Matt Birney

ASX-listed Calidus Resources has added one of the richest-grade gold mines in the Pilbara hinterland to its growing arsenal of projects after striking a deal with Canadian miner Novo Resources Corporation for the Blue Spec gold mine near Nullagine in WA. The deal will also see Calidus pick up the smaller Gold Spec mine to the south.

Classic Minerals is edging closer to cashflow after its mining license application for development of the near-surface Kat Gap gold project in WA cleared a major hurdle when Western Areas Ltd withdrew its objection to the application. Fresh from an over-subscribed $1.2 million placement earlier this week, Classic has clear air to move forward with planning to begin mining and gold production at Kat Gap next year.

ASX-listed Aurora Labs has taken receipt of major equipment to upgrade its flagship RMP-1 3D printer prototype, keeping the Perth-based industrial tech and innovation player on the path to commercialising the potentially game-changing printing device next year. The new equipment means a “fume extraction upgrade” on the prototype 3D printer can now go ahead as planned.

Comet Resources has wasted no time in kicking rocks at its Barraba copper project in the New England Fold Belt region of NSW after only recently securing exploration access to the historic mining area. It has just completed an initial field program around the old high-grade Murchison copper mine and the Gulf Creek North prospect consisting of geochemical soil sampling, rock chip sampling and geological mapping.

ASX-listed West Africa bauxite hopeful, Lindian Resources, has started the next significant phase of technical analysis at its Gaoual bauxite project in Guinea as it looks to tackle the relatively high content of the impurity silica in the high-grade conglomerate deposit. The Perth-based company has just sent its geological crew to the project site to carry out all-important screening tests on Gaoual’s aluminium oxide ore.

Aruma Resources has kicked off its gold hunt in WA, with drilling commencing at its Saltwater project in the Ashburton Basin, south-west of Newman. The company has locked in 5,000m of reverse circulation drilling to test key mineralised geological features on the western extremities of its “Saltwater Ring” target. Drilling is expected to be completed before Christmas, with results in early January 2021.

ASX-listed Kalgoorlie gold miner, Horizon Minerals, has cranked out further promising near-surface drill intersections from one of the four core satellite deposits supplementing its advancing Boorara gold project 10km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The company recently completed a round of resource extension drilling at the Crake deposit consisting of 10 holes totalling 804m to a depth of 132m, as part of its continuing 70,000m drilling blitz this financial year.

K2fly has wasted no time integrating with fellow software as a service provider, SATEVA, following the purchase of the mining software developer in late October. The company has hit the ground running, releasing a new software package named Model Manager to complement its own core offering, the RCubed mining resource and reserve reporting software.

Ongoing drilling at Estrella Resources T5 Zone, near the old Carr Boyd nickel mine north of Kalgoorlie, is providing something of a renaissance in a region where a short-lived nickel-copper mine operated early in the 1970s nickel boom. The company’s project area takes in the mothballed Carr Boyd Rocks nickel mine, which shut decades ago and has seen little serious exploration since that time.