Morning News Bites – July 7

Bushfires burn on the Gallipoli peninsula, Chance of COVID-19 restrictions to return to NSW and AfterPay posts a record quarter

St Barbara Mines has announced its June 2020 quarterly production report which has shown 108,612oz for the quarter and pushes St Barbara over the 100,000 oz mark in the quarter for the first time in two years. The Quarterly figure also brought 20FY figure of 381,887 oz. Signature mine Gwalia produced 171,156 oz for the 20FY with 51,297 ounces produced in the quarter.  Overall for the FY20, The company’s Atlantic Gold deposit produced above guidance. While Gwalia was within and Simberi was just outside of FY20 guidance.  Managing Director and CEO, Craig Jetson, said, “The June quarter performance highlights the extraordinary efforts of our people and business partners in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic. We continue to adhere to our COVID‐19 management plan to care for our people and our partners, safely maintain our operations and manage this ongoing risk. This quarter reflects our strong focus on Gwalia’s production profile, the positive impact of the Atlantic Gold operations and the opportunity that remains at Simberi.  We are working hard to deliver on our current assets as we review our business and operating model to ensure an exciting future for St Barbara.  2020 marks a new era in the evolution of St Barbara.”  Mr Jetson also indicated that the production (of over 100,000oz in the quarter) shows the potential for the company and also pointed out Gwalia achieved its highest mill throughput since 2014.

Guidance for 2020 was achieved for Alkane Resources Tomingley Gold Operations in New South Wales. The company earmarked FY2020 production guidance of between 30,000 oz to 35,000 oz with the production of 33,507 oz. Alkane Managing Director, Nic Earner, said: “The team at Tomingley Gold Operations continues to perform very well, consistently meeting or exceeding guidance. With an updated mine plan soon to be released and the great potential being shown very close to the mine, through our exploration at Roswell and San Antonio, we remain buoyant about the longer-term prospects at Tomingley. The Board and management acknowledge and thank the team at Tomingley for their strong and continued safety and production performance.” Alkane also had preliminary all in sustained costs of $1357/oz produced which was within the $1250 and $1400 guidance.

Global mining tech company IMDEX, has acquired AusSpec in a deal worth $8.5m which included $3m in cash and $5.5m in IMDEX shares. AusSpec ia a leading provider of spectral mineralogy through its unique aiSIRIS platform – Artificial Intelligence (AI) Spectral InfraRed Interpretation System. IMDEX CEO Paul House, said “AusSpec is a strong strategic fit for IMDEX that is consistent with IMDEX’s acquisition and development strategies. The acquisition provides a compelling opportunity to build on our total rock knowledge offering for clients – from the rig to the core farm and the mill. Every mine in the world makes decisions on the four components of rock knowledge – location, texture, grade and mineralogy. Our technology stack currently addresses three of these components and aiSIRIS satisfies the fourth – mineralogy.”

Aruma Resources has applied for a bigger footprint for its Saltwater Gold Project. The 463km2 Saltwater Project is on the same structure as Northern Star Resources’ Paulsens Gold Mine and the Mt Olympus Gold Mine in the region. Aruma has applied for a prospecting licence which covers an area of 96 sqkm. There are now priority targets for Aruma and that includes the Saltwater Anomaly, the Atlantis Anomaly and the Monster Anomaly. The Nanjilgardy fault which runs through the project has enhanced the prospectivity of the Saltwater Project alongside the previous mining activities.

Downer Group has been awarded a South Australian contract valued at an estimated $420 million over a maximum term of 13 years. The contract is with the South Australian Government Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) for its road maintenance contracts. Downer CEO Grant Fenn said “Downer has been maintaining South Australian roads since 2003, Currently, Downer is providing maintenance and emergency road services to DPTI, but under these new contracts Downer will also deliver a range of other services including maintenance of intelligent transport systems, management of third party works and minor capital improvements. Overall, Downer will deliver reliable road networks to ensure efficient and safe journeys and also provide opportunities for local service providers and suppliers.”

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