News

Gascoyne Resources Limited advised today that it has poured it's first gold bar from the new 2.5Mtpa processing plant at the Company’s 100% owned Dalgaranga Gold Project.
Dalgaranga contains a Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 31.1Mt @ 1.3 g/t for 1,320,000 ounces of contained gold, which is inclusive of Proved and Probable Ore Reserves of 15.3Mt @ 1.3 g/t for 612,000 ounces of gold. The Company remains focused not only on ramping up to full production, but also an ongoing aggressive exploration effort aimed at increasing the mine life towards 8-10 years, as well as progressing the Glenburgh Gold Project, the Company’s second +1.0 million ounce gold project in Western Australia.
Mike Dunbar the Company’s Managing Director said:
“To say that I am pleased to have poured our first gold would be a massive understatement. The Company has managed to put together a fantastic team which has grown the global resource base from under 200,000oz on listing, to now having two gold projects which each contain more than 1 million ounces, and progressed Dalgaranga through feasibility. We have built a 100% owned new gold processing facility and associated infrastructure under budget and ahead of schedule, and now poured first gold.
The construction of the Dalgaranga mine would not have been possible without the Company’s Director of Operations and Development, Mr Ian Kerr who with his highly experienced (but small) development team of Warren King and Garry Moore, along with GR Engineering’s Team of Andrew Bennett and Matt Gordon have delivered the project ahead of schedule and under budget. A very rare feat indeed.
With the plant now operational, the aim for the next few months is to achieve consistent performance from all aspects of the process plant.
While the recent attention has been on delivery of the Dalgaranga Gold Project, the Company remains focused on continuing the exploration success that has so far resulted in discovery of over 2 million ounces of gold since listing. The current 75,000 metre drill programme is split between Dalgaranga, to extend the mine life to 8 – 10 years, and Glenburgh, where exploration outside the known 1.0 million ounce resource base is aiming to increase the global resource prior to feasibility and ultimately development.”

Artemis Resources Limited advises today that it has submitted a wide-ranging Programme of Works (“POW”) with the Western Australian Government’s Department of Mines, Industry, Regulation and Safety (“DMIRS”) to start an extensive drilling, trenching and bulk sampling programme immediately west of Novo Resource Corp’s (“Novo”) Comet Well Project. In addition, Artemis also provided and update on gold nuggets recovered (3.6kg) from the current ground rehabilitation works underway at 47K Patch.
David Lenigas, Artemis’s Executive Chairman, said “Artemis has now identified ~67 kilometres of potential gold-bearing conglomerates associated with the Mt Roe Basalt contact, immediately west of Novo Resources Comet Well 6 kilometre long conglomerate gold project. Our exploration and bulk sampling programme is about to commence in earnest at 47K Patch, the source of the many gold nuggets reported today. Applications have also gone in with the DMIRS for an extensive exploration programme immediately to the west of Novo’s Comet Well.”

Syrah Resources Limited announced today that it has signed a purchase agreement for an industrial site for its Battery Anode Material (BAM) development in Vidalia, Louisiana. Under the terms of the agreement, the purchase price of US$1.225 million is for a 25 acre site with an existing building. 
Shaun Verner, Managing Director & CEO said, “With the purchase agreement for the Vidalia site, we continue to progress our initial entry into the BAM market. Consistent with our approach in Mozambique, Syrah is committed to environmental sustainability and community engagement through development and into operations. The Company’s recently awarded ISO Certifications for Health, Safety and Environmental management systems for its Balama Operation demonstrates the Company’s commitment to global best practice.”

In a strategy to focus its efforts on its larger long-life Murchison gold assets, the Board of Westgold Resources Limited has agreed to sell its South Kalgoorlie Operations to Northern Star Resources Limited. 
South Kalgoorlie Operations operates  Jubilee  Processing Plant as its mining hub.  In recent years the HBJ  Underground Mine has operated as the core feed with additional smaller open pit and low-grade stockpile sources providing approximately 60% of plant capacity. The remainder of plant capacity has been filled by toll processing third party ores from the region.
Westgold has agreed to sell its wholly-owned subsidiaries that collectively make up the South Kalgoorlie Operations; Dioro Exploration Pty  Ltd,  HBJ  Minerals  Pty Ltd and Hampton  Gold  Mining  Areas  Ltd.  The consideration for the sale is  $80  million  (with working capital adjustments).  The purchase consideration is made up of $20 million in cash and $60 million in unrestricted fully paid ordinary shares in Northern Star calculated at a backwards-looking 10-day VWAP.
Westgold will retain its lithium royalties over the Mt Marion Lithium Mine and the rights to lithium exploration and mining over Location 53 and 59.
Westgold Managing Director Peter Cook said:“This is a nice deal for both parties. It provides Northern Star with additional and instant plant capacity in the Kalgoorlie region for its expanding gold operations. For Westgold, it divests our shortest life asset, provides a cash boost and upgrades the overall quality of our gold portfolio. As at June 30, 2017, South Kalgoorlie Operations had Ore Reserves containing 252,000 ounces which was 7.45% of the groups total Ore  Reserves.  SKO has produced 24,000 ounces in the first half of this financial year”.

Blackham Resources Limited announced an operational update for the month of January at its Matilda-Wiluna Gold Operation. Access to high-grade zones in the M4 and Galaxy Pits was achieved late in the Dec’17 quarter, enabling record monthly gold production of 6,498oz. This resulted in Blackham achieving a record low monthly AISC in Jan’18 of A$1,158/oz, in comparison to an average realised gold price during the month of A$1,663/oz, demonstrating a clear step change in economics. Milled grade and gold production are expected to continue to improve. The operation is now building high-grade stockpiles for the first time since March 2017. 
“With the Operation’s production at record levels and a significant reduction in AISC having already been achieved, the Company is clearly demonstrating that its operational turnaround is well underway. This operational performance, in conjunction with the current strong AUD gold price, is expected to make 2018 a transformational year that is expected to generate significant cash flows and value for Blackham and its shareholders.” Blackham’s Executive Chairman, Mr Milan Jerkovic, said.

After a protest at the steps of Parliment house today, the WA state Liberals unanimously decided to block a move by the WA state government to raise the gold royalty rate from 2.5 percent to 3.75 percent.
Opposition Leader Mike Nahan said after the meeting "This royalty increase would have imposed a significant risk to jobs in the industry, it is our view that the McGowan Government did not seek nor have a mandate to increase the gold rate"
The state government now has to hope for a win on the GST after a report suggested changes which could send billions back to Western Australia which will help fill a deepening black hole.
 
 

Australian lithium developer, Pilbara Minerals Limited announced today that it has executed a binding terms sheet with Great Wall Motor Company, one of China’s largest automotive manufacturers, to further underpin the Stage 2 expansion of its 100%-owned Pilgangoora Lithium/Tantalum Project in Western Australia.
The agreement – encompassing up to 150,000tpa of Stage 2 chemical-grade spodumene concentrate off-take, Stage 2 debt financing support and a $28 million upfront equity subscription for Pilbara shares – represents the first direct investment by an automobile manufacturer into an upstream supplier of lithium raw materials.
“This marks an important milestone for Pilbara and the Pilgangoora Project and is a significant development for the rapidly evolving lithium-ion raw materials supply chain globally,” said Pilbara’s Managing Director and CEO, Ken Brinsden.
“It highlights the strategic importance for the global automotive sector of securing access to large-scale, consistent, high-quality sources of battery raw materials in low-risk jurisdictions. Attracting a company of Great Wall’s size and calibre as a long-term off-take and funding partner is a strong endorsement for the Pilgangoora Project and the Company. We are also delighted that they will be joining our share register as a strategic investor.
While this deal reflects the remarkable progress being made in China, we are also witnessing increasing interest from battery and automobile manufacturers outside of China looking to secure their future lithium requirements, in response to an increasing global market shift towards electric vehicles and off-grid storage.
In conjunction with the rapid expansion in spodumene conversion capacity currently being rolled out in China to supply the battery market beyond electric vehicles, these themes highlight the fundamental demand for lithium, which comes at an opportune time for the Company as we look to complete our Stage 1 development at Pilgangoora and pursue further growth via the Stage 2 expansion,” Mr Brinsden added.

Australian Private equity house EMR Capital to take 80 pct stake in Zambia copper mine at the cost of $125m after it purchased copper zinc mine Golden Grove from MMG in December. The Lubambe Mine held equally by ARM and Vale International. EMR chief executive officer Jason Chang said the Lubambe acquisition reflected the firm’s confidence in the quality of the project as a long-life copper producer located in Zambia’s most prolific mining region, the Copperbelt. "We are pleased to enter into an agreement to acquire Lubambe, which offers exceptional quality and growth potential and which will substantially enhance the value and depth of our copper portfolio. "EMR will continue to focus on copper, gold, potash and coking coal acquisition opportunities globally,"

St Barbara Ltd was last night named ‘Digger of the Year’ at the 26th Diggers & Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The prestigious award recognises the significant turnaround achieved by the St Barbara team over the past three years.
The award citation presented by Nick Giorgetta, Chairman of the Diggers & Dealers forum, highlighted the achievement by St Barbara to “convert a company that was previously considered to have an uncertain future into a company that consistently meets or exceeds expectations. This turnaround is a credit to the entire St Barbara team because it was a genuine team effort that we should all be proud of. The challenge for us now is to use the same energy and commitment that drove the turnaround to drive the next chapter in St Barbara’s growth.”
The award recognises the huge effort by all of St Barbara's employees during an at times difficult period and the turnaround has positioned St Barbara with world-class operations, a first-rate team culture, no debt and an exciting future.
St Barbara Managing Director and CEO, Bob Vassie, accepted the award on behalf of the Company at last night’s Diggers & Dealer's gala dinner.

Metals X Limited recommenced underground drilling in November 2016 shortly after taking control of the Nifty Copper Operation. To date, approximately 20,000 metres of diamond drilling outside of the mining area has been completed with the objective of extending the Ore Reserve up plunge, down-plunge and within the limbs of the folded carbonate units within the Nifty syncline. Although a substantial number of assays are still pending, results to date confirm significant extensions of mineralisation outside of the current mining areas.The drilling has returned some exceptional and long intercepts of well-developed copper mineralisation which are analogous to the Nifty ore system.
Metals X Managing Director, Warren Hallam, said: “We are very pleased with the results to date that clearly confirm the upside potential of this outstanding ore system. We are confident that we will grow Nifty into a large, long-life mine and that Nifty will continue to be a significant copper producer for years to come”. “We are excited by the exploration potential within the Throssell Ranges and believe that there is substantial opportunity for further discoveries. We have commenced our regional exploration program with the drilling of a Nifty look-alike target at the Finch Prospect, 20 kilometres south-east of Nifty that is also on the same regional copper-trend. A second rig has also been deployed to test the down-plunge extent of the Nifty syncline on the basis of results from the recent deep seismic surveys.” “In addition, drilling will commence at our Maroochydore Prospect in August after the completion of the current Finch program. Maroochydore is located approximately 85 kilometres south-east of Nifty and already hosts a large copper oxide deposit with over 500,000 tonnes of contained copper metal at a grade of approximately 1% copper. More recent deeper drilling has also identified the upper zones of the primary chalcopyrite sulphide mineralisation. The objective of the program is to explore for another Nifty at depth”.