Tag: Mining

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Saracen In Trading Halt Due To Incident

Saracen Minerals has been placed into a trading halt on the ASX due to an incident at its Dervish mine as part of its Carosue Dam operations in Western Australia. According to an ASX statement “It appears the underground worker fell from a height. A full investigation into the incident has been launched. The WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has been advised of the incident and is sending representatives to site.” the statement said.

Dervish – Credit, Saracen Minerals.

The company is requesting the trading halt pending an announcement on the suspension of operations at its Carosue Dam Operations and has requested that the trading halt remain until the release of that announcement, which is anticipated by prior to market open on Wednesday, 15 July 2020.

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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 9

After yesterday announcing a 7.5c dividend due next week, Northern Star finished the day up 90c. Busiest month ever for luxury car sales and Test cricket returned overnight.

Rio Tinto has announced it will close its New Zealand Aluminium Plant – Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter. A date of August 31 2021 has been announced as the wind-down of operations. “We’re very disappointed to have played our part in delivering these savings for one of the greenest smelters in the world and to have such limited engagement from Rio Tinto. We urge Rio Tinto to seriously consider the offer for improved electricity supply and encourage them to consider what is right for Southland, for New Zealand and for their own global environmental commitments.” Said Contact Energy CEO Mike Fuge. Contract Energy are an energy supplier in New Zealand.

Black Cat Syndicate has had a busy start to the financial year with drill results from its Bulong Gold Project bringing about high grade results and approval granted for a Pit at Myhree. The results from drilling at Bulong have returned with highlights of 8m @ 26.43 g/t Au from 55m, 10m @ 5.60 g/t Au from 10m and 1m @ 12.70 g/t Au from 42m. According to MD Gareth Solly “The continued shallow, high-grade results bode well for early cashflow from potential mining operations at Myhree. These results infill the existing Resource and are among the best widths and grades to date. This is testament to the robust nature of the Myhree deposit.” While approvals for the Stage 1 Open Pit have been granted and recent drilling has seen some encouragement in the East West structure. “In addition, an important step in our objective to develop Bulong has been achieved with the full approval of the Stage 1 Open Pit at Myhree. We also saw some encouragement from an east-west structure at Myhree and 600m north of Trump north that requires follow up. RC drilling to further test and extend these areas will recommence during August 2020. In the meantime, diamond drilling of the deeper Mhyree mineralisation, is currently underway.” Mr Solly said.

New high grade gold lode has been uncovered by Classic Minerals at Kat Gap. Best results from recent drilling uncovered 4 metres grading 76.72 grams per tonne gold from 79 metres 9 metres grading 8.69 grams per tonne gold from 14 metres. CEO of Classic Minerals Dean Goodwin said “This new very high-grade intersection out into the granite is an exciting development for the Kat Gap Project. We decided to extend some of our planned drill holes west of our current drill pattern to see if further gold lodes were lurking out in the granite. We were right. Now we just have to work out what orientation this new lode is running at. We had a feeling something was out there as we had a handful of old historical drill holes along strike that had a few lower grade sniffs out in the granite. This new intersection really bodes well for our future drilling programs that will be conducted out in the granite following up the historical auger geochemical anomalies.” Kat Gap is located Kat Gap approximately 70km south-south east of the Company’s Forrestania Gold Project.

Focus Minerals has announced the new JORC 2012 Minerals Resource for the Greenfields gold deposit. A total Mineral Resource has been announced as 139,123oz (measured and indicated) That has been completed after an overhaul of the Greenfields open pit resource model and has delivered an 81% increase in Mineral Resource. Focus Minerals’ CEO, Mr Zhaoya Wang, said: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to commend the team for the diligent work in reexamining historical data of Greenfields. We look forward to what the new PFS could bring to Coolgardie.  At the same time, Focus is continuing its exploration efforts at our 100%-owned Laverton Gold Project. In line with our stated commitments, the Laverton PFS study will be completed by December 2020. The Greenfields Ore Reserve in the 2017 PFS should not be relied upon as it was built on the previous resource model. The updated PFS will be completed in early August, which will provide the updated ore reserve numbers.” Greenfields is 3.8km from Coolgardie is Western Australia.

Julimar is becoming a hive of activity for Chalice Gold and recent drill results including 3.9m @ 1.7g/t Pd, 0.4g/t Pt, 0.5g/t Au, 0.1% Ni, 0.7% Cu, 0.02% Co from 314.9m to end-of-hole  including: 10.1m @ 2.9g/t Pd, 0.6g/t Pt, 1.2g/t Au, 0.1% Ni, 1.3% Cu, 0.01% Co. These results point to a new style of PGE-copper-gold mineralisation at Gonneville. Two RC and a diamond drill are on site and continuing with a drill program at the Gonneville Intrusion. The Intrusion hosts both extensive high-grade PGE-Ni-Cu-Co zones in massive/matrix/stringer sulphides and widespread PGE mineralisation in disseminated sulphides. Current and future activities include an approx 20,000m Phase 2 RC drill program is underway utilising two rigs, a diamond drill program which will continue to step-out from known high-grade zones and test new DHEM targets, Metallurgical testwork, EM Geophysics and the ability to access approvals.

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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 3

Federal Treasurer Mathias Cormann has suggested there will be further tax incentives for business in the October Budget, but also indicated he will step away from politics after the budget. Afterpay is closing in on an ASX Top 20 spot and reports quarantine hotels let guests out to go shopping in Victoria.

Civmec have been awarded a new contract with a Dry Plant Detailed Earthworks and Concrete package for the Iron Bridge Magnetite Project 145km from Port Hedland. Civmec’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Patrick Tallon, said: “Through our current delivery of works for Fortescue in the Pilbara, we have formed a strong working relationship built on transparency, trust and collaboration and reliable execution. This is an exciting project of a very significant scale with a declared value for the overall project being US$2.6 billion. The Iron Bridge Joint Venture has demonstrated and refined each step of the magnetite ore processing system and conducted full-scale trials to ensure the effectiveness of the process and gain confidence in the overall project success”. The works will commence immediately and are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022. The works are to enable 22 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of high grade, magnetite concentrate product to be produced.

Black Cat Syndicate, who yesterday announced the stake that Silver Lake has now in the company alongside some recent acquisitions, has announced drill results at Mhyree. Drilling intersected mineralisation  and recorded 6.45m @ 9.43 g/t Au from 228.51m, 1.97m @ 11.68 g/t Au from 155.06m and 2.14m @ 21.03 g/t Au from 95.06m. Mhyree is 100% owned by Black Cat Syndicate and continues to deliver strong results. Gareth Solly – Managing Director of Black Cat said “The geotechnical results and positive gold assays will be fed into the Myhree mining study. The recent RC drilling at Bulong has also now been completed and assays are expected in mid-July 2020. Additional diamond holes are currently being drilled at Myhree with results due in late August 2020. RC drill planning on priority targets at Fingals is now underway and will be announced in July 2020.”

Recent Exploration at the Sandy Creek and Tallandoon Goldfields has brought results for Dart Mining in an historical area in Northeast Victoria. Multiple occurrences of disseminated gold-sulphide mineralisation in hydrothermally altered granites have been identified at Sandy Creek. While high-grade gold occurring with antimony-lead-zinc-gold-silver silica-sulphide mineralisation identified at Tallandoon. Further drilling is required at Sandy Creek Goldfield with multiple targets and a workplan for 980m of drilling, which has been approved for first pass RAB or RC drilling of the primary targets identified.

Great Boulder Resources has announced drilling is scheduled to recommence mid July. Drilling will test priority areas within the large, coherent gold-in-soil anomaly identified earlier in the year by auger sampling at its Whiteheads Project north of Kalgoorlie. Great Boulder Managing Director Andrew Paterson said “We’ve been fairly quiet for the past couple of months, conserving cash while the Coronavirus pandemic played out. “Now that things are returning to normal in Western Australia we’re looking forward to testing these priority anomalies at Whiteheads. The bottom-of-hole geochemistry study is ongoing, and a lot more work is planned for the coming months.”

It’s been a big week for Ora Banda Mining. After announcements this week on it’s projects North of Kalgoorlie, including its Davyhurst Definitive Feasibility Study where Managing Director David Quinlivan said “The DFS confirms that the significant existing infrastructure will enable Ora Banda to pursue a rapid and low-capex path to production, with the first gold pour targeted for January 2021”, Ora Banda Mining has entered a trading halt pending a capital rising. It’s anticipated the halt will be lifted on or before Tuesday July 7 2020.

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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 – July 1

New financial year is HERE! A glimmer of hope after a horrid 6 months for world markets.

  • AMP has sold its Life Insurance business to Resolution life for $3 billion. Broken down that figure is $2.5 billion cash; and $500 million equity interest in Resolution Life Australia, a new Australian-domiciled, Resolution Life-controlled holding company that is now the owner of AMP Life. AMP Chief Executive Francesco De Ferrari said “The sale is a major milestone for AMP demonstrating our ability to execute complex projects including through the difficulties of COVID-19. “It is also a historic moment as AMP ceases to be a life insurer after 170 years. Our Life teams will move to Resolution Life and will continue to support clients who will see no changes in their policy terms or conditions.”
  • Chevron has completed its acquisition of Puma Energy via all shares and equity interests of Puma Energy. As part of this deal, 46 sites in the APN Convenience Retail REIT (AQR or the Fund) portfolio, representing 58% of AQR’s rental income are affected. Chris Brockett, APN Convenience Retail REIT Fund Manager, said: “The portfolio continues to be resilient, notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, with all sites remaining open and trading and with minimal impact on rental income. The property valuation updates are a strong endorsement of the portfolio and reflect the enhanced credit quality of a Chevron lease covenant for 46 of our properties.” “We expect service station and convenience retail properties to remain highly sought after as a stable and defensive asset class due to their long leases and strong lease covenants.”
  • The key results of the Definitive Feasibility Study for BCI Minerals for its 100% owned Mardie Salt and Potash project have been announced. A positive business case established for production of 4.4Mtpa of high purity salt and 120ktpa of premium SOP fertiliser. There was a Direct capital cost estimate of $580M for all production and port infrastructure. Additional capital cost provision for detailed design, owner’s costs, project management, growth allowances and contingencies of $199M, resulting in total capital cost of $779M. Additional working capital and funding costs are expected to be incurred during construction. According to Managing Director Alwyn Vorster “The DFS delivered positive outcomes in all key project areas and indicates Mardie is technically robust and financially attractive with a potential net present value of more than one billion dollars. An investment of $20M has been made over the past 18 months to deliver the high quality DFS and we will continue to derisk and add value to the Project over the next few months. This should further increase lender and investor confidence, supporting funding solutions.”
  • A drill program has been finalised for Castillo Copper for its Mt Oxide pillar in Queensland. All of the appropriate approvals from the Queensland government has been attained and a up to 12 drilling contractors have been contacted regarding the project with priority given to a crew that is available on short notice at competitive rates. The program is expected to take around 6 – 8 weeks. As part of the proposed program around 3,432m over 14 drill-holes, within an area approx 1,500m by 1,000m, with targets near surface and deeper geophysical anomalies has been identified. Three deep vertical drill-holes, spaced approx 210m apart, will target an interpreted potential massive sulphide bedrock conductor.
  • Meteoric Resources has announced it has completed its acquisition of the Palm Springs gold project south east of Halls creek in the WA Kimberly region. The Palm Springs project contains 60 known gold occurrences over a 20km strike. Previous drill results have heralded 68m @ 2.5g/t Au from 44m and 19m @ 8.8 g/t Au from 56m. An extensive drill program for an area known as Butchers Creek Open Pit gold mine has been submitted to DMIRS with the expected start date to be August 2020.  Managing Director Dr Andrew Tunks said “With this acquisition Meteoric is hopeful of producing some stunning exploration results throughout 2020.  Previous work on  the Palm Springs Project indicates the potential for a substantial untested gold system plunging south, away from the Butchers Creek historic mine yet there has been no  active exploration in the  Butchers Creek area this century!”

 

 

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Morning News Bites – June 30

End of the Financial Year! Business owners are struggling to recruit staff as jobless look to handouts over jobs.

  • Ramelius Resource has announced an extension to its life of mine plan across 6 years to FY2026 with 1.4Moz gold at an average AISC of A$1,250 – A$1,350/oz. Managing Director Mark Zeptner, said “Building on last year’s landmark result of over 1Moz contained within a detailed mine plan, the forward outlook of almost 1.5Moz following a record production year in FY20, is a very pleasing result for Ramelius. It is a further testament to the work done by all our team that we can articulate a longer term plan with production scale, strong margins and an achievable approach to reserve replacement that gives us confidence that this visibility around mine life can be extended going forward.” In a boost to exploration, a $25-30M exploration budget allocated for FY2021, spread across the portfolio. Penny Gold Project Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) results have indicated production of 230koz at an AISC of A$703/oz with development commencing December Quarter 2021. These results have also shown exceptional grade and margins that promise to return significant cashflows to the Company from late FY2022.
  • The Macnaughtan prospect within the Tandarra Gold Project has delivered some highlights in recent aircore drilling with one result – 3 metres @ 94.9g/t Au from 87 metres in drill hole ACT475. The Tandarra Gold Project is around 40km north of Bendigo in Victoria. Catalyst are in a Joint-Venture in the project with Navarre Minerals Limited for the Tandarra Retention Licence, RL006660, which is where the AC drilling has been located. Catalyst Technical Director, Mr Bruce Kay said “The high grades and continuity of gold mineralisation revealed by this AC drilling are highly encouraging, confirming the potential of the southern Macnaughtan prospect to become the second significantly mineralised structure at Tandarra, in parallel with the high grade gold intersections at the Tomorrow Zone, 250 metres to the east.”
  • Manhattan Corporation has announced a further drill program of 5,000m of additional Reverse Circulation (RC) Drilling will take place at New Bendigo commencing in August. The drilling will be targeting the recently discovered shallow high-grade “Western Lode” located 250 metres west of the previously known New Bendigo mineralisation. Recent drilling returned 7m at 18.16 g/t Au from 87m. Drilling is also planned to target between the Western Lode and the Main Zone where there has been no previous drilling.
  • Assays have been received for Legend Mining for its Mawson project.  Legend Managing Director Mark Wilson indicated further analysis would occur before the next step of drilling, “The paydirt grades returned over 35.95m in hole 17 confirm this to be the best hole drilled at Mawson to date. The mineralisation remains open to the northeast, southwest and east of the current diamond drilling and requires further analysis of all datasets prior to planning step out RC/diamond holes.” Hole 17 RKDD017  intersected three significant intervals of massive sulphide, 9.55m @ 2.07% Ni, 1.27% Cu , 0.11% Co from 158.60m, 2.80m @ 2.84% Ni, 2.06% Cu, 0.15% Co from 193.10m and 19.80m @ 2.71% Ni, 1.79% Cu , 0.13% Co from 227.80m. Future plans for Mawson include the continuation of a 3,000m RC drilling programme targeting known sulphide mineralisation, geochemical anomalies and gravity features. and to continue infill aircore drill programme across the greater Mawson area.
  • Results from from Aircore drilling for Yandal Resources has confirm bedrock RC gold targets at Gordons Dam project. Yandal Resources Managing Director Lorry Hughes said “Assay results from 1m re-sampling of anomalous 4m intervals from AC drilling completed in May at Gordons Dam have confirmed the significance of the initial results. Intercepts of +0.5g/t gold were returned from several bottom of drill hole samples where the limit of depth penetration of AC blade drilling into bedrock was reached. These results are similar to those previously drilled east of the palaeochannel mineralisation prior to the discovery of higher grades at depth with RC drilling.” Mr Hughes also gave an indication the funds raised from the current entitlement issues would be directed to RC and Diamond drilling at Gordons Dam which is due to commence in July 2020.