Morning News Bites – October 20

Significant Assays at Bardoc’s Zoroastrian Site

Bardoc Gold Limited (BDC) has reported significant new assay results from recent exploration and in-fill drilling at the cornerstone 526koz Zoroastrian Deposit, part of its 100%- owned 3.03Moz Bardoc Gold Project, located 40km north of Kalgoorlie in WA.

New drilling results from the northern end of the Zoroastrian Deposit have extended the mineralisation further to the north outside of the current Mineral Resource model and have provided the impetus to expedite a diamond core rig to site to further evaluate this emerging area.

The drilling has identified a significant zone with a standout intercept of 89m @ 1.43g/t Au from 192m, which is interpreted as the development of multiple footwall lodes within the Royal Mint Lode.

This intersection is the broadest zone of mineralisation recorded at Zoroastrian and highlights that the cornerstone deposit still has areas that can yield significant widths of strong gold mineralisation, providing considerable upside for future mining and exploration activities.

Bardoc Gold’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Robert Ryan, said the standout intercept of 89 metres at 1.43g/t, including several higher-grade zones, is the widest seen at Zoroastrian to date and one of the better exploration results to be generated across the Bardoc Gold Project.  He said, “Importantly, our recent drilling has shown that the northern end of the deposit is shaping up as an important growth opportunity for the Company. We are seeing broad widths of mineralisation rarely seen at Zoroastrian, with the recent results clearly demonstrating that there is significant potential to extend the Mineral Resource well beyond the current 526koz.

BHP Releases Quarterly Report

BHP (BHP) announced in their September 2020 quarter, Atlantis Phase 3 achieved first production ahead of schedule and on budget. Given this, the progress of Atlantis Phase 3 will not be reported in future Operational Reviews.

The Jansen Stage 1 project in Canada is expected to be presented to the BHP Board for Final Investment Decision in the middle of the 2021 calendar year. As a consequence of the challenges encountered earlier with placement of the shaft lining and then the more recent impacts from our COVID-19 response plan, the Board has approved additional funding of US$272 million for the completion of the shafts, resulting in a total budget of US$3.0 billion (previously US$2.7 billion).

Jansen Stage 1 remains well positioned with attractive medium to longer-term commodity fundamentals, and is set to be a high-margin, low-cost, long-life asset, with multiple, basin-wide, expansion opportunities. As always, we will be disciplined about our entry into the market and it must pass our strict Capital Allocation Framework tests.

At the end of the September 2020 quarter, BHP had five major projects under development in petroleum, copper, iron ore and potash, with a combined budget of US$10.9 billion over the life of the projects.

BHP Chief Executive Officer, Mike Henry:  “BHP has started the new financial year with a strong first quarter of safety and production performance. Group production rose two per cent from a year ago driven by solid results in metallurgical coal and iron ore, our major growth projects made good progress, and we secured more options in copper, nickel and oil.”

Vango Release Significant High-Grade Intersections at Marymia Gold Project.

Vango Mining (VAN) has released new, high-grade, drilling results. The new lode intersections both confirm and extend the recent K1 lode discovery, in the PHB Corridor, to potentially over one kilometre, open at depth.

The results are from the final eight of 11 broad spaced reverse circulation holes at K1, part of the current 36,000m drilling program on the Marymia Project, and are in addition to the previously reported 6m @ 8.66 g/t Au, incl 2m @ 23.8 g/t Au from 128m, that lies 500m to the southwest along strike within the targeted Mine Mafic unit.

Managing Director, Mr Andrew Stocks, commented: “These results are highly significant as they validate our approach to targeting mineralised structures where they intersect the highly prospective Mine-Mafic unit at what is still a relatively shallow depth. These results give us confidence that we will continue to expand our open pit and high-grade underground resource base at the Marymia Project.

Vango Mining is an exploration mining company with ambitions of becoming a high-grade WA gold miner by developing the 100% owned Marymia Gold Project (Marymia) located in the mid-west region of Western Australia, consisting of 45 granted mining leases over 300km2.  Marymia has an established high-grade resource of 1Moz @ 3 g/t Au, underpinned by Trident – 410koz @ 8 g/t Au3, with immediate extensions open at depth/along strike.

Estrella Shares Up ~50% on Release of Survey Result.

Estrella Resources Limited (ESR) released an update to the market with results of the highly anticipated Down-Hole Transient Electro-Magnetic (DHTEM) survey of diamond core hole CBDD030 which intersected significant massive Ni-Cu (and PGE) bearing sulphides deep below the T5 discovery zone at the Company’s flagship Carr Boyd Project. The T5 Prospect is located 1.1km NE of the historic Carr Boyd nickel mine and was identified in 2019 following successful RC drilling of a HP FLTEM anomaly.

Chris Daws, CEO stated “This has been an astonishing result for the Company and its shareholders who have all been rewarded through patience, persistence and belief. The results of the DHTEM now support the mineralised sulphides seen in the drill core, which is currently in the laboratories being cut, sampled and priority assayed. It is open in all directions and will be chased by immediate further drilling.

“The core was only recovered from the field by the Company’s consulting geologist Neil Hutchison last weekend and showcased the next day at the Diggers and Dealers conference. The results of the DHTEM have put to rest any of my concerns about scale and we are now eagerly awaiting the assay results to get a clear understanding of the potential of this discovery.

“Planning and scheduling of the next round of holes to further test this zone is well underway, as we await the completion of hole CBDD031 which is the final hole of the Stage 1 drill program. It is being drilled 600m north of the discovery hole into a blind basal contact position in the same manner as CBDD030 and will provide critical geological and geophysical data to assist in unlocking and understanding the potential of the T5 Prospect discovery zone”

Venturex Resources Gets Exploration Back on Track

After experiencing an unavoidable delay to exploration drilling Venturex Resources (VXR) has advised that the contactor is now on site and first hole will commence on the 21st October 2020.

The Sulphur Springs Project is located south-east of Port Hedland and includes the proposed Sulphur Springs and Kangaroo Caves mines, together with tenements covering ~27km of the Panorama trend that contains numerous advanced VMS-style exploration targets. The Sulphur Springs Project hosts a total Mineral Resource (Sulphur Springs + Kangaroo Caves) comprising 17.4 million tonnes grading 1.3% copper, 4.2% zinc and 17g/t silver.

The planned program is designed to follow-up on the exceptional results generated from 2019 drilling at the advanced Breakers Prospect as well as to test the Heli-borne Electromagnetic target XA8, where previous drilling intersected anomalous Ni-Cr mineralisation.

The program will commence at the XA8 prospect with two drill holes planned to test the down- plunge and along-strike continuation of a DHEM target and associated Ni-Cr mineralisation previously intersected at the XA8 Prospect.

Following XA8 they will target the Breakers prospect where four drill holes are designed to follow-up the along-strike and down-plunge continuation of massive sulphide mineralisation intersected at the Breakers Main Gossan, including the thick, high-grade intersection within (18m @ 7.75% Zn).

An additional two drill-holes will also be completed to follow-up zinc-rich mineralisation intersected in BKR007 (8m @ 3.37% Zn) at the Breakers North target, located approximately 1.1km NNE of the Breakers Main anomaly.

Morning News Bites – September 17

Morning News Bites for September 17. The ASX has opened weaker as Fortescue, Commonwealth Bank and Afterpay weigh on the index, Victoria reports lowest COVID-19 cases in 2 months as NSW eases border restrictions for regional communities. 

Mincor’s Board approves development of the Kambalda Nickel Operations. The announcement of a Final Investment Decision for the planned re-commencement of nickel mining at Kambalda by Mincor is supported by a Credit Approved Terms Sheet which has been agreed with two Tier-1 international banks to provide a secured $55 million project finance facility. The facility, together with the Company’s existing cash reserves of more than $100 million, will allow Mincor to efficiently execute the delivery of its nickel restart plan in line with the Definitive Feasibility Study announced in March 2020. Pit N Portal has 60 calendar days to plan and mobilise for commencement of the contract. There are already several Pit N Portal personnel on site following the commencement of an early works program. Mincor’s Managing Director, David Southam commented, saying “It is a great honour to be announcing a Final Investment Decision which heralds Mincor’s return to nickel mining in Kambalda after a hiatus of some four years. “We are now on the cusp of realising our vision to resume profitable and sustainable nickel sulphide mining in the Kambalda district, and to do so in an environmentally responsible and ethical manner that will see this great nickel province return to the forefront of Class-1 nickel production globally.”

Macarthur Minerals Limited informed shareholders that Fe Limited has elected not to earn-in on a 25% Stage 1 Interest in Macarthur Lithium Pty Ltd’s gold and lithium tenements in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, pursuant to the Option Agreement executed between the parties in 2019. Following FEL’s decision, the parties have finalised arrangements for the orderly close-out of the joint venture, with effect from 15 September 2020. Cameron McCall, President and Executive Chairman of Macarthur Minerals commented, saying “Macarthur and FEL have enjoyed working with Fe Limited over the last 12 months. Macarthur continues to retain 26,666,667 shares in FEL and the Company wishes FEL well.”

Torian Resources Limited provided an update on its planned drilling program at the Mt Stirling Gold Project. A review of this area has recently been undertaken resulting in a number of historical gold-in-soil anomalies being uncovered. Up to 15,000m drill campaign to commence in the coming days with new Diorite East Prospect on Diorite Block the initial target. Subsequently, Mt Stirling Block drilling to recommence to test the depth and strike of existing Inferred Resource at Mt Stirling (33,900oz @ 1.45 g/t Au) & define extensions to Mt Stirling Well (16,000oz @ 2.01g/t Au). Phase 1 drilling has demonstrated Mt Stirling Project as a potentially large gold system with ore grade Au now intercepted over 100m below previous drilling and
extends over 1,000m strike length. This will be followed by drilling on the Mt Stirling Block and the main section of the Diorite Block where excellent high-grade gold results have been returned from soils and rock chip samples.

Hastings Technology Metals Limited, announced the first set of results from the 2020 Exploration Drilling Program, concentrated in the Fraser’s area. High-grade and shallow intersections from Yangibana’s highest grade deposit extensional drilling and have confirmed the company’s conceptual modelling for a large coherent zone extending from Fraser’s in the south to Bald Hill in the north, a distance of 7-8 kilometres, with efforts to rapidly expand and define mineralisation in the newly interpreted and discovered mineralised zones. High-grade and shallow intersections from extensional drilling included, 4m @ 1.31% from 4m, 4m @ 1.24% from 11m and 5m @ 1.28% from 52m.

New Ni-CuCo targets have been defined and validated at the Carr Boyd Nickel Project for Estrella Resources Limited. A geophysical survey is scheduled to commence in the coming weeks over the newly identified target areas. Carr Boyd was the first magmatic hosted style of nickel deposit discovered and mined in WA. It was discovered an the late 1960’s and produced 202, 110t of ore at an average grade of 1.43% Ni and 0.46% Cu between 1973-1977. Drill testing is set to commence once the geophysical survey is completed and targets defined.

Morning News Bites – September 10

Today is R U OK? Day. It’s our national day of action when we remind Australians that every day is the day to ask, “Are you OK?” if someone in your world is struggling with life’s ups and downs. Here is a link to a full list of resources that could help anyone who is in need of support:

https://www.ruok.org.au/every-day-resources

Mid‐tier gold producer and exploration company Gold Road Resources Limited reports on its exploration results and the ongoing strategy to make a meaningful gold discovery that supports a standalone operation. The first eight months of 2020 has seen positive progress with a number of high quality targets emerging. Gold Road’s strategy is to discover a significant gold deposit to support a standalone operation.  2020 drilling to date totals 77,264 metres of aircore, 11,575 metres of RC and 6,985 metres of diamond drilling. Exploration activity has advanced several high-quality targets through our Project Pipeline in the Southern Project Area including Kingston, with the first diamond hole drilled on the prospect intersected 1 metre at 10.39 g/t Au from 181.1 metres associated with high-grade quartz veining in the hanging wall of a highly favourable structural contact.

Estrella Resources Ltd is pleased to provide shareholders with an update on the sale of the Munda Gold Project at Widgiemooltha to Widgie Gold Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Auric Mining Limited, as announced on 13 July 2020. The parties have now executed a formal tenement sale agreement. As part of signing the TSA, the Company and Auric have agreed to increase the upfront purchase consideration to $1,237,000 cash (ex GST) (previously $1,090,000 (ex GST)) to reflect added value since executing the Offer Letter because of the termination of an existing third-party royalty at the Munda Gold Project.

Zenith Minerals report that it has secured a new gold project, Jackadgery in New South Wales. The project with a “walk-up” drill target is highly complementary to the company’s existing gold exploration project portfolio. As previously advised, recent strong investor support in the July capital raising has allowed Zenith to accelerate its planned exploration activities including multiple drill programs over the coming months at its Red Mountain gold and Split Rocks gold projects, located in Queensland and Western Australia respectively. The Company continues to have an active project generation program to ensure it has a fertile pipeline of new gold and copper project opportunities. CEO Comments Commenting on the new project, Zenith Managing Director, Mick Clifford said, “Adding another advanced gold play to the project portfolio is a testament to the Company’s project generation skills, providing investors with further firstrate gold exploration exposure in a region with proven gold endowment”.

Havieron mineralisation extended for Newcrest, with expansion of the northern breccia which includes higher grade sulphide zones. Initial inferred resource for Havieron planned for delivery in the December 2020 quarter. Red Chris drill results confirms the presence of multiple discrete high grade pods in the East Zone reporting 394m @ 1.6 g/t Au & 0.86% Cu from 650m including 166m @ 3.0 g/t Au & 1.5% Cu from 806m. Newcrest Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sandeep Biswas, said “Havieron has continued to expand its mineralisation with further high grade intercepts including 1m @ 100 g/t gold. Drilling results at Red Chris have returned 166m @ 3.0 g/t gold and 1.5% copper, which is significantly higher than we would expect to find in porphyry systems. Red Chris’ results also confirm the presence of multiple discrete high grade pods of mineralisation within the East Zone. We remain on track to commence declines at both projects by the end of this year or early next calendar year which will enable us to accelerate definition and development of these exciting growth options.”

Drilling to commence at Comet Gold Project to follow up high grade historical results for Accelerate Resources near Cue, Western Australia. A reverse circulation (RC) drilling program to commence next week will target high priority mineralised gold trends at the company’s Antarctica and Comet East prospects. The program will consist of approximately 1,200m of drilling to further investigate and extend shallow, high-grade, oxide gold intersections in historical reconnaissance RAB and RC drilling. Drilling to target high grade BIF-hosted gold deposits across several prospective gold trends identified from historical drilling. Past RC and RAB drill results across several targets include highlights of 4m at 7.08 g/t gold from 27m, 3m at 4.53 g/t gold from 60m, 0.4 g/t gold from 27m (ending in mineralisation) and 3m at 2.02 g/t gold from 10m. Cue District is the focus of renewed interest following recent high grade discoveries at Musgrave Resources’ nearby Break of Day (Starlight).