Tag: Nickel

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Tonight’s Top Story – Diggers Wrap Up, Award Winners and A Night To Remember.

Once again Diggers and Dealers is done and dusted and all that is left to do is shake off the hangover, process all the information that has spewed out and look forward to next year’s event.  This year Diggers nearly didn’t go ahead but the owners took a leap of faith and pencilled in the October dates and then worked their butts off to ensure it happened.  Congratulations to the organisers for bringing together a wonderful three days of presentations, displays and functions.

For me a couple of the outstanding presentations were from Mincor and De Grey who outlined really exciting projects that they are involved in.  They are two companies that people should keep an eye on as the projects advance.  That is not to say that all the other presentations weren’t good.  Quite the contrary as the quality of the presentations this year was high.

This year the forum seemed to have an extra buzz about it as people are very bullish on the mining sector at the moment.  The locals in Kalgoorlie Boulder are expressing more confidence in the sector as well and town is really humming at the moment.  There are many projects in the pipeline that the local council is working hard on and this is on the back of Lynas starting construction of their processing plant on the outskirts of the city.  If they all come to fruition Kalgoorlie and surrounds is in for a huge lift.

At the end of every Diggers they have a gala night and awards are presented in different categories.  The winners of this year’s awards are:

The prestigious GJ Stokes Memorial Award went to Ms Gina Rinehart.  The award is in honour of Geoffrey Stokes who started the forum in 1992, with 150 delegates.  Sadly, Geoffrey passed away in 1997 at an early age but his legacy lives on and also recognised in the naming of the award.  As an aside, on Thursday morning after Diggers, the City of Kalgoorlie Boulder laid a plaque in Hannan Street outside the Palace Hotel, the original home of Diggers, as part of their Walk of Fame program.

Ms Rinehart is the first women to receive the award, which is made to someone who has made an exceptional lifetime contribution to the mining industry.  Ms Rinehart took over the Hancock company in the same year Diggers started and has steered the company to be the behemoth it is now.  Her astute business acumen has seen her increase her privately owned assets immensely but has also allowed her to do successful joint venture projects that have increased the value of the company.

Another of the awards, Dealer of the Year, seemed to be a no brainer and was not a surprise when dual winners, Raleigh Finlayson’s Saracen Mineral and Bill Beament’s Northern Star, were announced.  This comes off the back of their respective companies each buying 50% of the famous Kalgoorlie Superpit within a month of each other earlier this year.  The purchase was a great boon to the local community and has instilled new confidence in the sector in the region.  Add to that their yet to be approved $16B merger and these companies have really set the pace in 2020.  They are both young and energetic, which augers well for the new merged company.

Ramelius Resources took out the Digger of the Year award after announcing a 420% increase in net profit.  This came from its operations in the mid-west around Mt Magnet, the Vivien Project near Agnew and in the Westonia Green belt, the Edna May mine.  Producing 230,00koz last financial year it was a great year for the diggers.

Exciting explorer De Grey Mining won the emerging company award for its work in the Pilbara and the discovery of the Hemi project.

Other awards were presented to Dominic Piper in the media category and Georgia Kerr who was presented with the Ray Finlayson prize for Leadership and Academic Excellence.

Congratulations to all the award winners and a big thanks to Myles Ertzen, Sharon Giorgetta and their team at Diggers for once again putting on a great forum and showcasing the great city of Kalgoorlie Boulder.

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Morning News Bites – October 15

De Grey Mining Presents Hemi Discovery at Diggers.

Glenn Jardine, the Managing Director of De Grey Mining, presented to the Diggers and Dealers forum on Wednesday and gave an update on the Hemi project in the Malina Gold Province situated in the Pilbara.

The first thing Glenn mentioned was the similarity of the geological settings between the Yilgarn in the south of the state to the Malina Province in the Pilbara where the Hemi discovery has been made.  He noted that the discovery is not only transformational to the Pilbara but its importance to the company in the future.

The Hemi system spans ~3,000 metres North–South and ~2,000 metres East–West consisting of four main deposits being the Aquila, Brolga, Crow and Falcon.  Currently there are six drill rigs on site to hopefully prove up more resources.  Glenn showed a video set to the soundtrack “You have to have Faith” by George Michael, which gave a time-lapse of the drilling program with the drillholes being depicted in colour code to represent mineralisation grades.  It was an impressive way to show how the progress to date has occurred.

Other targets have been identified that De Grey believe could reveal an extension of the Hemi prospect.  With major infrastructure of gas and electricity within 20 kilometres of Hemi and Port Hedland, a major service centre just up the road, De Grey are in an ideal position to have low mining costs when the time comes.

For a long time, the share price of De Grey bumped along around the 5c range then rose to ~40c before drifting back to 5c and then making a stellar rise this year to sit now at about $1.30.  De Grey is determined to continue the value to their shareholders as they explore for more gold in this new Tier1 project.

Already sitting on 2.2Moz resource without the Hemi findings, the shareholders are sure to be rewarded in the future. (This is not to be taken as financial advice, it is only the opinion of the writer)

Red5 Limited Updated JORC for Great Western Deposit

Red5 (RED) has released an updated JORC for their Great Eastern gold deposit located just 55 kilometres south from the Darlot processing plant.  870,000t has been identified as containing 70,300oz total resource at about 2.5g/t.  One assay came back at 11.18g/t over three metres.

The first part of the mine will be an open pit that is expected to yield, over 13 months, about 35,500ozs before an underground operation commences to mine the rest of the ore body.

Red 5’s Managing Director, Mark Williams, said:  “The Great Western deposit has emerged as a strong source of satellite ore feed for the Darlot processing plant, with the completion of an initial Open Pit Ore Reserve of 35,424 ounces of contained gold paving the way for the start of open pit mining planned for January 2021. Importantly, this will also provide a platform from which to pursue a potential longer-term underground mining operation.

“Our recent drilling programs have reinforced the quality of the deposit, with in-fill drilling increasing the higher confidence Measured and Indicated categories within the Mineral Resource to over 80 per cent. In addition, we are looking forward to seeing results from deeper RC drilling designed to test high-grade gold mineralisation in deeper parts of the Great Western deposit, which currently remains open.

“The satellite ore feed from Great Western enables us to transition and progressively scale down our current underground mining operations at King of the Hills over the remainder of the year, as we prepare to start construction of the proposed new 4Mtpa bulk mining and processing operation in line with the recently- completed Final Feasibility Study.”

Drilling Commences at CleanTEQ Sunrise Project.

A drill rig mobilised to the CleanTEQ (CLQ) Sunrise Project (NSW) site has commenced a six-hole diamond core drill program. The program is aiming to intersect the dunite structures at depth (targeting 400-600m below surface) which are proposed to be the source of the platinum in the Sunrise laterite at surface.

The Sunrise laterite hosts a significant platinum resource of 103.1 Mt @ 0.33 g/t Pt for 1,076,170 ounces of platinum, using a 0.15 g/t Pt cut-off grade, making it one of the largest platinum resources in Australia. Of this total resource, approximately 90% (metal content) is in the measured and indicated categories. While the average grade over the global resource is relatively low, areas of significantly higher-grade platinum mineralisation exist within the resource envelope.

An area of high-grade platinum mineralisation has been defined within the Sunrise laterite resource, forming a newly-classified Phoenix Platinum Zone.

Despite extensive drilling over previous decades, only a handful of holes have been drilled beneath the Sunrise laterite.  Given the high platinum grades near surface and historic intercepts beneath the laterite, a program of work has commenced to test the structural geology of the Tout Intrusive Complex and to establish a platinum resource that will either integrate with the development of the Sunrise nickel-cobalt-scandium mine, or be developed as a stand-alone operation.

Wildcat Resources Commences Airborne Magnetic Survey in the Pilbara.

Wildcat Resources has commenced exploration activities at the Bolt Cutter Project in the Mallina Province – Pilbara Western Australia. Wildcat Resources has a dominant land position with three applications (E45/5613, E45/5623, E45/5612) in the under-explored Mallina Province – WA.

The Company has reviewed the historical data on the project and has identified that better magnetic resolution will allow for more efficient planning of the upcoming exploration campaigns.

The Mallina Basin is a large and highly prospective gold province and yet is grossly under explored. The exploration maturity of the Mallina Basin is lower than many other gold regions in WA, and recent exploration successes there may indicate that there is significant untested potential of the region.

It is adjacent to the newly discovered Hemi project that has turned out to be a major discovery for the area.  Given the recent significant exploration success by De Grey, the region could be viewed as having the potential to become a World Class Province.  Potential for other types of mineralisation in the region will also be investigated by Wildcat.

Golden Mile Resources Identifies Gold Mineralisation at Benalla.

Golden Mile Resources, has released an update of the first phase aircore drilling program on the Benalla Gold Trend at its Leonora East Gold Project located in the North-Eastern Goldfields of WA.

This maiden drilling program tested three of the four priority targets identified by the Company’s previous geochemical auger sampling over the Benalla Gold Trend. Target BGT2 also displayed a coincident magnetic anomaly, identified by the recent airborne magnetic survey, similar in nature to Kin Mining’s Cardinia Hill prospect.

Assay results from the program have identified multiple intersections of gold mineralisation across two mineralised structures that could represent continuations of Kin Mining’s neighbouring East Lynne and Collymore Trends.

The gold mineralisation is generally hosted in a felsic volcanic unit with associated quartz veining, disseminated sulphides (mostly pyrite, up to 5%) and potassic alteration, on or near the contact with surrounding mafic volcanic units. This style and setting are similar to the neighbouring Cardinia area.

A second phase of AC drilling at Benalla will commence next week, this will complete the remaining holes at target BGT3, as well as testing target BGT1, an undrilled 1km long auger geochemical anomaly of up to 387ppb Au, along with further follow up drilling at targets BGT2 and BGT4.

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Morning News Bites – October 14

It was another great day at Diggers with a diverse range of miners presenting. We will give you a snapshot of some presentations, which will include iron ore and nickel.

Mount Gibson Iron (MGX) was the first of the iron ore producers to kick off proceedings with Peter Kerr, their CEO, presenting. With their Koolan Island operations now in full swing the mine is producing the highest grade hematite at 65.2% and on track to export between 1.8 – 2.1Mwmt this financial year.  With cash costs expected to be around $65/Mwmt they will be looking at ways to reduce this in case the price of iron ore comes off its highs in the next year or two.  They are bullish though and looking at ways the mine life can be increased beyond the current five year plan. CAPEX has been high this year and some of that was the building of the new airstrip on the island.

Their Mid-West operations are low grade but the company is making the most of the high iron ore prices and mining continues in this region.  Extension Hill sales will continue into next year and the Shine project is expected to progress to targeted sales in mid 2021. With the company cash flow positive, debt free and providing a dividend, shareholders must be very pleased with how they are positioned in the market.

Fortescue Metals (FMG) presented and their CEO Elizabeth Gaines delivered. Elizabeth is taking the company to new highs and not just in production values. It is how they are achieving those production levels that is of some interest.  But first lets look at the eye watering figures.

178.2mt was shipped in FY19 up a healthy 6% on the previous year. C1 costs were just under US$13/wmt and a healthy dividend of A$1.76 per share was paid to lucky shareholders. Billions of dollars are to be spent on capital works across several projects, but with high prices and low costs you would expect the payback time to be small. The forecasts for production and costs in FY21 are very similar to the last financial year.

Fortescue is investing heavily in its personnel and the diversification of the workforce is opening up opportunities for people that may otherwise find it difficult to obtain work in this sector.  As an example there is a 14% employment rate of aboriginal workers across their Pilbara operations.  For a company of this size it is a credit that they are offering so many opportunities to aboriginal people.  Like other companies they are also experiencing higher participation rates with women in the workforce and currently 19% of the workforce is women.  Who better to lead this company than Elizabeth herself who is overseeing exciting times in the iron ore sector.

Legend Mining (LEG) had Managing Director, Mark Wilson present at Diggers and he was keen about the prospects of this junior nickel explorer. They are currently focused on the Fraser Range area, north of the Nova mine now owned by IGO.  They have some big players supporting them, mainly the Creasy Group and IGO, who have substantial holdings on the share registry.

They have nearly 3,100 square kilometres of land to explore and some early results are promising.  In one hole they have 19.8 metres at 2.71% nickel from about 230 metres below surface. Mawson and Hurley projects are showing a lot of promise and they believe that in these areas the resource will be bigger than what was modelled.  From current visual drill results they believe Mawson is open to the East and West.

The company is bullish on the future of nickel and believe they are in the right sector, with the right resource at the right time to make the most of the EV and battery storage market.

Poseidon Nickel (POS) presented at Diggers with Peter Harold the Managing Director addressing the attendees. It seems that nickel explorers and producers are more upbeat than they have been for a long time and Poseidon is no exemption. The presentation included a quote from Elon Musk which said: “I’d just like to re-emphasize, any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel”, and Poseidon is keen to do just that.

Their current projects include the Mt Windarra mine near Laverton, Black Swan and Silver Swan just outside Kalgoorlie and Lake Johnston near Norseman. A study is currently underway to check the feasibility of recommencing mining at the Emily Ann mine site that feeds into the Lake 1.5Mtpa Lake Johnston Mill.  Historically it has produced nickel at 3.5% and they believe they have a resource there that could produce 52kt.

The Windarra project is interesting because they believe they are sitting on 180,000oz of gold in the tailings from historical mining in the area. If they can turn those ounces into money they believe that it will pay for ongoing exploration and mining activities at the other sites.

Poseidon could be one nickel play to keep an eye on if all the plans fall into pace.

Listening to the presentations it is apparent that nickel just could be the new gold.  All the nickel companies that have presented so far have been very bullish on their outlook. Talk of the EV market about to take off, battery storage to be an even bigger market and the price slowly creeping up augers well for nickel miners.  Could we see nickel prices reach the highs of just over a decade ago or will it be a lot more subdued this time around, if it happens?  If I can be parochial, it would be great to see nickel surge and breathe new life back into towns like Kambalda. It is well placed for it to happen and if Kambalda booms, Kalgoorlie rockets.

Gold has been and looks like being a strong performer as well for miners and what were less than optimal projects are being looked at. Depending on who talk to there is still mutterings about gold hitting $10,000 per ounce. Good luck if that happens but I feel that in general the economy will be down the gurgles if that occurred.

Iron ore prices are high and the trifecta of nickel, gold and iron ore will see the WA economy bustle along, even when economies in other states are suffering.  Good luck to all the miners and their projects.  May they prosper and I hope that all of WA will benefit because of it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bardoc Gold:

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

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

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

Ramelius Resources.

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

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

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

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

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Today’s Top Story – Western Australia continues to be the envy of the world.

The price of iron ore has never been so important to the Western Australian economy as has been evident in the recently announced state budget.  On the back of soaring iron ore prices, the state government collected nearly $8.45B in royalties from the miners who exported millions of tonnes of the ore to overseas markets, in particular China.

The forecast for the next 12 months shows a similar amount of royalties will be collected before prices start coming off their highs in 2022, or earlier.  It has been a huge windfall for the state and has cushioned the impact of Covid19 on the economy.  While other states’ economies have wallowed, Western Australia has powered on and even produced a healthy surplus for the last financial year.

Whether it was good planning or luck, the decision by the state government to keep miners going, at almost any cost, has proven to be a master stroke.  It didn’t matter if they were mining gold, copper or any other mineral or iron ore, miners ploughed ahead as other industries took a hit.  Fortunately, the mining industry kept alive manufacturers and industry related to the sector.

The state government cannot be complacent though, as it would not take much for the price of iron ore to come off the boil or buyers to disappear.  If Brazil can get Covid19 under control and exports crank up from them, China could well look away from Western Australia as their main source of the ore.  With the sometimes-delicate relationship we have with China it could mean they hit us in the wallet – just because they can.

The price per tonne of iron ore reached a low of $37USD in 2015 and has since soared to be currently sitting at $122USD.  Miners are making the most of it as well as the government and mine expansions are on the increase to cash in on the bonanza.

The miners are also tackling the issue of staffing as the FIFO experience has shown that having workers self-isolate when they travel from interstate is proving costly and is in no way practical.  It isn’t good for workers either who are spending more time away from family, if they are able to travel from interstate.  This is making the companies rethink their strategy of employing someone no matter where they live in Australia and encouraging workers to pack up and move west.

This is creating problems in the housing market across the board as rental vacancies have reached extremely low levels in Perth and major regional centres.  Real estate agencies are experiencing the best sales figures in a long time but unfortunately for sellers the needle is yet to move on house prices.  This will change as supply starts to dry up.  It will probably mean a boon for the state government as stamp duty revenue is sure to increase for them.

During the last mining boom thousands of people flocked to WA to make the most of the circumstances.  When mining went off the boil many returned to the east coast.  Will we see the same happen again and will it be a short term hit or can it be sustained?

Already the unemployment rate in WA has fallen below the expected rate of 8% and likely to fall further if circumstances don’t change because of Covid19.  With changes to Jobkeeper and Jobseeker being phased-in, unemployed people are more likely to seek out employment which will bring the rate down even further.

WA must surely be the envy of the other states, even if the borders are shut to the east coast.  A healthy economy, tourism experiencing healthy numbers from WA locals and mining powering on it all looks rosy for the near future.  Can the government make the most of it and plan wisely for that future?

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Morning News Bites – August 24

In Today’s Morning News Bites for August 24. Fortescue Metals report 49% increase in net profit to a record $US4.7bn. QLD reports one new COVID-19 case overnight. Liberal call for branch clean-out. 

Fortescue Metals report strong results from FY20, exceeding production guidance with 178.2 million shipments of iron ore for the full year. Costs remain low: C1 costs came in at US$12.94 per wet metric tonne in FY20. The company achieved average revenue of US$79 per dry metric tonne in fiscal 2020, up 21% YoY and has guided for FY21 iron ore shipments of between 175-180 million tonnes. Former CEO, and current non-executive chairman Andrew Forrest said, ”Fortescue’s success allows Minderoo Foundation the capacity and the flexibility to continue its work and tackle new challenges as they arise for many years to come.”

Saturn Metals announce further results from ongoing RC drilling at the Apollo Hill deposit within its Apollo Hill Gold Project, 60km southeast of Leonora in the Western Australian goldfields. This drilling at Apollo Hill is a key part of the Company’s strategy to grow the Project’s 781,000oz Mineral Resource. A further resource upgrade is targeted for late 2020, incorporating results from drilling conducted since November 2019. All 13 holes reported intercepts above the Apollo Hill resource cut-off grade and all but one intersected mineralisation above the average resource grade. Other strong intersections include: 21m @ 0.94g/t Au from 184m – , 9m @ 1.0g/t Au from 179m and 14m @ 0.84g/t Au from 329m.

Kin Mining NL significant new assay results received from recent air-core drilling at the East Lynne prospect, located 3km north east of the proposed plant site at its Cardinia Gold Project near Leonora in Western Australia. The drilling commenced at East Lynne in early July as part of the extensive and ongoing Phase 3 Exploration Program. Significant widths and grades encountered in 400m line spaced AC drilling, with in-fill drilling to 200m line spacing underway. Results include 20m at 1.36g/t from 20m and 4m at 1.29g/t from 32m.

St Barbara reports its Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves positions for FY20. Group Ore Reserves increased year on year from 4.1 Moz of contained gold to 6.0 Moz, and Group Mineral Resources increased from 9.6 Moz of contained gold to 11.6 Moz. The increase in Resources and Reserves is due to the Atlantic Gold acquisition concluded in July 2019 and Simberi sulphide drilling completed in December 2019.

Zenith Minerals Wide mineralised gold zone confirmed at the Red Mountain Gold Project for Zenith Minerals. New gold assay results from the first 7 follow up RC holes of an ongoing drill program, confirm near surface, wide, mineralised gold zone at Red Mountain Gold Project in Queensland. This includes highlights of 12m @ 2.2 g/t Au from surface, including 8m @ 3.1 g/t Au and 5m @ 1.7 g/t Au from 25m, including 3m @ 2.6 g/t Au

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Morning News Bites – August 21

In the Morning News Bites for August 21 2020.

Coventry Group recorded Group sales growth for FY20 including acquisitions of 22.3%. Suncorp has recorded an earnings slide and A2 Milk look to baby formula.

A detailed airborne magnetic survey has been completed for Sabre Resources near the Penny West Gold Mine. According to Sabre they will identify the highest priority drilling targets and will then immediately take steps to commence planning for a drilling program.

FE limited are set to acquire a 50% interest in the Yarram Iron Ore project in the Northern Territory and will operate the resulting JV. Highlights at the site include 108m @ 65.6% Fe, 2.3% SiO2, 1.8% Al2O3, 0.037% P and 65m @ 66.4% Fe, 2.0% SiO2, 1.5% Al2O3, 0.022% P from 13m. Chairman of FE Limited Tony Sage said “With iron ore prices at six year highs, mature iron ore assets such as we have identified at Yarram are highly sought after. It is even more difficult to find one that hosts high grade iron ore mineralisation, that’s located just over 100km from a major port, and is in close proximity to existing mining infrastructure.” Consideration of A$1.5 m in cash and shares payable with a further $1.5m in cash and shares payable on achieving a JORC indicated resource. FEL to cover certain historical and future costs.

FMG Autonomous Truck

Elizabeth Gaines has given an indication on Mineral Reserves for Fortescue Metals Group this morning “We are pleased to report over 2.2 billion tonnes of Hematite Ore Reserves and 5.8 billion tonnes of Mineral Resources at our operating properties, supporting the sustainability of our core iron ore assets across our Solomon and Chichester Hubs, as well as our developing Western Hub. Our investment in significant growth projects including the Eliwana Mine and Rail Project in the Western Hub is now well advanced with first ore on train scheduled in December 2020. Our Iron Bridge Magnetite Project is developing Australia’s largest publicly disclosed magnetite Mineral Resource, with first ore on ship planned in the first half of calendar year 2022.”

Mineralisation at De Grey Mining‘s Brolga Zone has identified trends to the north.  De Grey Managing Director, Glenn Jardine, gave a further insight to the recent drilling “We continue to test for extensions to known mineralisation around Hemi using aircore and RC drilling. Aircore drilling has intersected new mineralisation approximately 320 metres north east of Brolga. This is along the structural corridor heading toward Scooby. RC drilling has succeeded in identifying extensions to the north of Brolga, heading toward Aquila. Specific diamond drilling has been conducted to provide samples for metallurgical variability and optimization test work. The assay results from metallurgical drilling will provide additional information on internal continuity of the gold mineralisation within Brolga.”

Perth based mineral explorer, Cullen Resources has re- prioritised drilling for its operations due to rain.Its Wongan Hills Rupert project was due for RC Drilling for August but has since been postponed, this will commence as soon as possible however. The Wongan prospect is showed an intersection of up to 1m @ 3.7% Cu, 1.5 g/t Au, hole with DHEM survey taking place. While at the North Tuckabianna project during September Cullen intends to RC drill test two DHEM targets for gold and base metals.

 

 

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Morning News Bites – August 20

In Today’s Morning News Bites for August 20. Qantas profits fall 91% as 6000 jobs are axed. Wesfarmers slashes the value of Target by $525 million. Pantoro reports Scotia Mining Centre has been expanded once again due to new zone discovery. 

The Scotia Mining Centre has once again been expanded with the discovery a new zone of near surface mineralisation at Green Lantern, south east of the existing Scotia open pit, located approximately 25 km south of Norseman in Western Australia. Commenting on the results Pantoro Managing Director Paul Cmrlec said, “We are excited about the long-term potential of the area, and continue to test additional surface targets while we commence the drill out of depth extensions to the existing high grade orebodies.”

Impact Minerals Limited announces that drilling has now commenced at the Platinum Springs Prospect at the company’s Broken Hill nickel-copper-platinum group metal (PGM) project in New South Wales. Three prospects to be drill tested to follow up previous drill intercepts such as: 2.75 metres at 3.5 g/t platinum, 7 g/t palladium, 0.4 g/t gold, 2% copper, 1.9% nickel and 11.6 g/t silver from 55 metres down hole; and 1.5. metres at 1.7% nickel, 1.3% copper, 4.3 g/t palladium, 3.05 g/t platinum and 1.08 g/t gold.

Minotaur Exploration and Avira Resources Ltd have signed a binding Terms Sheet under which, subject to it satisfying its due diligence requirements, Minotaur may acquire 100% ownership of the Pyramid tenement group located 180km south of Townsville. The project, covering 150km2, embraces two main areas prospective for gold, being the West Pyramid Range and East Pyramid Range. Historic high-grade gold drill intercepts, such as 35m @ 6.1g/t and 15m @ 5.65g/t, with ground electrical geophysics to refine mineralised trends.

Field work activities are underway at its 1,050km2 Kurnalpi project 50km east of Kalgoorlie, according to Riversgold Limited. Field crew have mobilised to site and commenced work, with Simon Bolster coordinating sampling activities on site and validating remote sensing regolith interpretation. Initial work will focus on the infill and extension of Farr-Jones and Cutler geochemical surveys where historical gold intercepts include highlights of; 10 metres at 11 g/t Au (Cutler) and 3 metres at 17.8 g/t Au (Farr-Jones).

Mandrake Resources Limited provides a progress update on drilling currently underway targeting gold mineralisation at the Berinka Pine Creek Gold Project in the Northern Territory. The reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme is focused on strong gold anomalies derived from historic soil, rock chip and trench sampling across four separate prospects – Vegetation Anomaly, Terry’s Gap, Cross and Sandy Creek.

 

 

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Morning News Bites – August 18

In Today’s Morning News Bites for August 18. KCGM release their reserves, resources and guidance update for FY21. 

KCGM have set an FY21 guidance of 440,000 – 480,000oz at AISC of A$1,470 – 1,570/oz3, growth capital budget at A$198m (A$12m on exploration), and an expectation of production to rise to +675,000ozpa.  Further growth is supported by a large quantity of significant drill results across the KCGM portfolio that sit outside of current Reserves, including at Fimiston South open pit, OBH open pit, Fimiston South underground and Mt Charlotte underground.

Saracen Mineral Holdings report a new 7 year group production outlook. It was underwritten by 8.6Moz in Reserves and resources of 320Mt @ 1.7g/t for 17.0Moz as of FY20. Group production guidance for FY21 of 600 – 640,000oz at an AISC of A$1,300 – A$1,400/oz. Saracen Managing Director Raleigh Finlayson said Saracen was on track to continue the Company’s long record of growing its production and expanding its inventory, saying “Saracen’s strategy of making opportunistic acquisitions and then unlocking their full value through exploration and development has created substantial value for shareholders for many years.”

Northern Star Resources report further increases in forecast production and more growth in reserves and resources as a result of the review conducted at its half-owned KCGM joint venture in WA. Production is forecast to rise to 1.15Moz in FY22 and 1.25Moz in FY23. The increased production is expected to drive down AISC by 10 per cent over the next two to three years. Following the inclusion of KCGM, Northern Star’s total Reserves have risen 102 per cent, or 5.5Moz, to 10.8Moz. Resources are up 67 per cent, or 12.7Moz, to 31.8Moz.

FY20 results are in for BHP. US$8.0 billion and Underlying attributable profit of US$9.1 billion broadly in line with the prior year. Net operating cash flow of US$15.7 billion, above US$15 billion for the fourth consecutive year, and free cash flow of US$8.1 billion. Capital and exploration expenditure within guidance at US$7.6 billion. Chief Executive Officer, Mike Henry: “BHP delivered a strong set of results for the 2020 financial year that reflect the strength, resilience and quality of our people and our portfolio. In a year marked by the challenges of the global COVID-19 pandemic, social unrest in Chile and commodity price volatility, we were safer, more reliable and lower cost.”

Golden Swan assays confirm exceptional drill intersection, with assays received returning: 9.0m (4.5m true width) @ 10.46% Ni on basal contact including 4.6m (2.3m true width) @ 13.8% Ni. Managing Director and CEO Peter Harold said, “The latest assay and drill results confirm the significance of the Golden Swan discovery. The thick, high grade nickel intersections in combination with favourable geological setting is pointing to something very exciting. Should Golden Swan continue to evolve and prove to be economically viable, the close proximity to the existing Silver Swan decline would allow mining operations be commence in a very short time-frame.”

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Morning News Bites – August 17

In Today’s Morning News Bites for August 17. 

Federal government to reveal details of vaccine trial agreements. JB Hi-Fi profits hit $302 million, boosted by people working from home. ASIC set to target the growing of Robinhood traders. 

Toro Energy recently completed a quartz vein outcrop sampling programme on the Golden Ways Target Area, which has yielded surface rock chip samples. The Golden Ways Target Area is located in the north of the Yandal Gold Project, near the Yandal Greenstone Belt in Western Australia. Highlights include samples of up to 14.7g/t gold and has generated anomalism over the entire 900m (approximate) strike length of outcropping quartz veins sampled. The anomalism identified in the quartz veins sampled in this programme will now undergo limited drill testing by reverse circulation (RC) drilling as part of the current planned 2020 exploration programme for the Yandal Gold Project. The RC rig is expected to mobilise to site in the coming weeks.

3D Resources report a 42% upgrade of gold in resources at the Adelong Goldfield. This includes a maiden resource for the Caledonian and Donkey Hill deposits, and a remodelling of resources at the Currajong deposit with the inclusion of a resource of parallel vein systems to the east. Chairman Mr Ian Hastings commented, saying “This maiden resource upgrade for the Adelong Goldfield Project is a clear sign of the exploration potential that the Company believes it can unlock. We are only scratching the surface and I look forward to quickly progressing further exploration activities.”

Krakatoa Resources commences diamond drilling at its Turon Project situated near Bathurst, NSW. The diamond drill program will test several exciting shallow gold targets situated within the Box Ridge and Quartz Ridge line of workings which strike over 2.4km and 1.6km respectively. The northern extension of the Quartz Ridge Mine where a shallow RAB drill program completed nearly 30 years ago identified several highly anomalous gold intercepts with results up to 10m @ 1.64g/t gold from the surface to end of hole. All holes were sampled throughout their developed length as a single composite sample of 10m and the anomalous results were never followed up. The program is expected to take approximately 4 weeks with assays to follow a further 3-4 weeks later.

Drilling has commenced at Smokebush Gold Project for Terrain Minerals, located approximately 65 kilometres west of Paynes Find within the Yalgoo mineral field of Western Australia. The maiden 1,000-meter RC drill program is now underway, the program may be enlarged subject to Terrain geologist’s ground interpretation and observations over the main target areas. Highlights that require work in historical sites include the Wildflower target which recorded 15m @ 1.4g/t Gold from 10m. The Smokebush project is considered by Terrain to be a high-quality gold exploration tenement package. Historic drilling is considered sparse and requires follow up exploration activities to further test their significant results.

Final permitting approvals for the Rover 1 drilling program to commence for Castile Resources, located approximately 80kms south west of West Arunta in the Northern Territory. Renewed Sacred Site Clearance Certificate has been received from the Central Land Council for the Rover 1 Gold Project tenements. Castile anticipates the drill rig will be mobilised to the Rover 1 site by Sunday 23 August 2020 and drilling operations will begin immediately after that.