Morning News Bites – September 9

In Today’s Morning News Bites for September 9. BHP conforms to hard borders and aims to hire from WA only and Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial on hold over ‘potentially unexplained illness’. 

Western Australian nickel company St George Mining Limited is pleased to announce further strong drill results at its flagship Mt Alexander Project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields. Multiple intersections of mineralised mafic-ultramafic units across a 4km-long east-west strike of the Cathedrals Belt with a target horizon open to the east and west. Outstanding potential for the discovery of further nickel-copper sulphide deposits along strike to the east and west of these drill holes as well as up-dip and down-dip of the mineralised intercepts.

Lithium Australia announces its Share Purchase Plan, which launched on 12 August 2020, closed on 7 September 2020 with applications for $4.5 million. Managing Director Adrian Griffin commented, saying “We are very pleased that our shareholders backed the Company’s vision of sustainability in the energy metals space. The additional funds raised will allow all debt to be retired, improving the Company’s balance sheet and accelerating the expansion of Envirostream, our battery recycling subsidiary.”

Mincor Resources NL report highgrade massive and matrix nickel sulphide mineralisation at its Cassini North prospect, located 700m to the north of its cornerstone Cassini Main deposit at Kambalda, Western Australia. This is the first diamond hole drilled at Cassini North following a recent reassessment and geological re-modelling of the area completed by Mincor’s exploration team. MDD350 returned a significant intercept of 2.5m @ 6.6% Ni (including a higher-grade core of 2.0m @ 7.7% Ni), comprising a mix of high tenor massive and matrix nickel sulphides. Mincor’s Managing Director David Southam said, “This is a really exciting development which stems directly from the systematic approach which the geology team has adopted to nickel sulphide exploration.”

The Hamilton Copper Project in north-west Queensland has been successfully completed with a total of seven holes for 2,098m drilled under AusQuest Limited Strategic Alliance Agreement with South32. The drilling program has provided an approximate 500m spatial coverage around earlier drillholes, which provided strong indications of alteration
and the potential for nearby copper mineralisation. Managing Director, Graeme Drew, said the successful completion of the Hamilton drilling program was pleasing, particularly given that travel restrictions are still in
place due to COVID-19. “We are now eagerly awaiting assay results so we can identify potential ‘vectors to ore’, given that the holes were drilled so far apart to cover the large scale of the prospect,” he said.

Cyprium Metals Limited has provided an update, announcing granting of the mining lease at the Cue Copper Project, which replaces the Hollandaire exploration tenement and a portion of the Rapier exploration tenement. Cyprium has applied for exploration tenements to the west and east of the Nanadie Well CopperGold Project, to expand our regional presence in the area and increase the projects exploration prospectivity. The Nanadie Well Copper-Gold Project also has the Stark Cu-Ni-PGE prospect along with a number of drill ready targets that offer excellent exploration upside. Executive Director Barry Cahill commented, saying “We are pleased that the mining lease has been granted to remove any uncertainty over the timing of when mining operations could potentially commence, following the successful completion of favourable Cue Copper Project scoping and feasibility studies.

 

Morning News Bites – Aug 13

In today’s Morning News Bites for August 13. Telstra has reported a full year profit of $1.84b, down 14.4 per cent on the previous year staying within the telco’s guidance range. Flight Centre Travel Group has developed a longer liquidity runway to help it
overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19. Australian retail industry is hit the hardest since ABS recorded data.

Northern Star Resources reports that it is set to generate significant increases in production, cashflow and mine lives over the next two years. This strong growth outlook stems from its exploration success and accretive acquisitions and will require relatively limited capital expenditure. FY21 production guidance for Australian operations is 540,000-600,000oz at AISC of A$1,425- A$1,525/oz. Group Resources increased by 3.2Moz to 22.3Moz (after depletion of 912,000oz and acquisition of Bronzewing Project). Group Reserves increased 12%, or 600,000oz, to 6Moz (after depletion of 912,000oz). Executive Chair Bill Beament said the company was poised to achieve a new level of sustainable production,“We are entering the next chapter of growth on all levels of our business.”

Evolution Mining Limited has today released its financial results for FY20. It announces a strong performance in safety and sustainability; no material impact to operations from COVID-19. Statutory net profit after tax increased 38% to a record A$301.6 million (FY19: A$218.2 million). It also reports that it will pay a record final dividend for the year of 9 cents per share fully franked delivering a total FY20 dividend of 16 cents per share, a 68% increase on FY19.

Western Australian nickel company St George Mining Limited provides an update on the drilling programme underway at its flagship highgrade nickel-copper sulphide Mt Alexander Project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields, WA. Deep drilling intersects intrusive rocks at both the Investigators and Cathedrals Prospects, confirming the prospectivity for nickel-copper sulphides at depth. Diamond drilling continues at Investigators and underway at the Fairbridge Prospect.

Ardea Resources announce significant gold in first RC drilling at Aphrodite North, located approximately 80km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, WA. RC drilling at Aphrodite North has intercepted significant gold mineralisation in newly-defined mineralised lodes. Highlights include; 6m at 3.60g/t Au from 44m, including 2m at 9.99g/t Au from 44m. Managing Director, Andrew Penkethman, said, “On the basis of the initial results, a 2,600m follow up RC program has been designed, aiming to commence a drill out of the target zone to further define the gold mineralisation grade tenor and geometry.”

Confirmation of the securing of a drilling contractor to undertake RC drilling at its Pharos Project has been announced by Scorpion Minerals. Located approximately 50kms north west of Cue in the Murchison district of WA, it has signed a contract with iDrilling Australia to undertake a minimum of 5,000m of RC drilling to be completed during 2020, with an initial programme of 2,500m to commence from next week. All relevant approvals for drilling are in place.