Blackham Resources Confirms Wiluna Transitional Reserves Compatible with CIL Plant

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Blackham Resources (ASX: BLK) kept the market abreast of metallurgical testwork underway on Wiluna oxide and transitional ores at the company’s Matilda-Wiluna gold operation in Western Australia.

Blackham Resources is conducting the Wiluna mining and metallurgical studies following the success of the Wiluna Expansion Preliminary Feasibility Study (Expansion PFS) carried out in 2017.

The company explained the latest testwork confirms the Wiluna oxide and transitional ores are an attractive feed stock for the current operating Wiluna CIL plant.

All the historic open pits were processed through the Wiluna CIL plant except for the 2007 East pit cut back.

Blackham said the metallurgical testwork it has carried out on both the oxide and transitional ores has confirmed that these ores are best processed through the current CIL plant.

In the Expansion PFS it was conservatively assumed that the transitional ores would be processed through the Flotation and Biox Plant (Sulphide Circuit).

The transitional ore can gain higher recoveries through the CIL plant cutting the processing cost by approximately 30 per cent compared to the sulphide circuit.

“Blackham is currently re-estimating the open pit free milling resources and reserves around the Wiluna Mine site,” the company said in its ASX announcement.

“The Blackham management team believes the free milling ores within the existing Wiluna Mine footprint are an attractive feed stock for the current operating mill and allows for fast tracking mining approval.”

 

Email: info@blackhamresources.com.au

Website: www.blackhamresources.com.au

 

Anova Metals Completes First Second Fortune Gold Pour

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Anova Metals (ASX: AWV) completed the first gold pour at the company’s Second Fortune gold project in Western Australia.

Anova Metals said the total gold produced from the pour weighed in at 245 ounces comprising ore from sorted low-grade stockpiles and level 1 development ore.

The company indicated that sorted development ore and stope ore from level 1 will be processed over the next week with a further gold pour proposed soon.

Mining Stoping of ore on level 1 is almost complete while stoping on the level 2 has commenced on the southern end of the development drive with haulage to Burbanks to commence shortly.

“Anova is delighted to have reached this significant milestone for the Second Fortune gold project and join the ranks of WA gold producers,” Anova Metals executive chairman Bill Fry said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We look forward to the continued production from Second Fortune over the coming months.”

 

Email: info@anovametals.com.au

Website: www.anovametals.com.au

 

Metallica Minerals Makes Loan With Intent to Purchase

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Metallica Minerals (ASX: MLM) has entred a loan agreement with South West Pacific Bauxite (HK) Ltd (SWPB), 75 per cent owner of the advanced Wagina bauxite project in the Solomon Islands.

Metallica Minerals is lending SWPB $120,000, in exchange for which Metallica has been granted an option to carry out exclusive due diligence on Wagina with a view to ultimately completing a transaction involving the project.

Metallica is also progressing its Urquhart bauxite project on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula towards production.

The company explained it has been canvassing growth options to enable it to increase its production profile towards the previously stated target of five to seven million tonnes per annum of bauxite, over three to five years.

Metallica said its initial assessment of Wagina suggests the project meets its criteria as an advanced long-life, low-cost asset that has the potential to deliver long term value for shareholders.

“After an extensive and disciplined search in Australia and overseas, we are excited to have identified the Wagina bauxite project as an asset that is potentially the right fit for the company,” Metallica Metals managing director Simon Slesarewich said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This project has the ability to significantly extend our current Reserve life and lift the production profile beyond what Urquhart will deliver when it comes online.

“Similar to Urquhart, Wagina has the potential to be developed at a relatively low capital cost and in a manner that could deliver outstanding returns.

“We have been selective with growth opportunities and we intend to be thorough in our due diligence on Wagina as the Solomon Islands is a new jurisdiction for the company.

“We look forward to commencing this process and expect to announce the results later this year.”

 

Email: admin@metallicaminerals.com.au

Website: www.metallicaminerals.com.au

 

Marindi Metals Resumes 100 Per Cent Control of Yalco Project

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Marindi Metals (ASX: MZN) has resumed sole control of the Yalco exploration project in the Northern Territory.

Marindi Metals said the resumption of control over the project followed it receiving notification from Teck Australia Pty Ltd of its intention of withdrawing from the Yalco Joint Venture.

Teck has spent over $3 million on the Yalco project since the JV was established in 2013, and Marindi now intends to conduct an independent review of all work completed by Teck to determine the optimum path forward.

“Marindi’s primary focus in the Northern Territory is on its highly prospective Caranbirini zinc project, adjacent to the world-class McArthur River zinc mine,” Marindi Metals said in its ASX announcement.

“As announced on 27 March 2018, major Japanese resources group, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has entered a farm-in agreement enabling it to earn up to a 70 per cent interest in the Caranbirini project by sole funding up to $4 million in exploration over three years.”

 

Email: info@marindi.com.au

Website: www.marindi.com.au

 

Lithium Australia Moves SiLeach LSPP closer to completion

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Lithium Australia (ASX: LIT) reported on progress on construction of the company’s large-scale pilot plant (LSPP) to demonstrate its SiLeach® process at commercial scale.

Lithium Australia indicated the front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the plant is on track.

The FEED undertakings include preliminary equipment specifications, material selection, infrastructure, assessment of contracting strategies, discussion with vendors selected for the supply of specialised equipment, and logistic and scheduling activities.

The FEED study is scheduled for completion in Q3 2018.

Detailed metallurgical test work – designed to confirm final process design criteria in key areas of the flowsheet, including beneficiation, acid digestion and removal of impurities – is also well advanced.

Flotation test work on a master composite of the expected LSPP feed has focused on identifying the optimum combination of flotation feed particle size, mass recovery, stage efficiency, concentrate grade and re-grind product particle size.

Past test work indicated the importance of removing ultrafine particles from the flotation feed, since these can lead to poor mica recovery.

Results of the latest test work show lithium recoveries of 86 to 94 per cent, with 60 to 73 per cent of the mass reporting to rougher concentrate at a grade of 3 to 3.6 per cent Li2O (lithium oxide) from a feed grade of 2.5 per cent Li2O.

“The FEED study is advancing well and the improvements in lithium recovery are very encouraging,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We’re pleased with the increase in confidence around by-product recovery, which is an important aspect of the SiLeach® revenue stream – we believe it will allow us to produce lithium chemicals from minerals but at the same low unit cost as that of the brine producers.

“Preliminary discussions with potential off-take partners have been encouraging and our planned laboratory-scale pilot run at ANSTO, while aimed primarily at finalising the flowsheet for construction, will generate significant amounts of lithium chemical product for testing by potential off-take partners.”

 

Email: info@lithium-au.com

Website: www.lithium-au.com

 

Azure Minerals Increases Recoveries and Concentrate Grades at Oposura

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) completed further metallurgical testwork at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Oposura zinc-lead-silver project in Mexico.

Azure Minerals reported the testwork has continued to make improvements on the already positive results it has achieved to date at Oposura.

Locked cycle flotation tests, simulating the continuous operation of a typical sulphide flotation circuit, demonstrate that Oposura can expect increased zinc and lead recoveries with higher concentrate grades than those reported previously.

“The successful production of clean, commercial grade concentrates at high recoveries has eliminated a possible major project risk and strongly enhances the project potential,” Azure Minerals said in its ASX announcement.

The latest testwork comprised a locked cycle test involving a typical lead-silver and zinc sulphide flowsheet which represents an industry standard flotation circuit.

The result of the locked cycle test was a zinc concentrate grading a high 57.2 per cent zinc with a zinc recovery of 85.6 per cent and a lead concentrate grading 61.4 per cent lead at a lead recovery of 84 per cent.

Silver recovery to the lead concentrate was 67.1 per cent silver at a concentrate grade of 323.8 grams per tonne silver (10.4 oz/t silver).

Both the zinc and the lead concentrate grades achieved in the locked cycle test were high above the typical industry benchmark grades of 53 per cent zinc and 60 per cent lead, thereby improving the marketability of both products.

“Azure expects that, under standard operating parameters, recovery of zinc and lead into their respective concentrates would be greater than those achieved in the locked cycle test, should the company wish to produce concentrates at the lower benchmark quoted concentrate grades,” the company said.

 

Website: www.azureminerals.com.au

 

Lithium Australia Completes VSPC Acquisition and Identifies Lithium in Lepidolite Hill Waste

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Lithium Australia (ASX: LIT) has completed procurement of advanced cathode material production technology by way of acquiring 99.7 per cent of technology company VSPC.

Lithium Australia took over the Brisbane-based VSPC, which has spent 14 years and approximately $30 million developing some of the world’s most advanced manufacturing techniques to produce cathode materials.

LIT explained these materials are critical components of lithium-ion batteries, the growing demand for which is currently driven by rapidly increasing demand for EVs and consumer electronics.

The advanced battery materials being developed by VSPC are also applicable to green energy solutions, including as back-up for sources of renewable energy.

Since completing the takeover in February, LIT has undertaken re-commissioning of the company’s cathode plant, including negotiating time-critical service agreements, recruitment of technical and operating staff and service agreements have been arranged with universities to support the technical demands of the project.

The VSPC facility is a two to four tonnes-per-annum pilot plant, incorporating an integrated laboratory, coin-cell production facility and battery-testing equipment.

LIT indicated that plant inspections and servicing are underway, as is evaluation of equipment upgrades, to prepare for resumption of production in July 2018.

“Recommissioning the VSPC pilot plant is a challenging task, but many of the past scientific and operating staff have made themselves available to ensure success,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We welcome their assistance and participation in our plan to provide the world’s battery producers with the best available cathode materials.”

Lithium Australia has also completed further testwork on ore-sorting products from its Lepidolite Hill lithium project that it said indicates successful separation of lithium micas using an X-ray transmission ore-sorting method.

The company said existing stockpiles at Lepidolite Hill are potentially an attractive source of feed for its proposed large-scale pilot plant (LSPP), either as supplementary feed or a major source of feed.

On the basis of these initial results Lithium Australia believes potential exists to not only separate out petalite, as well as lepidolite, from surface stockpiles but also to undertake further exploration at the project; the latter would target possible in-situ lithium resources outside and/or below the current historic open-pit mine workings.

“Although our aim at Lepidolite Hill is exploitation of lithium mica, it’s not surprising to find such abundant petalite in the mine dumps,” Griffin said.

“Lepidolite Hill operated as a petalite mine in the 1970s, and perhaps the recovery of the target minerals was not as good as the operators would have liked!

“Ore-sorting will certainly enhance rapid separation of the lepidolite.

“That said, we’ll also devote significant attention to the recovery of other lithium minerals that result in a grade of about 1.8 per cent lithium dioxide in the reject material.

“We’ll probably drill at the south end of the existing pit, to see how far the lithium mineralisation extends beyond what was left in the pit wall.”

 

Email: info@lithium-au.com

Website: www.lithium-au.com

Venture Minerals to Reassess Mt Lindsay Tin Potential to Meet Electric Vehicle Demand

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Venture Minerals (ASX: VMS) has responded to industry chatter regarding the expected high demand from the fast growing (electric vehicle) EV market.

Venture Minerals indicated it has commenced a detailed reassessment of the high-grade tin and tungsten resource base at the company’s Mount Lindsay project in Tasmania.

Venture presented data indicating tin being independently ranked as the number one metal most impacted by modern technology demand.

The company considers itself as being uniquely positioned with Mount Lindsay being one of the largest undeveloped tin projects in the world, containing in excess of 80,000 tonnes of tin metal.

The Mount Lindsay project also hosts, within the same mineralised body, a tungsten resource containing 3.2 million MTU (metric tonne units) of tungsten trioxide (WO3).

Venture declared it has a large resource base to draw from and indicated it intends to look at strategies to optimise the higher-grade portions at Mount Lindsay, which previously reported resources included 4.7 million tonnes at 0.4 per cent tin and 0.3 per cent WO3.

Venture said it would now look to focus on assessing the underground mining potential of this high-grade Resource.

“Knowing that the Mount Lindsay project has a large tin resource that could be harnessed to meet applications in Electrical Vehicles and renewable energy has refocussed the company to revisit its approach in developing this asset,” Venture Minerals managing director Andrew Radonjic said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“With Mount Lindsay, Venture is now well placed to take part in the EV revolution.”

 

Email: info@ventureminerals.com.au

Website: www.ventureminerals.com.au

Lithium Australia Set to Complete Maiden Sadisdorf Drilling

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Lithium Australia (ASX: LIT) informed of progress at the company’s polymetallic tin-lithium Sadisdorf project in Saxony, Germany where the company is farming into a Joint Venture with German company Tin International AG.

Lithium Australia said the Sadisdorf project has the potential to provide feed to a commercial scale SiLeach® lithium carbonate plant.

The project is located on the doorstep of the German automotive industry, which is rapidly gearing up to produce large numbers of electric vehicles.

Late last year, LIT announced a JORC (2012) Inferred Mineral Resource of 25 million tonnes grading 0.45 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O) (at a cutoff of 0.3% Li2O) at the project.

Sadisdorf JV partner Tin International AG has previously defined a JORC (2012) tin Inferred Mineral Resource of 3.36 million tonnes at 0.44 per cent tin (at a cutoff of 0.25% tin).

The JV is just about to complete a diamond-drilling program at the Sadisdorf project, which was designed to validate historical drilling data and increase confidence in future mineral resource estimates.

LIT explained that geological logging of the core has shown encouraging visual indications.

The company has made completion of sampling and assaying of the remaining core a priority over April and May and it expects to provide a further update from Sadisdorf, including assay results from the completed drill program, in coming weeks.

“The mineralisation encountered in the drilling to date supports our vision of unlocking the value of the historic tin-tungsten mine Sadisdorf by adding lithium as an additional value driver,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Further metallurgical evaluation, including SiLeach® testing, will follow the drilling program with results being announced as they become available.”

 

Email: info@lithium-au.com

Website: www.lithium-au.com

 

Magmatic Resources Makes Yamarna Move

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Magmatic Resources (ASX: MAG) picked up two highly prospective gold exploration licences, within the proven Yamarna greenstone belt northeast of Laverton in Western Australia.

Magmatic Resources’ Yamarna gold project consists of exploration licence E38/2918 where the company has a binding agreement to acquire Landslide Investments Pty Ltd, the holder of the tenement, and exploration licence application E38/3312.

The total 252 square kilometre Yamarna project area is situated just 15 kilometres northwest of the six million ounce Gruyere gold mine, currently under construction by major gold miner Gold Fields and its Joint Venture partner Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR), which made the initial Gruyere discovery.

Gold Fields also owns 20 per cent of Magmatic Resources.

“The addition of the Yamarna gold project is in-line with the company’s acquisition and evaluation strategy being applied to its advanced exploration portfolio in New South Wales,” Magmatic Resources managing director David Richardson said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Both the Yamarna project and separate acquisition of the Mt Venn copper-nickel-cobalt project, just 40 kilometres to the west, are located in proven mineralised districts and are targeting gold and growth commodities.”

 

Email: info@magmaticresources.com

Website: www.magmaticresources.com