THE DAILY ROADHOUSE

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Pantoro Considers Norseman Processing Plant Options Review Outcomes

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Pantoro Limited (ASX: PNR) has completed a Processing Plant Options Review and Scoping Estimate at the company’s Norseman gold project in Western Australia.

St George Mining Drills Deeper for Thicker Intercepts

THE DRILL SERGEANT: St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) confirmed further extensions of high-grade mineralisation at the company’s Mt Alexander project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

Image Resources Secures December Quarter Sales

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Image Resources (ASX: IMA) has secured sales agreements from off-take partners for the December quarter 2019.

Virgo Resources to IPO With Namibia-Botswana Projects

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Former Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) chairman Ian Murray is about to launch a new company on the boards of the Australian Securities Exchange.

 

Pantoro Considers Norseman Processing Plant Options Review Outcomes

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Pantoro Limited (ASX: PNR) has completed a Processing Plant Options Review and Scoping Estimate at the company’s Norseman gold project in Western Australia.

The study was completed by Como Engineers and considered three options for the processing plant including:

Option A – Refurbishment of existing structures and equipment in the existing location. The existing plant configuration utilises primary crushing, and a high aspect SAG mill and ball mill in series;

Option B – Reconstruction of the processing facility with the same configuration at a new location using a combination of refurbished existing major equipment and new structures, piping, electrical and services in a new location; and

Option C – Construction of a completely new processing facility utilising primary and secondary crushing and a single 2.3MW ball mill.

The review concluded the existing leaching circuit to be extensively corroded and in addition to the large capital repair cost would have a high operating cost due to the historical air operated Pachuca tanks in place.

As such, all options included a new leaching circuit using a modern mechanically agitated CIL circuit.

The review found that Options A and B require similar expenditure, while the Option C capital requirement is approximately $10 million higher.

Option A was noted to be higher risk from both safety and financial perspectives.

Option B was therefore chosen for detailed design and cost estimation prior to construction.

“The outcome of this study provides Pantoro with a clear way forward for reconstruction of the Norseman processing facility,” Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The large amount of existing infrastructure at the site provides a major reduction in capital costs for the project, and the review confirms our pre-acquisition cost assumptions.

“We look forward to commencing the definitive plant design and cost calculation in the new year. The project is advancing as expected as we progress towards re-commencement of production.”

 

Email: admin@pantoro.com.au

Web: www.pantoro.com.au

 

St George Mining Drills Deeper for Thicker Intercepts

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) confirmed further extensions of high-grade mineralisation at the company’s Mt Alexander project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

St George Mining completed hole MAD172 to test the first of seven electromagnetic (EM) conductors it has identified so far by downhole EM (DHEM) surveys in recently completed deeper stratigraphic holes along the Cathedrals Belt.

The company said the EM plate targeted by MAD172 is modelled with conductivity of 25,000 Siemens and was predicted to be intersected at 260 metres downhole.

Instead, MAD172 intersected thick nickel-copper sulphides from 242.5m to 259.78m downhole.

The company considers the disseminated and blebby sulphides intersected by MAD172 to be consistent with mineralisation found close to massive sulphide deposits, supporting the potential for more substantial mineralisation nearby.

“Deeper drilling has already confirmed significant down-plunge extensions of the mineralised ultramafic and now – with MAD172 – we have seen the deepest intersection of nickel-copper sulphides at the Cathedrals Belt to date,” St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The thickness of the mineralised intercept and the style of mineralisation support the potential for further high-grade mineralisation to be present in this area.

“Under the intrusive geological model for the Cathedrals Belt, the larger deposits of mineralisation are likely to be at deeper levels than explored to date, so it is very exciting to see the thickness of nickel-copper sulphides increasing with depth.

“We are increasingly confident that ongoing drilling could discover further significant nickel-copper sulphides down-plunge of the shallow high-grade deposits already established at the Cathedrals Belt.”

 

Web: www.stgm.com.au

 

Image Resources Secures December Quarter Sales

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Image Resources (ASX: IMA) has secured sales agreements from off-take partners for the December quarter 2019.

Image Resources has organised the sale of a nominal total of 65,000 tonnes heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) for the December quarter 2019 with no reduction in zircon pricing.

The HMC will be produced from the company’s 100 per cent-owned, high-grade, zircon-rich Boonanarring mineral sands project located 80 kilometres north of Perth in the North Perth Basin of Western Australia.

The company recently finalised a regular monthly shipment of HMC of nominally 20,000 tonnes, which was purchased by off-taker partner Natfort and sailed at the end of October.

In addition, a sales agreement was secured from off-taker partner Hainan Wensheng for nominally 45,000 tonnes to be delivered over two shipments, one in the latter half of November and the second in December.

Image Resources declared that demand for its HMC remains strong, including from parties other than the current off-take partners.

While the benchmark price for premium grade zircon decreased 2.5 per cent to US$1,580 to 1,590 per tonne in November, Image’s sale price for standard grade zircon contained in the HMC remained unchanged for its scheduled November and December shipments.

Image’s realized price for titanium dioxide (TiO2) contained in the HMC increased approximately six per cent in August and this higher price has continued in the December quarter.

“We continue to receive robust demand for our zircon-rich HMC product,” Image Resources managing director and CEO Patrick Mutz said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The committed sales of 65,000 tonnes in the December quarter, at stable zircon pricing, keeps the company firmly on track to deliver on our updated CY2019 guidance.”

 

Email: info@imageres.com.au

Web: www.imageres.com.au

 

Virgo Resources to IPO With Namibia-Botswana Projects

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Former Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) chairman Ian Murray is about to launch a new company on the boards of the Australian Securities Exchange.

Murray is heading up Virgo Resources, a copper focused exploration and mineral project development company based in Perth, Western Australia.

The company is listing on the back of prospective copper and gold interests that include a 2012 JORC code-compliant copper and gold resource in Namibia, as well as prospective copper assets in Botswana.

Virgo has interests in three copper projects:

The company has a 70 per cent interest in the Hope copper-gold VMS project in Namibia where it has an option to increase its stake to 90 per cent.

The Hope copper-gold VMS project comprises EPL5796, EPL6605 and EPL7170 (application), which cover a total of over 1,200 square kilometres within the Matchless Copper Belt in Namibia.

These tenures are located in central Namibia and straddle the boundary between the Erongo and Khomas regions, about 200 kilometres from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.

Hope is Virgo’s most advanced copper project and contains a large, high-grade JORC 2012 mineral resource of 10.2 million tonnes at 1.9 per cent copper and 0.3 grams per tonne gold.

The Resources estimate lies across the Hope, Gorob-Vendome and Anomaly prospects of containing some 193,000 tonnes of contained copper metal plus 103,000 ounces of gold and possible silver credits.

Virgo likes the prospects for growth of the current mineral resources and further discoveries as no modern, regional-scale exploration has been applied to the area.

Historic drilling was carried out; however, it was not assayed for gold.

Virgo claims newer drill holes and surface rock-chip samples indicate gold grades from 0.1 to 6.8g/t gold.

The project comes with an extensive exploration database that contains 203 diamond drill holes have been completed for 33,500m of drilling.

The Rhinelands copper project in Namibia, in which Virgo has a 90 per cent Interest, is an iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) exploration play with abundant surface copper mineralisation that has not been properly tested at depth.

The Rhinelands project covers approximately 185sqkm to the northwest of Windhoek and includes records of historic exploration by Falconbridge in the 1960 and 70s that identified two copper prospects along the highly prospective Rehderstal Fault.

Over in Botswana, the company owns 100 per cent of the Kalahari Copper Belt project that is located
within an under-explored, emerging copper province that hosts major development projects including Cupric Canyon Capital’s Zone 5 copper-silver deposit and MOD Resource’s T3 copper-silver deposit that now belongs to Sandfire Resources following a $167 million takeover.

Virgo considers its most prospective tenure sits in this region on PL40/2018, which is situated along strike of large copper-silver mineralisation deposits held by other Kalahari Copper Belt explorers and developers.

 

Web: www.virgoresources.com.au

 

THE DAILY ROADHOUSE

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Meteoric Resources Encounters Visible Gold in First Novo Astro Hole

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Meteoric Resources (ASX: MEI) was champing at the bit to inform the market of recent developments from recently commenced drilling at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Novo Astro gold project in Brazil.

Red 5 Inks Option Agreement to Purchase Great Western Gold Deposit

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Red 5 Limited (ASX: RED), by way of the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Darlot Mining Company, has entered into an Option Agreement for the right to purchase a 100 per cent interest in Mining Lease M37/54, containing the Great Western gold deposit in Western Australia.

Renascor Resources Releases Siviour DFS Results

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Renascor Resources (ASX: RNU) delivered results of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for the company’s 100 per cent-owned Siviour graphite project near the coast of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

Indiana Resources Kicks Off Mali Soil Sampling Program

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Indiana Resources (ASX: IDA) announced the commencement of a comprehensive soil geochemistry program at the company’s Saboussire gold prospect in Western Mali.

Southern Gold Receives Gubong Project ‘Permit to Develop’

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Southern Gold (ASX: SAU) has been received word from its Joint Venture partner, London-listed Bluebird Merchant Ventures, of confirmation that the Permit to Develop for the Gubong gold mine in South Korea.

 

Renascor Resources Releases Siviour DFS Results

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Renascor Resources (ASX: RNU) delivered results of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for the company’s 100 per cent-owned Siviour graphite project near the coast of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

Renascor Resources declared the DFS confirms Siviour’s potential as a low-cost, long-life graphite project that can achieve consistently attractive profit margins even in the current lower graphite price environment.

The study determined Siviour to be a world-class, low-OPEX project with a projected life of mine (LOM) operating cost of $508 or US$355 per tonne (A$471 or US$330 per tonne over first ten years), placing it amongst the lowest projected operating costs globally.

The project will be developed in stages to reduce up-front capital cost with the DFS based on a staged development, with average production of 80,000 tonnes per annum during first stage (years one to four), before expansion in year five to be funded through expected project cashflows.

Average projected production in years five to ten is 144,000 tonnes per annum with the DFS adjusted for current graphite market conditions with pricing from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. This resulted in a decrease from previous basket price through 2025 of 22 per cent to $1,149 or US$804.

The results confirm compelling project economics, including:

Post-tax NPV10 of $388 million or US$271m;
Post-tax IRR of 33 per cent;
Start-up capital requirement of $114 million or US$79 million plus a mining pre-strip of $4 million or US$3 million; and
Average EBITDA of $83 million or US$58 million, EBITDA margin of 57 per cent.

The Study expects up to 60 per cent of the start-up capital requirement to qualify for in-principle support from Atradius, the Dutch export credit agency (ECA), subject to finalising the procurement strategy in the front-end engineering design (FEED) phase.

Renascor identified its next immediate steps are expected to include securing binding offtake agreements, final project permitting and commencing financial due diligence.

“The DFS confirms Siviour’s status as a low-cost, tier one graphite project that can achieve consistently attractive profit margins even in the current lower graphite price environment,” Renascor Resources managing director David Christensen said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We believe this cost advantage, coupled with our location in the low sovereign risk jurisdiction of South Australia, will enable Siviour to become a premier provider of graphite for the growing lithium-ion battery market, as this sector becomes the dominant end-user of natural flake graphite.

“With the DFS now complete, we look forward to advancing towards securing binding offtake agreements and working with our finance partners to secure funding for Siviour’s stage-one development.”

 

Email: info@renascor.com.au

Web: www.renascor.com.au

 

Southern Gold Receives Gubong Project ‘Permit to Develop’

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Southern Gold (ASX: SAU) has been received word from its Joint Venture partner, London-listed Bluebird Merchant Ventures, of confirmation that the Permit to Develop for the Gubong gold mine in South Korea.

Southern Gold explained that the mine had previously been announced as having been approved by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and has now been endorsed by the Cheongyang Provincial Government.

Further explanation informed us that mine development in South Korea is formally approved through a process run by the provincial government.

Southern Gold said the latest nod marks the next important milestone in the project development approval process and is subject to several conditions largely in relation to physical development requirements regarding safety and environmental management.

Bluebird will now present this approval document to the local County government prior to initiating any site works, for which County government approval is required.

“From a practical point of view, the approval is now in hand and allows for the next stage of development works to begin, subject to presentation of these activities to local community members,” Southern Gold said in its ASX announcement.

Southern Gold and Bluebird each hold a 50 per cent interest in Singaporean company Gubong Project JV Co Ltd, which in turn holds 100 per cent of South Korean company Gubong Project Co Ltd, which holds the Gubong gold development project.

Joint Venture costs are shared 50/50 while Bluebird is responsible for day to day operations.

 

Email: info@southerngold.com.au

Web: www.southerngold.com.au

 

Red 5 Inks Option Agreement to Purchase Great Western Gold Deposit

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Red 5 Limited (ASX: RED), by way of the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Darlot Mining Company, has entered into an Option Agreement for the right to purchase a 100 per cent interest in Mining Lease M37/54, containing the Great Western gold deposit in Western Australia.

Red 5’s subsidiary struck the deal with Terrain Minerals (ASX: TMX) at a consideration for the issue of $2.2 million worth of ordinary fully paid shares in Red 5.

An option fee payable to Terrain Minerals of $300,000 is payable in immediately available funds within five business days.

Red 5 said the proposed acquisition provided a low-risk opportunity for the company to increase its Mineral Resource base within economic trucking distance of the Darlot gold processing plant.

“This represents a strong opportunity for Red 5,” Red 5 managing director Mark Williams said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Mining Lease M37/54 has an existing Mineral Resource, and is located in close proximity to our existing Darlot operations.

“This option agreement with Terrain Minerals provides the opportunity to complete additional drilling and confirm this potential with minimal upfront cash outlay.

“Darlot is one of the great gold mines of the Eastern Goldfields, operating continuously for over 30 years and producing approximately 2.9 million ounces of gold to date.

“It is a core asset for Red 5 and we have a multi-pronged plan underway to deliver continued growth in Resources and mine life.”

 

Email: info@red5limited.com

Web: www.red5limited.com

 

Meteoric Resources Encounters Visible Gold in First Novo Astro Hole

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Meteoric Resources (ASX: MEI) was champing at the bit to inform the market of recent developments from recently commenced drilling at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Novo Astro gold project in Brazil.

Meteoric Resources reported on the two holes at the Novo Astro project (NADD001 and NADD002) that were drilled into the José target, at the western end of a five-kilometre long mineralised corridor defined by historic Garimpeiro pits and rock chip samples.

NADD001 targeted mineralisation and veining sampled at the eastern end of the José Pit and was drilled to a depth of 135 metres, intersecting three zones of moderate to strong sericite‐pyrite alteration at 52.5m to 54.1m, 70.2m to 80.1m and 118.7m to 120.1m in porphyritic granite.

The deepest zone contained fine visible gold and corresponds with the projection of the high‐grade mineralisation and veining within the pit.

NADD002 targeted another mineralised corridor below the José Pit and intersected a 56m zone at 134m to 190m of variably sheared and altered porphyritic granite.

Meteroic identified two zones of 7m and 8m thickness, which show intense sericite and pyrite alteration at 134.2m to 141.6m and 182.m to 190.0m respectively.

“Novo Astro is a giant Garimpeiro mining centre that was very active in the 1980s which continues to be the site of small‐scale mining even today,” Metreoric Resources managing director Andrew Tunks said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Over the years a considerable body of work has been compiled at Novo Astro by previous explorers including pit sampling, geological mapping, soil geochemistry and selective rock chip sampling.

“However, until Meteoric, it had NEVER been drilled.

“We are delighted to be the team that drilled the first hole into Novo and we are excited that our first drill hole has intersected visible gold.

“The visible gold was only noted after cutting the core in preparation for assaying.

“The presence of gold in the core confirms mineralisation and veining continues at depth beneath historic workings.

“This is just the beginning of our exploration at Novo Astro and we have abundant targets to test and holes to drill.

“To advance the program, a second diamond drill rig was mobilised from Juruena to Novo Astro last week.

“As a geologist and explorer, the first holes into a new project is always one of the most exciting times in the life of an exploration program and I look forward to bringing assay results to the market as they become available from late November.”

 

Web: www.meteoric.com.au