flagship Mt Alexander Project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields. Multiple intersections of mineralised mafic-ultramafic units across a 4km-long east-west strike of the Cathedrals Belt with a target horizon open to the east and west. Outstanding potential for the discovery of further nickel-copper sulphide deposits along strike to the east and west of these drill holes as well as up-dip and down-dip of the mineralised intercepts.

Lithium Australia announces its Share Purchase Plan, which launched on 12 August 2020, closed on 7 September 2020 with applications for $4.5 million. Managing Director Adrian Griffin commented, saying “We are very pleased that our shareholders backed the Company’s vision of sustainability in the energy metals space. The additional funds raised will allow all debt to be retired, improving the Company’s balance sheet and accelerating the expansion of Envirostream, our battery recycling subsidiary.”

Mincor Resources NL report highgrade massive and matrix nickel sulphide mineralisation at its Cassini North prospect, located 700m to the north of its cornerstone Cassini Main deposit at Kambalda, Western Australia. This is the first diamond hole drilled at Cassini North following a recent reassessment and geological re-modelling of the area completed by Mincor’s exploration team. MDD350 returned a significant intercept of 2.5m @ 6.6% Ni (including a higher-grade core of 2.0m @ 7.7% Ni), comprising a mix of high tenor massive and matrix nickel sulphides. Mincor’s Managing Director David Southam said, “This is a really exciting development which stems directly from the systematic approach which the geology team has adopted to nickel sulphide exploration.”

The Hamilton Copper Project in north-west Queensland has been successfully completed with a total of seven holes for 2,098m drilled under AusQuest Limited Strategic Alliance Agreement with South32. The drilling program has provided an approximate 500m spatial coverage around earlier drillholes, which provided strong indications of alteration
and the potential for nearby copper mineralisation. Managing Director, Graeme Drew, said the successful completion of the Hamilton drilling program was pleasing, particularly given that travel restrictions are still in
place due to COVID-19. “We are now eagerly awaiting assay results so we can identify potential ‘vectors to ore’, given that the holes were drilled so far apart to cover the large scale of the prospect,” he said.

Cyprium Metals Limited has provided an update, announcing granting of the mining lease at the Cue Copper Project, which replaces the Hollandaire exploration tenement and a portion of the Rapier exploration tenement. Cyprium has applied for exploration tenements to the west and east of the Nanadie Well CopperGold Project, to expand our regional presence in the area and increase the projects exploration prospectivity. The Nanadie Well Copper-Gold Project also has the Stark Cu-Ni-PGE prospect along with a number of drill ready targets that offer excellent exploration upside. Executive Director Barry Cahill commented, saying “We are pleased that the mining lease has been granted to remove any uncertainty over the timing of when mining operations could potentially commence, following the successful completion of favourable Cue Copper Project scoping and feasibility studies.

 

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Morning News Bites – September 8

In Today’s Morning News Bites for September 8. NSW, VIC and TAS brace for severe winds and dust storms, Victoria hires Salesforce for contact tracing, WA still with below average home builds despite housing grants. 

Legend Mining Limited reported an update from diamond drillhole RKDD023, which was designed to test the 25,000-30,000S conductor at the Mawson Prospect within the Rockford Project, Fraser Range, Western Australia. Legend Managing Director Mr Mark Wilson said: “The discovery of another 12.95m of massive nickelcopper sulphide in diamond drillhole 23, circa 200m from the previously announced massive sulphides, is a quantum boost for the potential of the Mawson Prospect. The nature of the mineralisation suggests we are closer to the intrusive source but we are not there yet. Downhole EM from this hole, which is now underway, is designed to provide data to assist in planning future diamond holes in this immediate vicinity.”

Shree Minerals Ltd has completed an initial desktop review of historical reports relating to Shree’s tenement application in the East Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales. The Turondale Project covers an area of 129.9 km² and is located 15km north of Bathurst. It is prospective for orogenic, porphyry and skarn related gold mineralisation. Commencement of exploration fieldwork is awaiting granting of the exploration licence, expected over coming few months. The East Lachlan Fold Belt has a long history of mineral production including gold (80 Mozs), copper (13 Mt), lead, zinc, silver and tin. It contains several large operating copper and gold mines including Evolution Mining’s Lake Cowal Gold Mine, Newcrest Mining Ltd’s Cadia Mine and Alkane Resources Tomingley Gold Mine. Also located within the East Lachlan Fold Belt is Alkane Resources’ 2019 Boda discovery with a reported drill intersection of 502 metres at 0.2% copper and 0.48 g/t gold from 211 metres.

High-grade gold mineralisation at shallow depths in its maiden Reverse Circulation (RC) drill program at the Kashmir prospect, has been reported by Gateway Mining Limited. The reports form part of its Gidgee Gold Project in Western Australia. Grades of up to 8.8g/t Au returned from initial reconnaissance Reverse Circulation drilling within the extensive Kashmir gold-in-soil anomaly, providing an outstanding target for follow-up work. Significant intersections have been returned from structures within both mafic volcanics and veining within the granodiorite. These mineralisation styles are consistent with those observed on the northwestern contact zone of the Montague Dome, which is the focus of Gateway’s exploration activities. Managing Director, Mr Peter Langworthy, said: “Intersecting these sorts of grades 1km apart in our very first drill program within a 1.8km long gold anomaly is an extraordinary result! This shows the scale of the opportunity at Gidgee and highlights the vast range of targets we have across the project – from resource-growth opportunities at Whistler and Montague to vast new gold anomalies such as Kashmir which are wide open for new discoveries.”

ScandiVanadium Limited announced an update on the progress of the Gnama Nickel Project in the Fraser Range of Western Australia. Review of existing geophysical database including 15.1 line kilometres of MLEM and FLEM ground based electro-magnetic (EM) survey data identifies key area for follow up. Planning underway for ground EM survey to test up to 550m depth over historic nickel and copper anomalous drilling. Executive Chairman, David Frances, said “The Gnama Project has significant elevated nickel and copper in previous drilling analogous to Nova and Mawson pre-discovery. The ability to run a higher-powered ground EM over our project compared to previous surveys completed in 2005 allows us to investigate deeper parts of the system that have not previously been tested. We are planning a SQUID survey to test up to 550m depth and potentially identify the source of the 20m thick Ni-Cu-Co anomaly in historic drilling.”

Bardoc Gold Limited announced that recent Reverse Circulation drilling at the Excelsior Deposit, part of the company’s 3.02Moz Bardoc Gold Project located 40km north of Kalgoorlie in WA, has intersected broad zones of gold mineralisation which confirm the existing resource model and highlight strong potential for future growth and upside at the cornerstone deposit. The latest assay results from the 320koz Au Excelsior Deposit are from areas of lower confidence material outside the current Ore Reserves. The results demonstrate the mineralisation remains open down-plunge at depth below the current open pit design, highlighting future growth opportunities at this large-tonnage, low strip ratio deposit.

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

 

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Morning News Bites – August 19

In the Morning News Bites – August 19

ANZ posts cash profits of $1.49 billion with around 84,000 home loan deferrals and around 22,000 business loans deferred. Dominoes Pizza has increazsed its sales in Australia and New Zealand by 4% to $1.2 billion. While The Reject Shop posts a net profit after tax of $1.1 million after a $16.9m loss in previous corresponding period.

Silver Lake Resources has posted an increase in gold production of 64% to 273,071 ounces gold equivalent and a 54% increase in gold sales. The company also posted a 3,852% increase in statutory profit after tax of $257 million. The hedge book for Silver Lake Resources is also totals 155,568 ounces at A$2,147/oz for delivery over FY21 – FY22 as of June 30.

Saracen Resources has made the big league according to Managing Director Ral Finlayson as the company announced a record underlying net profit after tax. Mr Finlayson said “These results show Saracen has successfully made the transition to the big league of ASX gold producers,” Production for Saracen is set to reach around 700,000oz pa in FY24, before climbing to around 800,000ozpa in FY27 “Our production rate is now running at +600,000oz a year and our cost base is still tight. This means we are perfectly positioned to capitalise on the strong gold price and continue generating strong growth in our cashflow. And all our operations are based in the Tier-1 location of Western Australia which, in conjunction with our future-proofing strategy, adds further certainty to the outlook for our business.” he said.

Production volume for Mineral Resources has increased for the 20FY by 65%. The Koolyanobbing Iron Ore operation June run rate was at 12.7Mtpa, while Mt Marion lithium production up 17% year-on-year. MRL have initiated a comprehensive COVID-19 screening process for employees and visitors and includes WA’s largest private PCR screening facility 7 sites – 2 in Perth metropolitan area and 5 in regional areas, More than 40 nurses and collectors trained for swab screening and they process test everyone prior to entering a site. Managing Director Chris Ellison said “MRL has entered FY21 with a strong balance sheet and positive momentum in our operations. We remain vigilant to the ongoing threat posed by COVID-19, as well as opportunities for which we can quickly and efficiently deploy the Mining Services capabilities that are the hallmark of our Company.”

Drill sites for Castillo Copper’s Big One Deposit have been pegged and preparations for the upcoming drill program are in place. Managing Director Simon Paull thanked his geology team and is looking to move forward on the drilling “Thanks to the dedicated hard work of our geology team, we are now clearly across logistics and regulatory approvals. Importantly, we are now fully prepared to move forward with our planned drilling campaign at the Big One Deposit. Moreover, the fresh geological insights the field team observed at site is extremely encouraging, especially finding high-grade supergene and massive sulphide mineralisation at surface.” he said.

Placement and Institutional Entitlement Offer attracted significant demand from both eligible existing and eligible new institutional investors located in Australia and offshore. Lynas Corp Managing Director Amanda Lacaze said “We are delighted by the level of demand for the Institutional Offer from eligible existing and new institutional investors, both in Australia and overseas. This is a clear indication of institutional support for our Lynas 2025 growth vision and our strengthened balance sheet will enable Lynas to mitigate global economic uncertainties and continue to progress with our Lynas 2025 foundation projects. We look forward to the participation of our retail shareholders when the Retail Entitlement Offer opens on Monday, 24 August.”