Public Company News

Meeka Metals made a solid transition from developer to gold producer in the September quarter, producing 7148 ounces of gold for an extraordinary $2133 an ounce AISC at its Murchison gold project in WA. The company says its quickly ramped-up operations generated notional free cash for the quarter of $12.5m when considering gold that was produced but not sold by the end of the quarter.

Ora Banda Mining has drilled into fresh high-grade gold at its Little Gem and Riverina Deeps discoveries in Western Australia's Goldfield region, with thick high-grade hits like 25.6m at 4.3 grams per tonne gold. The results stretch the near-mine mineralisation both along strike and at depth at the prospects. They will eventually tie into the company's flagship Riverina mining camp and extend its overall project life.

St George Mining has extended the boundaries of its world-class Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil after a second diamond hole returned 87.7m at 2.95 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 0.41 per cent niobium oxide from just 2m depth. The result confirms strong continuity of mineralisation west of the current 40 million tonne resource grading 4.13 per cent TREO.

Augustus Minerals has applied for an exploration licence at the historic Mt Kare goldfield in Papua New Guinea, adjacent to the 32-million-ounce Porgera deposit. The application, if granted could be a game changer for the $10m market capped company and Augustus appears to have ticked all the boxes in its drive to land the 2m ounce Mt Kare.

Corazon Mining has picked up multiple high-priority gold drill targets at its Feather Cap project in WA's Gascoyne region after a review of historical data revealed some stellar previous gold hits like 20m at 3.01g/t from 40m and 7m at 6.21g/t from 6m. The 154 square kilometre project, next to Westgold's 2.4Mt Durack gold resource, shows significant potential, with a maiden drill program being planned to test three key target areas.

Ora Banda Mining has delivered a cracking September quarter, smashing records and adding $38.5 million in cash to its mounting $122.7 million money pile. The company also dropped all-in sustaining costs for its gold by 20 per cent to just $2872 as ounce capped off a successful quarter.

Dateline Resources MD Stephen Baghdadi has pumped another $277,000 into Dateline, bringing his total personal investment in the company just since June to $1.35m, boosting his stake to 12 per cent of the $1.3b company. Dateline's Colosseum project in the USA has driven a market frenzy this year, with punters liking both its gold endowment and its potential for rare earths.

Larvotto Resources has unveiled a batch of cracking results from its first diamond holes at the company's Blacklode prospect in New South Wales, returning thick zones of gold and antimony almost at surface. The standout hit of 15 metres at 5.24 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 42 metres, including 4.2 metres at 14.46g/t, puts Hillgrove squarely on the radar for serious expansion.

Pilot Energy has scored a key environmental approval to conduct a 3D seismic survey in the offshore Perth Basin, targeting its Kingia gas play fairway and the massive potentially 1.1 trillion cubic feet (TCF) Leander gas prospect. The approval allows for a Eureka 3D seismic survey to cover a minimum 400 square kilometres area across its expansive WA-481-P exploration licence area.

Larvotto Resources story from the $3m purchase of its Hillgrove gold and antimony project in NSW 2 years ago to the $720m takeover bid it just received from US industrial metals player UCAC is remarkable however you look at it. The question now is does the company go the whole nine yards, get into production, stretch the mine life and reap the dividends or just submit and hand execution risk over to the 800 pound gorilla.

Horizon Minerals has pumped-up both its cash flow and bank balance from the company's September quarter activities, finishing the period with an enviable $34.3 million in its coffers on September 30. The company generated gold sales of $41.895 million during the quarter, with the bulk of the revenue coming from its Boorara operations.

Great Southern Mining has secured up to $337,500 in exploration funding under the WA Government's coveted Exploration Incentive Scheme to back two high-impact drilling campaigns. The cash injection will help the company chase depth extensions to its high-grade Duketon gold system and test platinum group element horizons at the East Laverton project's Diorite Hill complex.