Public Company News

Eclipse Metals has launched the second stage of drilling at its high-grade Amamoor manganese project in Queensland with a diamond drill rig returning to the area near Gympie to chase geophysical anomalies linked to the known historical mine workings. Eclipse will test the width, depth and grade quality of mineralisation intersected in its stage one drill program, adjacent to historical workings.

ASX-listed emerging gold producer, Wiluna Mining, is on the verge of delivering a global mineral resource upgrade for its historic Wiluna project in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields, as further high-grade gold hits continue to underpin its low-CAPEX pathway towards gold production expansion later next year.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia has maintained exposure to gold and base metals through joint ventures it has recently struck over various projects in WA while at the same time retaining the rights to 100 per cent of the landholdings’ lithium mineralisation. The company has farmed out the mineral rights to JV partner Okapi Resources in an agreement that will see exploration resume at the Lake Johnston and Medcalf projects about 120km west of Norseman.

Calidus Resources continues to gain momentum in its run up to gold production in the Pilbara, securing ownership of a further 219,000-ounces of high-grade gold resources from the Blue Spec mine north of Nullagine in WA just 70km south east of the company’s developing Warrawoona gold project. Blue Spec’s in-ground resource comes at a stunning grade of 16.3 g/t gold.

ASX-listed lithium developer, AVZ Minerals, has agreed to buy out its junior partner’s 10 per cent stake in the massive Manono lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for $15.5 million. AVZ will now move to 75 per cent ownership of the project and it is currently advancing discussions with potential debt providers and offtake partners for the proposed US$545 million project development.

ASX-listed PharmAust plans to start a phase one clinical trial of its cancer fighting drug, Monepantel, next year to see if it can help patients suffering from Motor Neurone Disease. The clinical-stage oncology company was recently awarded a grant of $881,085 from FightMND that will be used to conduct the trials. Melbourne-based FightMND was co-founded by former AFL player and coach, Neale Daniher, and is the largest independent funder of MND research in Australia.

South American focused gold miner, Troy Resources, has crunched the numbers to upgrade the mineral resource estimate at its Karouni gold project in Guyana to a healthy 1,007, 000 ounces from 16 million tonnes grading 2.0 g/t gold. Troy is also on track to produce up to 40,000 ounces this financial year at an all-in-sustaining-cost of between US$1,450 and US$1,550 an ounce.

Great Southern Mining has extended the strike length at its Cox’s Find gold project near Laverton in WA by 1km to the north. The best result from the recent RC drilling at two key target areas returned 8m at 1.1 g/t gold from 91m, including 2m at 3.2 g/t gold. Other notable hits were 6m at 1.0 g/t gold from 114m and 13m at 0.7 g/t gold from a relatively shallow 34m.

Lithium Australia’s joint venture partner at the Wundowie project, Australian Vanadium, has launched into a detailed study of the historical exploration dataset, highlighting the potential of the tenure to host significant nickel, copper and platinum group mineralisation. The companies are now planning an extensive program of geophysical and geochemical surveying across the collaborative tenement positions.

ASX-listed gold explorer, Venus Metals, has teased out some encouraging deeper gold hits from drilling at the Sovereign discovery at its joint-ventured historic Youanmi gold project in WA’s Murchison region. The most notable intersection was 8m going 5.03 grams per tonne gold from 160m including 2m at 15.83 g/t from 160m and 3m at 2.86 g/t from 165m.

Cobre Ltd has nailed its preliminary metallurgical test work for the Perrinvale VHMS project in Western Australia. One 90kg bulk sample from the Schwabe prospect has undergone initial testing and produced impressive head grades of 3.6 per cent copper, 1.6 per cent zinc, 1.1 g/t gold and 13.1 g/t silver from a standard suite of copper and zinc sulphides. Test work will now proceed to the development of a potential processing route for the project.

Unlisted Gawler Craton gold explorer, Barton Gold, has further strengthened its board of directors with the appointment of experienced corporate lawyer, Christian Paech, as it looks to significantly expand the global resource inventory at its historic Tarcoola and Tunkillia gold projects ahead of a planned ASX listing. Paech was most recently the General Counsel and Company Secretary at oil and gas giant Santos.