Matt Birney

Mining heavyweight, Mineral Resources, is now lurking purposefully at 19.9% on the Norwest Energy share register after the JV partners upped their theoretical chances of hitting paydirt at the Perth Basin, Lockyer Deep-1 onshore gas prospect in the Perth Basin from 29% to 38%. Mineral Resources, which already has an 80% interest in Lockyer Deep-1, will need to launch a takeover bid to secure any more significant lines of Norwest stock.

Image Resources has added another dimension to its zircon-rich Boonanarring mineral sands mine in WA after it significantly boosted the heavy minerals grade at the project, capping off an uber-successful year for the Perth miner. Recent work has seen the grade jump from 7.2% to 8.9% and the company also increased both the project’s zircon content from 22.7% to 27.5% and its in-situ zircon grade from 1.6% to 2.4%.

Horizon Minerals and mega gold miner, Northern Star Resources, have put the final ink on an agreement for a straight swap of mining and exploration tenements, which will strengthen Horizon’s gold project holdings near Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie in the WA Goldfields region. Horizon will secure three gold projects near Coolgardie and four projects near Kalgoorlie, including Golden Ridge which has produced over 253,000 ounces of gold.

Novo Resources is rapidly getting the full picture of its nuggety conglomerate Pilbara gold deposit after tabling some positive results that will assist the TSX-listed company to squeeze every last skerrick of gold from the ground. The company has identified new areas of gold-bearing terraces at the South Egina and Paradise targets and it is rapidly gaining an understanding of the nuggety gold distribution in the conglomerate-hosted ores.

ASX listed medical cannabis player, MGC Pharmaceuticals, will receive the first bulk shipment of its “CogniCann” product that will see the start of its phase IIb clinical trials to treat dementia and Alzheimer’s patients kick off. CogniCann is a GMP certified, pharmaceutical grade, medicinal cannabis product specifically developed for the treatment of dementia symptoms to improve specific cognitive functions.

Hot Chili is on fire at its Cortadera project in Chile, finishing off the year in style with a suite of impressive copper and gold hits for the second time in as many weeks. The Cupero 2 prospect has again delivered, with an 80m drill hit going 0.8% copper, 0.3g/t gold and 3.8g/t silver, right from surface. This includes 26m @ 1.7% copper and 0.7g/t gold from 54 metres depth.

Listed mining software company K2fly has been racking and stacking a solid slew of major mining companies into its client base, inking yet another long-term contract, this one with serious mining player, Westgold. Westgold’s new contract with K2fly holds an initial total contract value of over $580,000 with the two companies also looking to collaborate on future working enhancements to the existing software system.

As another old goldfield prepares to rise like a phoenix from the ashes, Terrain Minerals has hatched a plan to capture its value as the company elects to proceed with a farm-in agreement with a private vendor for the Smokebush gold project, an exploration play located about 65 kilometres west of Paynes Find in WA. Newly discovered historical numbers include 2 metres grading 11.3 grams per tonne gold from 70 metres downhole.

Green energy innovator, ClearVue Technologies, has consolidated its position in the global sustainable energy sector after securing a lucrative supply agreement with Treasure Engineering Limited in Hong Kong, The deal, which will significantly boost ClearVue’s hopes of full commercialisation of its unique solar window glass technology, will see Treasure Engineering exclusively distribute its product in Hong Kong and Macau.