NTM Gold Raising Funds to Continue Redcliffe Exploration

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: NTM Gold (ASX: NTM) announced an equity issue to Institutional and Sophisticated Investors, funds from which will be used to accelerate exploration on the company’s Redcliffe gold project near Leonora in Western Australia.

NTM Gold signalled a raising of $3 million via a primary issue of 60 million shares at an issue price of five cents per share.

Bell Potter is broker to $1.5 million of the Placement to a single Institutional investor while a further $1.5 million is to be placed to G Harvey Nominees Pty Ltd.

Both investors are existing shareholders in NTM.

DGO Gold Limited, NTM’s largest individual shareholder, has the right to support in addition to the Placement so it can maintain its standing interest in NTM.

This will require a contribution of $414,500 on the same terms as the Placement.

The funding will enable NTM continue drilling at Redcliffe where the focus will be on further RC and diamond drilling programs at Hub, with two rigs planned to be on site in the next few weeks.

These programs will follow up the results achieved from drilling to date where the strike of Hub has recently been extended to 1,130m and remains open.

“NTM is very pleased to have completed the placement to two existing and strongly supportive shareholders,” NTM Gold managing director Andrew Muir said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The placement funds, combined with the contribution from DGO, puts NTM in an excellent position to continue drilling the Redcliffe project with two rigs heading to site soon.”

 

Email: contact@igo.com.au

Web: www.ntmgold.com.au

 

Barra Resources Banks $1.5 Million After Raising

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Barra Resources (ASX: BAR) announced the completion of a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) and concurrent Share Placement.

Barra Resources said subscriptions from eligible shareholders under the SPP will result in the issue of 47,725,000 shares totalling $954,500.

The subscriptions were lodged by more than 200 shareholders who collectively own more than 40 per cent of Barra shares.

In addition to the SPP, the company received firm commitments from clients of Shaw and Partners stockbrokers for the Placement of a further 9.9 million shares raising gross proceeds of $198,000.

Total funds raised under the SPP and Placement is approximately $1.15 million.

Barra Resources declared the funds sufficient enough for the company to complete its gold drilling campaign presently underway at the Burbanks gold project, south of Coolgardie in Western Australia and to finalise its much-anticipated Pre-Feasibility Study at the Mt Thirsty cobalt-nickel project near Norseman, also in WA.

“On behalf of the Board of Barra I would like to thank all our shareholders for their vote of confidence in the direction of the company,” Barra Resources managing director and CEO Sean Gregory said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“I have had the opportunity to speak personally with 60 shareholders over the last three weeks and can report strong support for our strategy, optimism for the rise in cobalt pricing, and excitement around the gold drilling underway at Burbanks.”

 

Email: info@barraresources.com.au

Web: www.barraresources.com.au

 

Auroch Minerals Shuffles Boardroom Setting Following Chairman Resignation

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Auroch Minerals (ASX: AOU) advised that it has given current non-executive director Edward Mason a bigger seat at the Boardroom table by appointing hm as non-executive chairman.

Auroch Minerals said it believes Mason to have the necessary skill that will complement the next phase of development of the company, with its primary focus on the exploration of its 100 per cent-owned Saints and Leinster nickel sulphide projects.

Mason’s appointment follows the resignation of Glenn Whiddon as chairman and director of Auroch.

“On behalf of the company, I would like to thank Glenn for his commitment, support, dedication and guidance over the years and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” Auroch Minerals managing director Aidan Platel said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The Auroch Board will now comprise Aidan Platel as managing director, Mason as non-executive chairman, and Chris Hansen as non-executive director.

“I have known Ed for more than 10 years in various roles in the natural resources capital markets arena in Australia and globally, and believe that together with Aidan and Chris Hansen, the company has an experienced board and senior management team to build and grow Auroch over the coming years as a base metal explorer and developer in Australia,” Glenn Whiddon said in response.

 

Web: www.aurochminerals.com

 

Graphex Mining Provides Valuable Insights into Graphite

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Graphex Mining (ASX: GPX) released an announcement to the ASX relating to the company’s ‘markets first’ strategy as it develops its Chilalo graphite project in south-east Tanzania.

Graphex Mining highlighted its recent efforts in developing and enhancing its ‘markets first’ strategy, with a strong focus on non-Chinese markets to complement the company’s existing customer relationships in China.

A key development in this strategy has been the advancement of a low-risk, low capital-intensive, value-added products strategy to enhance the value of its concentrate sales to be included in the upcoming definitive feasibility study (DFS).

What caught our eye, however, was the company’s analysis of the graphite market and the inherent differences within that most punters are probably not, but should be, aware of.

Below is pretty much a word-for-word lift from the company’s ASX announcement.

EXPANDABLE GRAPHITE

Over the past four years, Graphex has engaged numerous end users as well as three independent laboratories to evaluate the use of Chilalo flake graphite (in various mesh sizes) for the production of expandable graphite and to determine how Graphex expandable graphite would perform when compared to other expandable graphite producers and products.

Evaluations have consistently concluded that Chilalo flake graphite, using two different intercalation / oxidation compound formulas, meets the performance characteristics for graphite foils and fire-retardants.

Due to its unique chemistry markers, Chilalo flake graphite meets critical parameters that are required for fire-retardant manufacturers.

Sales of natural flake graphite into value-added markets will achieve higher prices than selling the same graphite into applications such as refractories which generally don’t require any performance qualifications other than meeting minimum purity requirements.

Refractories can formulate to any flake graphite signature in the world to ensure a consistent supply of natural graphite.

This is another reason why reference to ‘graphite prices’ is irrelevant without further defining other characteristics, even if, for example, it is the same product (ie. a +895 product, which is +80 mesh, 95 per cent loss on ignition (LOI), will sell for a higher price as a fire-retardant pre-cursor material than it would selling to a refractory manufacturer).

Source: Company announcement

MICRONISED GRAPHITE

Micronised graphite is a processed form of natural or synthetic graphite, produced by fine grinding flake graphite concentrate into specific micron particle size distributions.

This process allows smaller mesh sizes (- 100 mesh or -200 mesh) to be used as raw material feedstock, creating a high potential margin for producers.

The key requirements of micronised graphite are achieving a range of micron particle size distributions (PSD) and PSD axis variances to meet the various specifications and performance metrics for targeted applications.

There are multiple applications which use micronised graphite products including lubricants, dispersions, pencil, friction, carbon brush, automotive seals, industrial polymers, and Hot Metal Forming (HMF).

The strategy to pursue micronised graphite has a number of advantages:
• Natural flake graphite feedstock to produce micronised graphite is -100 mesh, 95 per cent LOI, which is also a graphite product competing with Chinese suppliers and Syrah Resources Limited and is therefore more likely to attract low prices;

• Micronisation equipment is relatively low capital cost (even so, it is proposed as a second phase following commissioning of the main Chilalo plant); and

• Significant value uplift achievable (weighted average sales price for standard purity micronised graphite based on Graphex’s targeted product mix increased to US$2,800/t FOB Port compared with significantly lower prices for selling -100 mesh concentrate into China).

COARSE VS FINE FLAKE GRAPHITE – A TALE OF TWO MARKETS

Graphite is unlike mainstream commodities in that independent market information is scarce and prices are set between the buyer and seller, rather than by reference to an index or exchange.

There is also no single price that applies to all graphite, with the graphite market comprising a multitude of different applications and specifications.

Furthermore, pricing is impacted by many factors outside of purely flake size and purity.

Coal companies will be quick to point out the differences between coking coal and thermal coal given the different uses and resultant pricing.

Thermal coal is used to generate electricity and currently sells for approximately US$50-65/t depending on quality, while metallurgical or coking coal is used to make steel and currently sells for approximately US$150/t.

The differences in uses, supply/demand and hence pricing are even more pronounced between coarse and fine flake graphite and it is therefore critical to distinguish between these two categories rather than simply talking about ‘graphite’ as a single market.

The table below shows several key differences between coarse and fine flake graphite.

Source: Company announcement

Graphex believes that the major difference comes down to supply and notes that separating Table 1 into coarse flake and fine flake only is an oversimplification due to the complexities of specifications, applications and markets within each category however it broadly demonstrates the substantially different dynamics impacting each size category.

Since the initial discovery of Chilalo in 2014, Graphex has worked to develop its understanding of end markets while seeking to partner with strategic investors to enable delivery of the project.

The Chilalo project is underpinned by a high proportion of large flake material with expansion characteristics, which has taken the company down the expandable graphite market road due to expandable graphite’s attractive growth and value characteristics as well as the size and growth expectations of the expandable graphite market applications, the premium prices for large flake graphite in general and the suitability of Chilalo graphite for the production of expandable graphite applications.

This has resulted in Graphex prioritising supplying the expandable graphite market as its primary focus.

 

Email: info@graphexmining.com.au

Web: www.graphexmining.com.au

 

Altech Chemicals Progressing HPA Plant Construction in Malaysia

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Altech Chemicals (ASX: ATC) kept the market abreast of progress of construction at the company’s high purity alumina (HPA) plant site in Johor, Malaysia.

Altech Chemicals recently carried a final site inspection of the Stage 1 construction works that have now completed on budget and on schedule.

The stage 1 facilities have been formally handed-over to Altech by the EPC contract consortium (SMS group and Metix), consisting of a maintenance workshop building, all site retaining walls, and the on-site detention (OSD) storm water tanks at the rear of the plant site.

Altech indicated that Stage 2 engineering was in train, with SMS group having placed orders with various vendors for the commencement of engineering packages covering approximately 50 per cent of the long lead items.

“Completion of the packages will position SMS group to proceed to final detailed engineering of structures and piping in readiness for plant construction,” Altech Chemicals said in its ASX announcement.

“Also, construction of the on-site electrical substation has now commenced.

“Preliminary excavation, earthworks and the pouring of concrete foundations were recently completed.

“Construction of the substation structure is expected to commence during November 2019, once various off-site fabrication works are complete.”

 

Email: info@altechchemicals.com

Web: www.altechchemicals.com

 

Magmatic Resources Gives David Flanagan a Chair at the Boardroom Table

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Magmatic Resources (ASX: MAG) has appointed David Flanagan to the company’s Board as an independent non-executive director.

Magmatic Resources declared it is entering an exciting new phase at its four East Lachlan gold and porphyry copper-gold exploration projects, and that Flanagan’s vast experience in exploration and developing mines will greatly enhance the company’s capabilities.

“David Flanagan has a strong track record, from greenfields exploration, project development, strategic planning to marketing and has a broad range of global industry contacts,” Magmatic Resources managing director David Richardson said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We are delighted that he has agreed to join our Board and we look forward to his contribution in what is a very exciting period of the company’s evolution as we progress planning our drill programs at our East Lachlan projects.

“David’s assistance in progressing our projects will be invaluable.”

For his part, Flanagan said he was excited to be joining the Board of Magmatic at a point in time where it is on the cusp of unlocking the value of its dominant position in the East Lachlan.

“Alkane Resources Limited’s (ASX: ALK) recent Boda porphyry copper gold discovery has highlighted the significant potential for new Tier 1 copper and gold discoveries in this underexplored region,” Flanagan said.

“With recent discoveries in a region that hosts a number of world class mining operations, I am looking forward to working with the Board and management team in developing and executing a strategy that will assist the company to maximise the value of its projects.”

 

Email: info@magmaticresources.com

Web: www.magmaticresources.com

 

Carawine Resources Adds New Tenements and Welcomes Rio as JV Partner

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Carawine Resources (ASX: CWX) released an ASX double banger in regards to the company’s Paterson project in Western Australia.

The first came in the shape of the addition of four new exploration licence applications to the Paterson project.

Carawine Resources explained its tenement applications were lodged simultaneously with competing applications from up to six other applicants and that in such cases the priority of the competing applications is decided by a ballot conducted by the Mining Warden of Western Australia.

“The results of this ballot are good news for Carawine, especially as we have won the largest of the competing tenement applications, adjacent to and adjoining the Baton tenements,” Carawine Resources managing director David Boyd said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We look forward to progressing these tenements towards grant and evaluating their exploration potential in this highly prospective, and sought-after exploration region.”

The four exploration licence applications, named Cable, Magnus, Puffer and Eider are located in the western part of the Paterson Province, and cover parts of the Broadhurst, Yandanunyah and Isdell Formations.

The Cable and Puffer tenements straddle the Vines Fault, a major regional structure associated with several exploration prospects.

The Broadhurst Formation is host to Metals X’s Nifty copper deposit, with Magnus and Puffer located just one kilometre and 20km respectively from Nifty.

The Cable tenement is immediately adjacent to the company’s granted Baton tenements which were the subject of the company’s second announcement of the day.

Carawine announced a Farm-In and Joint Venture Agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Limited (RTX) a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO).

The Farm-In and JV will explore Carawine’s Baton (E45/4871 & E45/4955) and Red Dog (E45/4881) Tenements where work to date has identified more than twenty high-priority target areas, covering a range of potential deposit types in the Paterson region, all requiring follow-up exploration.

David Boyd said the commitment from Rio Tinto underlined the potential of the Red Dog and Baton prospects.

“To have one of the world’s largest resources companies committing to significant expenditure on our Baton and Red Dog tenements is a strong endorsement of the prospectivity of the Tenements,” Boyd said.

“RTX is actively exploring in the Paterson to complement their Winu discovery.

“They have the technical knowledge and resources to rapidly and systematically evaluate the numerous high priority targets at Baton and Red Dog, increasing the chances of a successful discovery.

“This deal also ensures Carawine is well positioned to share in the benefit of any discoveries, with Rio Tinto well placed to support a potential development should the exploration activities be successful.

“We look forward to sharing the details of the exploration programs as they progress.”

Under the term sof the agreement RTX is to pay $200,000 cash up-front and subscribe for $300,000 of Carawine shares.

RTX is required to spend $1 million on exploration and complete at least 2,000m of drilling within the first two years.

RTX has the right to earn a 70 per cent interest by spending at least $5.5 million within six years and can earn to 80 per cent interest by sole funding to a discovery milestone, or completion of a scoping-level study on any discovery.

Carawine said that RTX brings high-calibre technical knowledge, exploration resources and recent track record of discovery success in the region to the table.

Carawine indicated it will continue target generation work on its other Paterson project tenements, including the newest additions mentioned above, in line with its strategy of advancing exploration programs in its own right, and/or considering suitable joint venture opportunities.

Carawine said an important aspect of the agreement is that it also allows the company to concentrate its resources in the near term on exploration at its Jamieson project in Victoria, where it has identified porphyry-related mineralisation at its Hill 800 prospect, and potential for additional large copper-gold porphyry mineral systems.

A detailed helicopter-borne magnetic survey has commenced at Jamieson, with results to be used to provide targets for direct drill testing of the porphyry model at depth.

Drilling is planned to commence mid-November, initially targeting extensions to known porphyry-related mineralisation at Hill 800 from relatively shallow depths.

 

Email: info@carawine.com.au

Web: www.carawine.com.au

 

Middle Island Receives Positive Results from Sandstone Stand-Alone Re-Optimisation

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Middle Island Resources (ASX: MDI) has had an independent re-optimisation completed at the company’s 100 per cent- owned Sandstone gold project in Western Australia.

Middle Island Resources engaged Mining Focus Consultants (MFC) to undertake a series of Whittle Optimisations based on two input parameters being updated from those applied in the previously conducted Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS).

The company said the Whittle re-optimisation has demonstrated that the Sandstone gold plant can be profitably refurbished utilising feed from MDI’s existing Mineral Resources.

Mining Focus Consultants utilised current gold prices and revised pit slope parameters, with around 90 per cent of the optimised JORC 2012 Mineral Resources classified in the higher confidence Indicated category.

In all other respects the inputs to the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) were applied.

The re-optimisation study utilised a range of contemporary gold prices of $2,000 per ounce and $2,500 per ounce, consistent with the current gold price of $2,180 per ounce and considerably higher than the base-case gold price of $1,600 per ounce utilised in the PFS.

The Two Mile Hill, Shillington and Wirraminna open pit deposits were included in the re-optimisation.

“Based on the positive result of this re-optimisation study, MDI has commenced an update of the PFS,” Middle Island Resources said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“The update will revisit several key inputs, and expected to be of particular significance, re-evaluation of the geotechnical parameters.

“No additional resource definition drilling is planned at this stage, as over 90 per cent of the Mineral Resource is classified in the Indicated category.”

Middle Island indicated that its drilling database records over 265,000m of historic and contemporary, representing approximately 7,163 drill holes located within the company’s tenure.

This represents an average depth of only 37m per drill hole with all gold discoveries claimed to date based on outcropping mineralisation.

Drill holes deeper than 50m have been focussed mainly on the Two-Mile Hill tonalite deeps deposit, much of which has been completed by Middle Island.

“MDI considers the Sandstone project to have excellent exploration potential, combined with the potential stand-alone gold production operation defined by the recent study,” the company said.

Middle Island went on to explain that as part of the Sandstone acquisition, it has proprietary rights to the original Sandstone database including over 1.07 million meters of drilling in over 25,000 drillholes.

This includes the physical drillcore and metadata covering the entire Sandstone greenstone belt, inclusive of all historical drilling completed within the Alto Metals permits.

 

Email: info@middleisland.com.au

Web: www.middleisland.com.au

 

Lithium Australia Implementing a Drive Towards Battery Energy Sustainability

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Lithium Australia (ASX: LIT) has openly declared that its corporate intentions include shoring up an ethical and sustainable supply of energy metals to the battery industry, thus enhancing energy security in the process.

The company is eager to create a circular battery economy and has highlighted the recycling of old lithium-ion batteries to new is intrinsic to this plan.

In October 2019, Lithium Australia announced it had increased its equity in Envirostream Australia Pty Ltd (EA) to 23.9 per cent.

The company believes that by combining the recycling resources of both companies, they will form the only recycling entity in Australia able to not only collect, sort, shred and separate the components of spent batteries but also supply the technology required to recover all the energy metals they contain, to supply as a value-added product or for direct feed for conversion into cathode active materials.

Lithium Australia expects that the restructured EA/LIT recycling business unit will be investment-ready in the first half of 2020.

“Our plan to create greater opportunities for shareholders and potential investors began with increasing our equity in Envirostream,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said in a recent announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We see the recycling of spent batteries as a significant opportunity, given the increased legislative and community focus on environmental responsibility.

“Envirostream’s existing business model and Lithium Australia’s metal extraction technologies could exist in perfect symbiosis, and we are planning for a public listing.

“Meanwhile, other company business units are approaching commercialisation and, as they do we, will adopt a similar approach in the interests of our shareholders.”

Lithium Australia has plans to restructure its asset base.

This, it believes, will provide greater value for its shareholders and provide current and future investors with the opportunity to choose in which company business units they prefer to invest.

LIT business units are as follows include the recycling deal mentioned above and the use of primary extraction technologies developed to generate high-purity lithium chemicals from waste material.

They also include the manufacture of batteries.

LIT, through its wholly-owned subsidiary VSPC Ltd, has already created LFP cathode powders from mine waste and recycled batteries on a pilot scale.

The produced LFP powders are being incorporated into commercial-format 18650 coin-cell lithium-ion batteries at DLG’s plant in China.

LIT is finalising its Pre-Feasibility Studies into the production of LFP cathode powder and, as part of that study, mounting a trade delegation to China in early November 2019.

There, the company will assess opportunities to partner with existing Chinese cathode-powder producers, with a view to utilising existing plant and infrastructure for a faster and lower-capital pathway to commercialisation.

Meanwhile, LIT and DLG have incorporated Soluna Australia Pty Ltd, with the aim of supplying battery products into the energy storage industry nationally.

The focus will be on fringe-of-grid and off-grid applications. Legal formalities should be completed shortly and staff recruitment has commenced.

Lithium Australia is currently revising the orebody model for the company’s Sadisdorf lithium/tin deposit in Germany and is also in discussions with third parties regarding involvement in the exploration and assessment of a number of its Western Australian exploration assets.

 

Email: info@lithium-au.com

Web: www.lithium-au.com

 

Marenica Energy Expands Exploration Team

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Marenica Energy (ASX: MEY) announced a few new additions to its exploration team, with the expectation of support for the expansion of exploration activities on the company’s large uranium tenement position in Namibia.

Marenica indicated the new chums would also add expertise to the advancement of its extensive Australian uranium tenements and deposits that are subject to completion of the acquisition from Optimal Mining Limited.

First new appointment is Jessica Bezuidenhout as general manager – Namibia with responsibilities for overseeing the smooth running of the company’s Namibian operations.

Bezuidenhout is an environmental scientist with 13 years exploration and mining experience in Australia and Namibia, whom Marenica believe will ensure that exploration activities are completed under the most efficient and optimal conditions.

Joining her is Berti Roesener who has been appointed consulting exploration manager – Namibia.

Roesener is a geologist with over 33 years geological experience in Namibia, in particular, on the mineralisation type targeted by Marenica, being calcrete hosted uranium mineralisation.

Dave Princep has been appointed consulting geologist and will oversee, from a technical point of view, all planning, execution and analysis of exploration activities in Namibia.

Princep also has extensive experience on exploration for calcrete hosted uranium mineralisation and mining in Namibia, having worked for Paladin Energy and Deep Yellow on their projects in Namibia, over the last 16 years.

Whilst working at Paladin, Princep also prepared or oversaw the mineral resource estimates on the majority of the Australian tenements Marenica is set to acquire from Optimal – which were previously owned by Paladin – providing him with much knowledge of these assets.

“The addition of these highly experienced personnel to the Marenica exploration team, will support the acceleration in our exploration activities,” Marenica Energy managing director Murray Hill said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“With a combined 80 years of exploration and development experience we welcome these consultants to the team at an exciting time for the company.”

 

Web: www.marenicaenergy.com.au