Morning News Bites – August 27

Woolworths recorded boom sales, but the impact of COVID-19 and one off costs have added up, Independence Group record a 12.5% increase to revenue and Flight Centre recorded a $510m underlying loss before tax.

Drilling services provider Boart Longyear has announced revenue of US$309M down around US$79M this morning. Net cash flow from operating activities though was up US$10M to US$30M due to Net Working Capital initiatives. Jeff Olsen CEO said “Management implemented plans in March that would ensure the Company would be able to continue to support the mining industry when normal activity levels resumed. The actions taken, including significant pay reductions across the world, ensured the business would generate positive EBITDA and cash from operations and were vital in supporting the company with having the required liquidity to support a growing business through the second half of 2020.”

Diamond drilling is now underway at Galileo`s Fraser Range prospect in Western Australia. Three diamond drill holes with planned depths from 200 to 380 metres will be directed to test an EM conductor, a structural target, and the known disseminated sulphide mineralisation. Brad Underwood, Managing Director said this is an exciting opart of teh exploration process underway and will look forward to updating the market when results are known. He also said “This is our first diamond drilling program at our northern Fraser Range project. It is also the first diamond drilling program ever to be undertaken looking for nickel in our project area. As such, this greenfields project has great potential and is also very well located within the emerging new nickel province of the Fraser Range. We have approximately 500 metres of diamond drilling planned across three separate areas with each zone showing potential for sulphide mineralisation.”

Drilling at Capricorn’s Karlawinda Gold project – Supplied

Capricorn Metals has announced MACA limited are the preferred mining contractor for its Karlawinda Gold Project. The five year deal is worth around $400m with Preproduction mining activities to commence in the December 2020 quarter. Capricorn Executive Chairman Mike Clark said “The selection of a preferred mining contractor is the culmination of a competitive process that included a number of very competent Australian mining services providers. MACA was selected as the preferred contractor after submitting a compelling bid both in terms of price and execution. We look forward to partnering with MACA in the successful operation of the Karlawinda Gold Project.”

A maiden two hold diamond drill program for Talisman Mining`s Lucknow Gold Project has been completed. The program was targeting the interpreted high-grade lode offset position of the historical Lucknow gold mine. The second drill hole of the program delivered a zone of strong foliation and quartz veining from 297m to 303m downhole. According to Talisman the recent drilling, supported by a structural and geological interpretation, suggests that the ultramafic stratigraphy and prospective contact has been offset to the north-west by a sinistral fault – indicating a potential target to the north-west of recent drilling.

Results from Cardinia Hill RC drilling with Kin Mining have revealed the presence of two north-plunging shoots of higher-grade mineralisation within the main lode. Kin Mining Managing Director Andrew Munckton said the RC program had provided a good base for Kin “The follow-up phase of RC drilling at the northern end of Cardinia Hill has been successful in intersecting the northern shoot of mineralisation at depth, further improving our understanding of the geometry and scale of the deposit – and providing a solid foundation for planned resource drilling. The diamond drill core is also providing strong insight for our exploration team in terms of understanding the internal detail of the deposit.” he said.