Tag: Western Australia

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Morning News Bites – September 16

Morning News Bites for September 16. Australian Nurses Union study finds COVID-19 infections in Australia could be nearly 60,000 more than reported, heavy rain forecast for drought-stricken towns in central Australia and Technology Metals Australia announce a life-of-mine update for their Gabanintha Vanadium Project in WA. 

Technology Metals Australia Limited announced an update of the Gabanintha Vanadium Project located 40km south of Meekatharra in Western Australia, with the life of mine operating schedule extended to 22.5 years. The reserve estimate increased to 39Mt at 0.9% V2O5 – a 32% increase on the DFS Ore Reserve, and the Maiden Southern Tenement Probable Ore Reserve with an estimate of 9.4Mt at 0.97% V2O5 – a very high 98% conversion from the Indicated Mineral Resource estimate. Managing Director Ian Prentice commented, saying “The 22.5 year initial project life is expected to be viewed favourably by prospective Project financiers, strategic partners and key stakeholders.”

A large gold target has been identified just 20km from Hemi discovery at Kairos’ Kangan Project in the Pilbara. A large anomalous gold target has been identified, adjacent to major regional structures identified from new aeromagnetic and soil geochemistry data. This target is one of four gold targets identified at Kangan following a recent Ultrafine soil geochemistry program. Heritage surveys and 5,000m of air-core drilling are planned for October/November at Kangan. The Reverse Circulation (RC) rig has completed eight 8 holes for 1,424m at Fuego to date, intersecting broad zones of sulphides (pyrite) in conglomerates, sandstones and black shale.

Great Northern Minerals Limited announced the receipt of the initial four metre composite results from the Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling programme at their Big Rush Gold Project in Northern Queensland. The drilling at Big Rush totalled 22 RC holes for 3,634 metres spread over approximately 900 metres of strike underneath the southern, central and northern previously mined shallow open pits. Drill hole depths ranged from 110 to 250 metres depth and averaged 165 metres. First assays from the drill program have returned high grade results including, 24m @ 3.90 g/t Au including 8m @ 10.57 g/t Au from 140 metres and 32m @ 3.89 g/t Au including 4m @ 18.97 g/t Au from 76 metres.

Rumble Resources Ltd reported that three phases of target generation have been completed at the Munarra Gully Project. The target generation has delineated multiple high priority RC drill targets at the Amaryllis Au -Cu-Ag Prospect located on the Munarra Gully Project, located some 50km NNE of the town of Cue within the Murchison Goldfields of Western Australia. Rumble has now commenced an RC drill program to test the new geophysical (conductors and magnetic) targets that have potential for large-scale Au–Cu–Ag deposits. Previous high-grade gold drill intercepts include highlights of 5m @ 11.67 g/t Au from 161m and 2m @ 13.45 g/t Au from 92m.

A 5,500 metre aircore (AC) drilling program has been announced for Bryah Resources Limited at various prospects within the company’s Basin Project, located in central Western Australia. The aim of the AC drilling program is to complete testing the large soil geochemical anomaly located at Windalah East, and undertake first pass reconnaissance drilling, primarily for gold-copper, at the Wongawar, Fortnum East and Fiddlers East prospects. The program is expected to take 2-3 weeks to complete. Managing Director Neil Marston said, “This is the most substantial drilling program undertaken by the Company this year, these areas have been carefully identified by the company, with in-depth consideration given to encouraging geological information. The new target areas are all highly prospective for gold and copper.”

 

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Morning News Bites – September 15

Morning News Bites for September 15. Petrol to challenge $1 a litre again, Former Australian Prime Minister Keating proposes HECS-style system to cover the cost of aged care and a rocket is due to be launched in the outback of SA, to reach the edge of space. 

Significant gold, silver and base metal geochemical anomalies identified at Lewis Ponds for Godolphin Resources. Extended soil survey defines gold and silver geochemical anomalies over 1,300m strike length, with significant assay values of up to 6.2 g/t gold and 26.1 g/t silver-in-soil samples. The results highlight a number of high-potential areas for drilling that were previously untested for precious metals. The Lewis Ponds Mineral Resource is currently estimated to be 20.24Mt @ 1.5% Zn, 0.7% Pb, 0.1% Cu, 0.5g/t Au, 33.3g/t Ag and is classified as inferred and indicated in accordance with JORC (2012). A review of historical data will be undertaken to assess the economic potential of high-grade gold and silver shoots within the Mineral Resource.

Metalicity Limited has announced the return of the second batch of assays from the phase two drilling programme at the Kookynie Gold Project in Western Australia, approximately 60 kilometres S/SW of Leonora. The company has received assays for 23 drill holes of the expanded drilling programme, with some of the best intersections reported to date from drilling undertaken by Metalicity. Highlights include, 4 metres @ 26.91 g/t Au from 65 metres, inc. 1 metre @ 100.77 g/t Au from 67 metres. There are 38 drill holes remaining at the laboratory pending analysis, which is due in late September, with drilling scheduled to continue at an accelerated rate at the Kookynie Gold Project with plans to add a second to the programme shortly.

More wide intercepts at Mandilla East have been revealed as recent drilling points to a potential for large-scale mineralisation at Mandilla South for Anglo-Australian Resources. Drilling confirms continuity of mineralisation at Mandilla East, demonstrating the presence of wide, strongly mineralised zones that remain open at depth and along strike. Outstanding results received from a further eight diamond drill holes include highlights of,  81.4m @ 1.63g/t Au from 179.6m and 40.5m @ 1.91g/t Au from 274.5m plus 10.1m @ 1.39g/t Au from 130.6m plus 13.7m @ 1.00g/t Au from 250.7m. These significant results show that Mandilla South is a compelling exploration target with potential to match the scale of Mandilla East. The 10,600m Reverse Circulation drilling program now underway.

A 50 hole drilling program for 2,000m has commenced at the Canegrass and Holey Dam gold prospects for Kaili Resources at its Gindalbie Gold Project in the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia. With inter‐state border closures, restrictions faced by company personnel to travel to WA and lack of readily available drillers, the company has been fortunate in engaging an experienced Kalgoorlie-based field crew and drilling team to carry out the planned drilling albeit with some delays. The drilling program is managed by geological consultancy BMGS using Raglan Drilling.

Caravel Minerals Limited report that Reverse Circulation (RC) percussion drilling at Caravel Copper Project Ninan Prospect is almost complete and the programme will be extended to include additional holes at the Dasher Deposit. At Dasher, previous drilling has defined an Indicated and Inferred resource of 134.5Mt @ 0.34% Cu at a 0.25% Cu cut-off within an east-dipping, tabular mineralised zone. Initial assay results from the drilling in progress at the Ninan Prospect are expected in late-September.

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Morning News Bites – July 17

Bluescope is conducting a strategic review of its New Zealand Operations, FMG hits record high and Westpac has been served with class action.

Magmatic Resources has commenced drilling at Boda North. There is the mobilisation of a second rig and commencement of RC drilling activity at Boda North as RC drilling continues at Lady Ilse, with four holes completed. Drilling at Lady Ilse has been delayed due to wet conditions and some mechanical issues. There has been a replacement rig on site to increase production rates. While the maiden drilling program at Boda North will comprise of approximately six RC holes and is designed to assess the geochemical ‘fertility’ of the anomalies (gold + pathfinder elements) prior to potential deeper drill testing. Boda North is north of Cadia Valley in Central New South Wales.

National Tyres and Wheel limited has entered a conditional Agreement to acquire Tyres 4 U’s importing, wholesale and retailing business assets in Australia and New Zealand. This will create a prescence in the truck & bus, industrial and agricultural tyre segments where NTD currently has little or no presence. The synergy between the two entities commenced some years ago.  Tyres for U CEO Les de Celis said: “Some years ago, I met with Peter Ludemann and others from NTD to discuss the prospects of a merged T4U and NTD business. We were very enthusiastic back then about the benefits we could deliver to suppliers and customers with an abundance of complementary skills in our teams and no significant overlap of products or suppliers. Changes in the industry since then have only made the case for getting together more compelling and we are extremely excited to join forces with NTD”. While Peter Ludemann NTD CEO said “The purchase of T4U is testament to the power of belief and persistence. When we first met, we were struck by the fact that, despite each being tyre wholesalers for more than 25 years, we did not bump into each other in the marketplace. Different business models, different products and different routes to market made it immediately obvious that everyone could benefit from getting together, without disturbing our core businesses or values.” The aquistion makes NTD one of the largest tyre wholesalers in Australia and New Zealand.

Rio Tinto has released its second quarter results with iron ore and bauxite the stronger performers. Rio Tinto Chief Executive J-S Jacques said “We delivered a strong performance, particularly in iron ore and bauxite, demonstrating the underlying resilience of our business and ability to adapt in difficult conditions. Our iron ore assets are performing well in a strong pricing environment and we are on track to meet our 2020 iron ore guidance. Despite various COVID-19 related challenges, all our assets have continued to operate, with our first priority to protect the health and safety of all our employees and communities. “Our focus is to maintain a business as usual approach with many safeguards at a very unusual time. Our operational teams are continuing to run our assets safely so we can continue to contribute to local and national economies and serve our customers.” Mr Jacques also remained committed to the Rio Tinto relationships with local communities. “We remain even more committed to our relationship with communities, following the Juukan Gorge events in the Pilbara, and we are engaging extensively with Traditional Owners around our operations and across Australia.” He said. Rio Pilbara iron ore shipments of 86.7 million tonnes (100% basis) were 1% higher than the second quarter of 2019 despite the impact of COVID-19 related operational controls. This is a 3% increase for the same time 2019.

A desktop analysis by Torian Resources has uncovered a large area of interest at the Mt Monger – Wombola Gold  Projects, with significant discovery potential. Up to 50,000m of historical drilling results to be reviewed and reinterpreted.  Torian Chairman Mr Louie Simens said, “As previously announced we have had fresh eyes digging into the extensive datasets across TNR’s projects and early indications from desktop analysis have yielded significant indicators of potential for further discoveries at the Mt Monger – Wombola projects. We are embarking on a property-wide systematic exploration effort at the Mt Monger – Wombola Project which enfolds much of Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR) flagship Mt Monger Mine.” Torian’s Joint Venture partner Dampier have announced a major drilling  program at the jointly held Zuleika Gold Project with an aim of rapidly defining JORC compliant  resources.

The first milling campaign has commenced at Lakewood Mill with the first gold pour due next week for Horizon Minerals. According to Managing Director Jon Price “We are extremely pleased with progress at Boorara and now commencing the first milling campaign at Lakewood producing first gold next week and revenue shortly thereafter. Along with capitalising on the strong current gold price, the Stage One development of Boorara will provide mine to mill reconciliation outcomes to de-risk the larger scale development plan.” Total material movement to date of 357,000 BCM, 30% above plan with ore mined to date of 80,000t at a fully diluted grade of 1.5g/t Au, in line with reserve model estimates.

 

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Morning News Bites – July 14

Westpac have appointed a new Chief Financial Officer – Michael Rowland, joining Westpac from KPMG. New South Wales tightens some restrictions at licensed venues and former Channel 9 honcho David Gyngell suffers a heart attack.

  • Bardoc Gold has received broad high grade intercepts from drilling at Omega Lode. The highlights included 37m @ 6.21g/t Au from 90m including 13m @ 10.94g/t Au from 90m and were outside of the current Ore Reserves. These results show that the untested areas of the Aphrodite Deposit could deliver more mineralisation to the project. The lodes associated with Aphrodite includes Alpha, Phi, Epsilon, Sigma and the reported above, Omega. These intersects will result in further drilling with the impact set to be positive to the DFS. Follow up drilling will be sought and will be undertaken in coming months. According to Rob Ryan, CEO of Bardoc Gold “These breakthrough results clearly demonstrate the potential for significant Reserve growth at our cornerstone Aphrodite Deposit. Once again, a systematic and scientific approach to exploration has paid dividends with in-fill resource drilling delivering grades and widths well above expectation, further increasing our confidence in the geological models and identifying significant new areas of growth.” Mr Ryan also pointed out the recent cap raise attracted some interest from top level institutions “The recently completed capital raising has brought on board a number of Tier-1 Australian and Global Institutions who will support the company through the completion of the DFS and into production. We can now look forward with confidence and to begin early pre-production works in order to achieve our vision of becoming a mid-tier gold producer as expeditiously as possible.” he said.
  • Three new targets have been identified for Dreadnought Resources adjacent to its Metzke Find corridor north west of Menzies in Western Australia. The targets identified include Longmore’s Find: ~2.6km long gold in soil anomaly with historic workings and rock chips up to 18 g/t Au; Black Oak: 2km long gold in soil anomaly with peak gold in soil value of 0.25 g/t Au and Bald Hill: 1km long gold in soil anomaly with rock chips to 2 g/t Au, 5 g/t Ag and 2.6% Cu. Dreadnought Managing Director Dean Tuck said “These results are in or adjacent to the Metzke’s corridor, location of our recently successful drilling program. The Metzke’s corridor is 12km long and remains a vastly underexplored as does the whole Illaara Greenstone Belt. We are awaiting results from two further holes at Metzke’s Find in order to finalise our immediate drilling plans along this corridor.”
  • A joint venture at Frasers Range between Constellation Resources and Enterprise Metals has delivered anomalous nickel, copper and cobalt. Results included 21m @ 0.21% Ni, 0.08% Cu and 0.03% Co from 93m to BOH and includes: 4m @ 0.26% Ni, 0.13% Cu and 0.05% Co from 93m; and 4m @ 0.31% Ni, 0.08% Cu and 0.02% Co from 109m. The drilling at Orpheus Project has instigated further opportunities for systematically progressing all targets.
  • Recent drilling results for Bryah Resources at its Windalah Prospect has shown visible gold. A recent drill result of 12 m @ 4.32 g/t Au from surface, including 2 m @ 17.19g/t Au contained visible gold. An RC drilling update has also been given and Bryah has announced it is over half way through its current program which is targeting the high priority Windalah Prospect and a significant electromagnetic (EM) conductor target located 7km north of the Peak Hill Gold Mine and 65km west of Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa Mine. The first samples are due for assay in Perth this week.
  • Whitehaven Coal has recorded its best ever safety result with a total recordable injury frequency rate of 4.13, while also having achieved run of mine coal and managed sales guidance.The June quarter, Whitehaven Coal managed ROM coal production of 8.2Mt, up 17% and managed saleable coal production of 6.2Mt, up 29% on previous corresponding period and a strong June quarter managed sales of produced coal 5.3Mt, up 13% on previous corresponding period. MD and CEO Paul Flynn said the result is a credit to the team and the company is now focused on optimisation “Despite drought, bushfires and COVID-19 it was great to finish the year so strongly and achieve our ROM and managed sales guidance.We recorded our best ever safety result – 4.13 TRIFR – which is a credit to the team and the strong safety culture we are building across all sites. “Our Vickery Project is now in the final stages of the NSW Government’s evaluation process and we expect a decision within weeks. “Against an uncertain global economic backdrop Whitehaven is focused on optimising existing operations and observing disciplined capital management”
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Morning News Bites – July 10

China is not happy with the Australian Government’s offer to assist Hong Kong citizens with a pathway to residency. A Victorian won $80 million in Powerball Lotto, pretty ironic as they cant go anywhere to spend it and Spot Gold is at $1803US/oz Iron Ore – $107.05US/t and Nickel ended down on Wall Street trade at $5.9914us/lb.

  • Legend Mining has released its quarterly to the market this morning with the first phase of diamond drilling completed at its Mawson project bringing in a highlight grade of  4.5m @ 3.05% Ni, 2.32% Cu, 0.19% Co from 103.7m and a best intercept to date – 19.8m @ 2.71% Ni, 1.79% Cu, 0.13% Co from 227.8m. A 3000m RC program is underway and is expected to be completed in 4 – 6 weeks at Mawson on targets identified in the upper Ni-Cu sulphide zone between diamond holes RKDD007 and RKDD015, the main gravity high and the eastern aircore Ni-Cu-Co geochemical anomaly. Legend also raised $20M via placement to existing major shareholders, institutional and sophisticated investors. Legend also updated its Top 20 shareholders list and after the recent placement shows the top 2 share holders being Creasy Group have a 26.66% share and IGO (Independence Group) 14.12% share. Also during the quarter Legend was added to All Ordinaries Index and nominated for Mining News “Explorer of the Year” award.
  • Exploration work at Silver Lake Resources Deflector mine is resulting in mineral resource and ore reserve growth. Ore Reserves increased to 447,000 ounces and 7,000 tonnes copper, an increase of 30% or 102% after FY20 mine depletion and ore grade increasing 15% to 6.3 g/t. While Mineral Resources increased 54% to 1.27 million ounces (80% post FY20 mine depletion) and Resource grade has increased 18% to 13.5 g/t. Since Silver Lake’s acquisition of Doray Minerals Limited in April 2019, Deflector’s Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources have grown significantly in scale and quality, with Ore Reserves now at their highest in Deflector’s history.
  • Follow up drilling has commenced for Ardea Resources at the Aphrodite North gold target within the Bardoc Tectonic Zone. Assay results from resampling at 1 metre intervals has included 43-44m 1m at 2.46g/t Au 120-127m 7m at 2.48g/t Au.  According to Managing Director Andrew Penkethman the history of the area and some encouraging startpoints is proving significant. “ The land holding was originally acquired by Ardea for nickel-cobalt laterite, which occurs on major crustal structures on a specific ultramafic rock unit termed the Walter Williams Formation. Those same structures host some 100Moz of gold to the south along structure from the GNCP (Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project). Ardea thus controls a significant “greenfields” gold portfolio in which systematic gold drill evaluation is just commencing. Although AGSA0013 with 7m at 2.48g/t gold is an encouraging start, far more significant in the Aphrodite North aircore program was the confirmation of dolerite host rock, diorite and intensity of alteration over a 2.4km strike length and width up to 320m, all totally hidden beneath transported lake clay cover”. He said.
  • Further extensions have been confirmed at Brolga for De Grey mining in the Pilbara of Western Australia. Highlights have included 26.9m @ 1.5g/t, 19m @ 2.7g/tAu – with 3m @ 14.7g/t Au from 203mAu and 16m @ 1.2g/t Au. De Grey Technical Director, Andy Beckwith, said “The potential for Brolga to expand continues to grow with an 80m x 80m RC program currently underway at Brolga (South) and Crow. At Crow, the initial program of 160m x 80m spaced RC drilling has recently been completed with results expected in the coming weeks. Diamond drilling is currently focused on depth extensions beneath Aquila. The Company’s next twelve month drilling strategy involves expanding resources at Hemi, initially on 80m x 80m drill spacing to define “Inferred Resources” and then infill drilling to define “Indicated Resources”, aircore drilling for new discoveries along the Greater Hemi corridor and testing the many structural and new intrusion targets elsewhere within the 150km long Mallina Gold Project.” Mr Beckwith also confirmed 6 rigs are on site (2 AC, 2 DD 2 RC) operating at Hemi and advancing at Scooby and Antwerp prospect areas.
  • Bryah Resources has a 2,000 metre RC drilling program currently underway in the Bryah Basin Gold Copper project after recent RC drilling May delivered a best result of 3 metres @ 4.32 g/t Au from surface. At Bryahs Joint Venture Manganese project (which it hold 80%) Potential direct shipping grade (>30% Mn) manganese was intersected after a recent RC program and follow up drilling will commence in the September quarter. While at the Gabanintha Gold-Copper Project, the progression of a lease application for Tumblegum South Mining Lease is underway and there are negotiations to monetise the Tumblegum South Prospect on-going. Managing Director Neil Marston said”  During the quarter Bryah Resources has been working up its manganese assets, funded by our joint venture partner, OM (Manganese) Limited. A 1,680 metre RC drilling program yielded some very encouraging high-grade manganese results and the intention in the next quarter is to continue drilling to extend these zones of high-grade manganese and to test new target areas. Bryah completed a short gold drilling program at the end of our manganese drilling in May, with 3 holes drilled to test for the near surface extensions of high-grade gold intersected in 2018 drilling. One of the holes hitting a 12-metre zone of gold grading 4.32 grams/tonne from surface, including 2 metres at 17.19 g/t Au, which Bryah considers an excellent result.” Mr Marston also said the strongly supported share placement will be used to fund a drill program at the Windalah prospect. “Our plan for the next 6 months is to use these funds to undertake a rolling program of drilling to test the high priority Windalah prospect as well as numerous other gold target areas. Drilling is underway on a 2,000 metre program, so we look forward to reporting the first assay results in August.” he said.
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Morning News Bites – July 8

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

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

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

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

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

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