Blackstone Minerals Reports Completed Ta Khoa Scoping Study

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Blackstone Minerals (ASX: BSX) reported the completion of the Scoping Study for the development and restart of the company’s Ta Khoa nickel-copper-PGE project in Vietnam.

Blackstone Minerals views the Scoping Study as an initial platform, from which it can build a mine-to-market nickel business over the coming years; one with multiple upside opportunities for the future.

Blackstone has already commenced the next phase of Pre-Feasibility Studies.

The existing modern mine infrastructure at Ta Khoa provides the ideal pad from which Blackstone can launch it ambition of building a fully integrated mine-to-market nickel business.

The company is determined to build one of the world’s first green nickel processing facilities to produce downstream nickel products for the lithium-ion battery industry.

The maiden resource at Ban Phuc (indicated resource of 44.3Mt at 0.52% nickel for 229,000 tonnes nickel and Inferred Mineral Resource of 14.3Mt at 0.35% nickel for 50,000 tonnes nickel) is a good start, from which to build a world class nickel mining centre supported by a downstream processing facility.

The Ta Khoa Nickel- copper-PGE project is currently powered by South East Asia’s largest hydro power plant located nearby in the Son La Province.

“The Scoping Study defines a project path that maximises economics, minimises environmental and social impacts, and offers a lasting legacy to the people in our local community,” Blackstone Minerals managing director Scott Williamson said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Whilst we are pleased with the outcomes of this study, we will continue to expand our resource and increase our production potential in this exciting, and yet under-explored region of Vietnam and have commenced work on PFS level studies for the project.”

 

TO READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT IN FULL: CLICK HERE

 

Email: admin@blackstoneminerals.com.au

 

Web: www.blackstoneminerals.com.au

 

 

Mt Ridley Mines Joins Weld Range Explorers Club

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Mount Ridley Mines (ASX: MRD) has picked up 100 per cent interest in the Weld Range West iron project, located in the Mid-West region of Western Australia.

The Mt Weld West project is located northeast of Geraldton, in an area well known for its banded iron formation (BIF) and iron deposits.

The bulk of the Weld Range is held by SinoSteel, which is looking to mine two deposits, Beebyn and Madoonga.

The Madoonga deposit is in the Madoonga Formation, 12 kilometres north east from Mt Ridley’s project.

Others in the region include Fenix Resources, which is currently advancing an approximately 10 million tonnes Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) operation at its Iron Ridge project, from which first shipments are anticipated early CY 2021.

Mount Ridley chairman Peter Christie noted the substantial resources of Iron Ore that have been defined by Sinosteel and Fenix, adding that detailed drilling is yet to test iron targets within Mount Ridley’s ground.

“A review of previous work by earlier explorers has provided Mount Ridley with walk-up drill targets for possible high-grade haematite and goethite ore initially in the Wilgie Mia Formation directly along strike from known iron deposits,” Christie said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The Weld Range West Iron Project area comprises three granted exploration licences that cover a total area of approximately 76 square kilometres.

Native Title has been partially determined in favour of the Wajarri Yamatji people.

A working Heritage Protection Agreement is currently in place, which will be assigned to the company at completion of the acquisition.

 

 

Web: www.mtridleymines.com.au

 

Producer “Forged in Fire” as Market Turnaround Looms

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Just before speaking on the opening day of the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Ken Brinsden’s company – Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) – gave delegates a taste of what to expect via a release sent to the ASX earlier in the day. By Mark Fraser

The release was in the form of an operational update for the mid-tier miner’s wholly-owned Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project in Western Australia’s north west, the document was reasonably upbeat, but nevertheless somewhat cautious, as it tried to impress upon investors Pilbara Minerals’ preparedness to fully embrace the market, “as demand conditions improve”.

Recent operational tweaks in its production of spodumene and tantalite concentrate, the WA-based producer indicated, positioned it, “well” to take advantage of the expected turnaround in the lithium market, “when that occurs”.

Despite a rise in sales during the September quarter, the company said, spodumene concentrate pricing remained weak, reflecting the sustained lower pricing and demand being experienced across the entire lithium raw materials and chemicals supply chain.

The news, however, was not all bad: “Production levels in the September quarter exceeded quarterly sales in preparation for delivering into contracted customer sales from early October 2020,” the announcement espoused.

During his Diggers & Dealers presentation, managing director and CEO Brinsden infused his narrative with a similar combination of optimism and caution, although there seemed to be a little more of the former in his telling of the story as he described how Pilbara Minerals was now at the back end of something of a horror run.

Over past 18 months, he explained, the “amazing tail wind in the lithium world” came to a sudden stop – primarily because of China.

Plus, there was the “combination” of cyclones, material changes in the industry’s dynamics, having to raise the right amount of money to see the project come to fruition and – “last, but not least” – a homicide (in the coastal mining town of Port Hedland earlier this year).

“I can assure you that was not something I expected to experience in my mining career,” Brinsden told his Kalgoorlie-Boulder audience.

“So, we’ve seen the lot.”

However, in a funny kind of way, it had been a genuine case of “being forged in the fire” for Pilbara Minerals.

Despite this turmoil, Brinsden noted, the company still managed to establish the next largest lithium raw materials operation outside of Greenbushes in WA’s south west – a project that was started 25 years ago and is now “universally recognised as the gold standard”.

“We’ve got that to design recovery, which I can assure you is no mean feat,” he said.

“We’ve got to the point now that when the plant is operating, we are really, really confident of its reliability and what it is going to deliver, which translates to a very low-cost base.”

As part of its operational update, Pilbara Minerals told the market there had been an increase in plant run-time and utilisation, which represented around 70-75 per cent utilisation across the September quarter (compared with just 40% during the previous three months).

Meanwhile, higher plant utilisation and continued high product recovery contributed to a lower average unit cash operating cost of US$355 per dry metric tonne (Cost, Insurance and Freight – China) for the quarter.

Lower mining costs during the moderated production period were now expected to be partly offset by the combination of strong product recoveries and increased plant run-time (through higher product demand), supporting unit cash operating costs trending towards the company’s targeted unit cost of US$320-350 per dry metric tonne (CIF China).

Overall, Brinsden said, this was a “pretty amazing outcome”.

Located around 100 kilometres due south of Port Hedland, Pilgangoora enjoys a current mine life of over 40 years.

Stage one of the operation, which kicked off commercial production during April 2009, has a nameplate capacity of around 330,000 tonnes per annum of combined concentrate, with this output set to increase to about 800-850,000tpa during stage two (which is currently the subject of a soon-to-completed phased expansion study).

Brinsden indicated Pilbara Minerals would not pursue the mooted nameplate production boost until phase one had been concluded.

“Out of all of that we are absolutely the horse to back in the lithium materials sphere because we have an amazing asset base, very low cost of production and the expectation that the demand conditions have already started to improve,” he added.

 

 

Web: www.pilbaraminerals.com.au

 

 

 

Gold Road Resources Focus now firmly on WA expansion

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Having helped establish a Tier 1 gold operation in its home state of Western Australia, Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) is seeking more ounces through increased production and the discovery of enough new ore bodies to establish another mine. By Mark Fraser

Following the first pour at the company’s 50 per cent-owned Gruyere project in June last year, Gold Road and its Joint Venture partner (and operator) Gold Fields (JSE and NYSE: GFI) produced 230,590 gold ounces during the mine’s first 12 months at an all-in sustainable cost of $1,155 per ounce.

The 2020 annual guidance is currently 250-270,000 ounces at an AISC of $1,250-1,350 per ounce.

Located in WA’s north east Goldfields on the under-explored Yamarna Greenstone Belt, Gruyere has a 12-year life based essentially on what was a six million ounces discovery by Gold Road back in 2013.

As it stands the deposit has a total mineral resource of 154 million tonnes grading 1.34 grams per tonne gold for 6.62 million ounces, as well as an ore reserve of 93 million tonnes at 1.24g/t gold for 3.72 million ounces.

Gold Road is now confident it can find more ore to feed the Gruyere mill, and has subsequently put aside $26 million to explore the 4,500 square kilometres it holds in the Yamarna belt.

The company is also looking at increasing plant throughput and deepening the current pit.

Speaking during the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Gold Road managing director and chief executive Duncan Gibbs suggested a rise in output could involve expanding plant operating times, mining at a higher rate and reducing unit operating costs.

“We believe if we put those elements together, along with some steepening of the pit walls, we can drive the pit to a deeper level than the one which came out of the bankable feasibility study,” Gibbs said.

“Conceptually we think we can get the pit down to somewhere like 400-450 metres below surface – that becomes one of the deepest pits in Western Australia.

“Of course, to get that right we need to understand the geotechnical parameters as well; we’ve done some geotechnical and metallurgical drilling under the pit, so we have that information.

“We really want to get an understanding of the fresh rock exposure in the mine before we start to lock in the commitment and the understanding of what the life of mine reserve looks like for Gruyere.”

In terms of exploration, Gibbs said around 75 per cent of the $26 million put aside for the Yamarna belt would be channelled towards the 800sqkm southern project area, where the high priority targets were Kingston (with its diamond hole of 1m at 10.4 g/t), Hirono, Savoie and Beefwood as well as Gilmour and Gilmour South.

The other project area is at Yandina in WA’s south west Yilgarn, which sits within an under-explored greenstone belt near the farming community of Lake Grace.

Here, Gold Road and Cygnus Gold control 3,400sqkm of land covering two joint venture areas, with the former planning to take over the role of operator.

Some 20,000m of aircore drilling targeting crustal scale shear zones have already been completed, while a field program consisting of another 8,500m of aircore, 750m of RC and 500m of diamond drilling is now underway.

“What we see is the opportunity here for a large scale, regional geochem corridor stretch over about 15 km, and the opportunity really is to follow up the aircore results that we have,” Gibbs said.

“And hopefully we can make a discovery in this part of the Australia.”

Gold Road became debt free in July, while it also has $65 million of franking credits as a consequence of its 50 per cent sale of Gruyere to Gold Fields.

Given this, Gibbs added, the resources house was now, “in a position to pay fully franked dividends.”

 

 

Email: perth@goldroad.com.au

 

Web: www.goldroad.com.au

 

Bardoc Gold Ready to Take Advantage of the Upside

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Cashed-up punters seeking something in the small-end-of-town gold space should get advice from their financial advisers re Bardoc Gold (ASX: BDC), which could well be on the verge of a substantial share price hike over the next 12 months. By Mark Fraser

During the coming year the West Australian company is expected to make a final investment decision regarding its $140 million namesake yellow metal project located just 40 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, where it has already established a 3.03 million gold ounce resource and 790,000 ounces of reserves within a prospective land holding covering 250 square km.

As it stands, Bardoc is hoping to set up a 135,000 ounces per annum operation via the annual processing of 1.8 million tonnes of ore with an average life-of-mine grade of 2.6 grams per tonne.

All-in sustaining costs are expected to be around $1,220 per ounce, while the initial mine life has been pencilled in at 7-8 years.

According to Bardoc chief executive Robert Ryan, the explorer is sitting on, “one of Australia’s best undeveloped gold deposits”.

Furthermore, the project is now only one of a handful of new plus-100,000 ounces per annum yellow metal operations expected to come on stream Down Under over the next two years.

Speaking during the opening day of the 2020 Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Ryan said the company currently had the funding in place to complete Bardoc’s definitive feasibility study, with this phase of due diligence now expected to be wrapped up by the end of March next year.

If all goes to plan, he suggested, construction should be underway by this time next year.

These facts should be a wake-up call for investors given: (1) most juniors with economically attractive projects are significantly revalued around the time their DFS findings are released; (2) Bardoc’s current share price is only 7.8 cents, which on face value is quite a bargain for a gold stock with undeniable upside, and; (3) recent interest from the financial sector has been strong, with “a number of institutions” joining the junior’s register in its last capital raising.

Ryan said the project effectively brought together a series of smaller ore bodies in a location that had remained largely under-explored due to previous fragmented ownership.

They included Aphrodite, which has a current resource of 22.9 million tonnes at 2.3g/t gold for 1.99 million ounces and was acquired via a corporate merger in 2017, as well as Excelsior and Zoroastrian, where the respective resource numbers are 8.4 million tonnes at 1.2g/t for 320,000 ounces and 7.28 million tonnes at 2.2g/t for 526,000 ounces.

Aside from owning a project with compelling high margin/low cost/high-grade credentials, Ryan said Bardoc had also attracted the right talent to make the undertaking a reality.

“Over the last 12 months we have significantly built out our management team to contain a lot of Kalgoorlie-centric mining expertise, as well as environmental expertise, to get this project into production,” he noted.

“We raised $24 million (at the company’s last capital raising); primarily aimed at building the support from the investment community that are going to be there for a larger equity raise when it comes to construction build.

“The people who we have on the register now have made commitments to be there for 2-3 times their current investment – to be there to build the project.

“And that’s a fantastic position to be in because it has given us the ability to be able to push the project at 100 miles an hour.”

 

Web: www.bardocgold.com

RareX Adds Niobium to Cummins Range Mix

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: RareX Limited (ASX: REE) declared it has confirmed the presence of the critical mineral niobium in large concentrations within high-grade Rare Earth Element (REE) intercepts it recently announced from the company’s 100 per cent-owned Cummins Range rare earths project in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

RareX reported it has now received the full suite of elements from the first batch of assays from a recent in-fill and extensional drilling program, which returned exceptional thick, high-grade results.

Assays from the first three Reverse Circulation (RC) holes have returned results above the resource grade, including substantial widths and grades in both CRX0002 and CRX0003.

CRX0002
41 metres at 4 per cent total rare earth oxide (TREO) and 0.21 per cent niobium from 29m down-hole, including 29m at 5.2 per cent TREO and 0.25 per cent niobium from 29m including 3m at 13.9 per cent TREO and 0.25 per cent niobium from 30m;

12m at 1.7 per cent TREO + 0.25 per cent niobium from 3m down-hole including 3m at 4.8 per cent TREO and 0.57 per cent niobium; and

10m at 1.3 per cent TREO and 0.14 per cent niobium from 79m down-hole including 6m at 1.7 per cent TREO and 0.18 per cent niobium.

CRX0003
36m at 4.6 per cent TREO and 0.32 per cent niobium from surface, including: – 3m at 25.1 per cent TREO and 0.45 per cent niobium from 15m down-hole;

11m at 1.8 per cent TREO and 0.19 per cent niobium from 50m down-hole including 2m at 6.8 per cent TREO; and

5m at 1.3 per cent TREO from 86m down-hole including 1m at 4.1 per cent TREO.

“With niobium trading fairly consistently at about US$40 per kilogram for much of the last decade, compared to an expected rare earth oxide price of US$15/kg, this could represent a significant by-product for the project,” RareX managing director Jeremy Robinson said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Niobium is one of the 35 critical minerals identified by both the US and Australian governments as a mineral of strategic weakness due to their concentrated supply source – Brazil in the case of niobium.”

 

 

Web: www.rarex.com.au

 

Peel Mining Completes Maiden May Day Resource Estimate

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Peel Mining (ASX: PEX) reported completion of a maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the May Day deposit, located south of Cobar in western New South Wales.

The maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for the May Day deposit has come in at:

1.128 million tonnes at 1.3 grams per tonne gold, 19g/t silver, 0.82 per cent zinc, 0.61 per cent lead, 0.11 per cent copper for 46,400 ounces gold, 676,000 ounces silver, 9,260 tonnes zinc, 6,860 tonnes lead, and 1,240 tonnes copper.

The May Day deposit is contained within ML1361 and is part of the Mallee Bull project, which is currently the subject of a purchase and sale agreement between Peel and CBH Resources Limited.

Settlement of the transaction is subject to Ministerial consent for the transfer of title and is expected in the near term.

“The May Day MRE brings modest but important near-surface gold metal exposure to our asset base and is another important step for the company as we continue towards building critical mass for the South Cobar Basin Hub and Spoke project,” Peel Mining managing director Rob Tyson said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The drill-out now underway is designed to deliver a high quality MRE composed primarily of Indicated classified resources within an optimal pit, and we look forward to releasing drill assays over the weeks ahead in advance of updating the MRE around year end.

“Mineralisation at May Day bears similarities to other Cobar-style gold-rich deposits such as Hera and Peak, and importantly, remains completely open down dip and along strike – we look forward to investigating its greater potential in due course.”

 

 

Email: info@peelmining.com.au

 

Web: www.peelmining.com.au

 

Dreadnought Resources Scores Big Gold Hit at Longmore’s Find

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Dreadnought Resources (ASX: DRE) reported drilling results from the company’s Illaara gold-VMS-iron ore project in Western Australia.

Dreadnought Resources carried out maiden drilling programs at the mysterious Longmore’s Find and Black Oak deposits.

The drilling is the first ever undertaken at either prospect – Longmore’s Find (13 holes, 1,161m) and Black Oak (7 holes, 711m).

Both prospects confirmed gold mineralisation, including the highest-grade intercept to date within the Illaara Greenstone Belt of:

LMRC005
1 metre at 100 grams per tonne gold from 56m.

“Confirming high-grade mineralisation at Captain Longmore’s Find, nearly 100 years after his prospecting party walked through the area is a watershed moment for Dreadnought,” Dreadnought Resources managing director Dean Tuck said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This drilling has confirmed the potential for the approximate 10 kilometres-long Metzke’s Corridor to contain multiple high-grade deposits within over a dozen anomalies.

“Furthermore, the Illaara Greenstone Belt has potential to host other multi-deposit camps including Central Illaara and Lawrence’s Corridor.

“Dreadnought looks forward to following up these drill intercepts and commencing target generation and definition work across Illaara.”

 

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Email: info@dreadnoughtresources.com.au

 

Web: www.dreadnoughtresources.com.au

 

Comet Resources Releases Santa Teresa Resource

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Comet Resources (ASX: CRL) announced the results of an initial JORC code-compliant Mineral Resource estimate for the company’s Santa Teresa gold project in Baja California, Mexico.

The Inferred Mineral Resource estimate has come in at 369,000 tonnes at 7.47 grams per tonne gold for 88,600 ounces of gold.

Comet Resources indicated it intends using the knowledge gained from the completion of the Mineral Resource estimate to assist in planning for its upcoming drilling program at the Santa Teresa gold project.

“The initial JORC compliant Resource is the first step for Comet in moving forward with Santa Teresa,” Comet Resources managing director Matthew O’Kane said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Through this process we have increased our understanding of the mineralisation.

“It is also interesting to see the sensitivity of the resource to different top cap grades.

“With the Resource being open at depth and along strike, I am confident that we can extend mineralisation with the upcoming drilling.”

 

Email: comet@cometres.com.au

 

Web: www.cometres.com.au

 

Ardiden Eyeballs New Gold Deposit Targets at New Patricia

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Ardiden Limited (ASX: ADV) reported on completion of a recent Airborne Geophysical Survey carried out at the company’s Pickle Lake Gold Project in northwest Ontario.

Ardiden has conducted a preliminary review of raw data from the survey over the Patricia gold prospect that has shown multiple Tier-1 large-scale structural targets analogous to high-grade gold mine settings in the area.

Another structure revealed in detail by the survey is at the Esker gold prospect, located just 3km east along strike of the Golden Patricia underground mine workings.

This displayed a massive 8km-wide ‘Fold-Nose’ target at Esker, which Ardiden declared to be analogous in size and structure to Newmont’s 5 million ounces operating Musselwhite gold mine.

The company provided context of scale, saying the ‘Fold-Nose’ structure revealed at the Esker prospect is larger in dimension than the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

“The New Patricia Gold Property is a potential company-maker in its own right,” Ardiden exploration manager Dan Grabiec said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Numerous and exciting kilometre-scale geological features have now been delineated for the first time with this modern-day, high-tech Geophysical Survey.

“The New Patricia brownfields gold property is vastly unexplored with good winter access.

“We are seeing incredible structural detail over a regional scale thanks to Ardiden’s aggregation of adjoining gold properties.

“I’m genuinely excited for the time when we commence drilling and see what monsters are potentially hiding below the surface.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Email: info@ardiden.com.au

 

Web: www.ardiden.com.au