Emmerson Resources inks deal to restart Tennant Creek gold mining

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Emmerson Resources (ASX: ERM), with its partner, Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) announced the signing of a ‘small mines’ Tribute Agreement with Edna Beryl Mining Company (EBMC).

The agreement allows EBMC to commence permitting and if successful, mining of the high-grade Edna Beryl gold deposit, part of Emmerson’s Northern project area, located within the Tenant Creek Mineral Field.

Once it has secured the relevant permitting, EBMC intends to commence mining at Edna Beryl as soon as it can.

The deal means the mine can be re-opened while Emmerson concentrates on other matters.

Emmerson believes the standalone deal offers it a number of advantages, including a risk-free, near term income stream from its non-core assets via a royalty agreement; future access to refurbished underground workings for near mine exploration; and the opportunity to monetise other non-core assets, subject to formal agreements being executed.

“This agreement is a major step toward the resumption of mining activities within the Tennant Creek Mineral Field,” Emmerson Resources managing director Rob Bills said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The Tribute Agreement is structured so that EBMC is self-sufficient and does not distract from our key task of discovering a new generation of gold-copper deposits in partnership with Evolution.

“Moreover, if successful the tribute agreement will supplement our already healthy cash reserves and provide further opportunities to gain access to these historic, high-grade mines for near-mine exploration, keeping in mind that some of the most famous mines within the mineral field such as White Devil were discovered from similar strategies.”

Website: www.emmersonresources.com.au

Metro Mining signs Chinese bauxite take-off MoU

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Metro Mining (ASX: MMI) has signed a bauxite off-take non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Xinfa Group of China.

Metro described Xinfa Group to be one of the largest integrated aluminium companies in China.

Apart from owning refining and smelting operations in Shandong, Guangxi and Xinjiang Provinces, Xinfa is currently a 7.2 per cent shareholder in Metro.

Metro has forecast total annual production of up to two million tonnes from its Bauxite Hills project.

The company outlined the agreement covers a minimum contract tonnage of one million tonnes a year up to a maximum of 1.2 million tonnes a year over the initial five years term – representing around half of its annual production.

“This MoU shows the strong relationship and exceptional good faith between Xinfa and Metro Mining,” Metro Mining CEO Simon Finnis said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“I am, and all MMI shareholders should be, heartened by the goodwill and support shown by Xinfa.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely together as we finalise a long term contract to the benefit of all concerned.”

Metro Mining said the MoU followed a string of recent positive events for the company, which include positive results from a Pre-Feasibility Study, an increase in the Bauxite Hills Ore Reserve from 12.1 million tonnes to 48.2 million tonnes, and a $5.6 million Capital Raising comprising a fully underwritten shareholder Rights Issue aimed at raising $3.6 million, which followed a $2 million Placement.

“Focus will now be on completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), achieving permitting approvals, undertaking pre-development work including potential pre-commitments for mining and transhipment contractors, and finalising the formal and binding offtake Agreement,” Finnis said.

Email: info@metromining.com.au

Website: www.metromining.com.au

Dacian Gold increases Westralia Resource

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: There was some keen activity around the booth of gold producer Dacian Gold (ASX: DCN) at the Diggers & Dealers Conference.

The commotion was most likely caused by the company’s announcement of an increase to the Mineral Resource for its Westralia prospect, taking it to 9.2 million tonnes at 5.1 grams per tonne gold for 1.5 million ounces of gold above a lower cut-off grade of 2g/t gold.

The company said the updated Westralia prospect Mineral Resource represents a 76 per cent increase, or 652,000 ounces, above the previous Mineral Resource of 4.6 million tonnes at 5.8g/t gold for 853,000 ounces.

The new figure includes an Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.1 million tonnes at 9.2g/t for 318,000 ounces for the new footwall BIF discovery the company announced in July.

The Westralia Resource has now been continuously defined over a strike length of 2.8 kilometres and a vertical extent of 720 metres where Dacian said it exhibits an average endowment in excess of 2,000 ounces per vertical metre.

The company indicated the Resource also contains, between 120m and 560m below the surface (440 vertical metres), an average endowment of over 2,970 ounces per vertical metre at an average grade of 5.4g/t for 1.3 million ounces.

The total Mineral Resource inventory for the Mt Morgans gold project now stands at 47.1 million tonnes at 2g/t gold for 3.1 million ounces.

“Dacian has discovered over one million ounces of gold at both the Westralia prospect and the Jupiter prospect since its IPO in November 2012,” the company claimed in its ASX announcement.

Website: www.daciangold.com.au

Tyranna (aka-IronClad) cashes up with sale of iron ore barge

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Without a booth to call home at the Diggers & Dealers Conference, soon to known as Tyranna Resources (ASX: TYX) – formerly IronClad Mining – chairman Ian Finch was still maintaining a visible profile.

Finch was eager to chat about the company’s announcement regarding the sale of its 57 metre powered barge for US$2 million (approximately $2.7 million).

The barge was part of the infrastructure IronClad Mining had put together to mine the Wilcherry Hill iron ore deposit, which has taken a back seat to the company’s Jumbuck gold project following the recent merger with Trafford Resources.

“The second phase of our restructure is now nearing completion,” Tyranna Resources chairman Ian Finch said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Phase one was completed when the merger of Trafford and IronClad was finalised in May.

“Phase two has been the recapitalisation and rebadging of the merged entity, and the barge sale has been a large part of that process.”

Although the company does have additional asset sales to come, they won’t be as big as this one.

“We do have other assets, in the form of equipment that is superfluous to our needs going forward,” Finch explained.

“At this point, however, we have no plans for sale or disposal of any of our project assets.”

Phase three of the restructure will be the ongoing drilling and development, by Tyranna, of the Jumbuck gold project, covering approximately 8,000 square kilometres surrounding the 1 million ounce Challenger Mine in the North of South Australia.

“After an extensive ‘still stand’ period during which phases one and two of our restructure were accomplished, the company is now heading into the exciting part…its quest to become the next major gold producer in South Australia.”

Website: www.ironcladmining.com.au

Gold Road completes first stage of Gruyere PFS

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) executive chairman Ian Murray had a spring in his step at breakfast on the first morning of the Diggers & Dealers Conference in Kalgoorlie.

His swagger probably had a lot to do with the company announcing it has completed Stage 1 of a two‐part Pre‐Feasibility Study being carried out for the development of the company’s 5.5 million ounce Gruyere gold project, located near Laverton in Western Australia.

Gold Road explained the Study had focussed on Option Studies for the project to determine the best go‐forward case to complete the PFS.

The scenario to emerge is a large‐scale open‐pit mine utilising a conventional 7.5 million tonnes per annum gravity/Carbon In Leach (CIL) processing facility powered by a pipeline‐supplied, gas‐fired power generation plant, for an initial life of mine of 10 to 15 years.

The company said the full PFS, including modelling of capital and operating costs, remains on schedule for completion in the March 2016 quarter.


Source: Company announcement

 

“The detailed work that our team has undertaken allows us to confidently determine that the best option for Gruyere is a production rate of 7.5 million tonnes per annum, using a SABC circuit, combined with gas delivered by pipeline as the preferred fuel source for power,” Gold Road Resources executive chairman Ian Murray said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Since completion of the Scoping Study the Gruyere Gold Mineral Resource has grown by 44 per cent.

“This has allowed the Study Team to examine higher throughput scenarios in the range of five million tonnes per annum through to 10 million tonnes per annum.

“With the upgrade of the Gruyere Resource, we are pleased to report that the Gruyere project has the critical mass to support the larger scale 7.5 million tonnes per annum operation over a longer mine life.

“Having established these Study parameters, our expanded Study Team is progressing the Gruyere project PFS, which remains on schedule to be completed in the March 2016 quarter.”

Email: perth@goldroad.com.au

Website: www.goldroad.com.au

Metals X to acquire RNI gold project

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Metals X (ASX: MLX) has signed a binding Heads of Agreement (HoA) with RNI NL (ASX: RNI).

The deal will result in Metals X acquiring the Grosvenor gold project, the Horseshoe project and part of the Peak Hill project – all located in the Bryah Basin of Western Australia from RNI.

Metals X said the projects include gold prospects hosting a resource base of over 2 million ounces as well as the one million tonnes per annum Grosvenor gold process plant, plus substantial infrastructure including a 100 person village, air strip and borefield.

Metals X explained that RNI has been working up the project in conjunction with its copper exploration, however funding and financing issues had, as Metals X delicately described – “stifled its progress”.

“This is a great acquisition for Metals X in a similar style to several the company has made in the past two years,” Metals X CEO Peter Cook said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We have acquired a substantial gold resource base with all the plant and infrastructure in place for an exceptional price.

“It presents as another low-cost and low-risk gold production opportunity with a lot of upside. It is a good fit to the company’s portfolio and will benefit from some synergistic benefits from our Central Murchison gold project at Meekatharra, which is currently in the development phase.”

Payment for the acquisition involves Metals X allotting 18 million new fully paid ordinary shares in the company to RNI along with a $300,000 interest free loan to RNI for working capital during the sales process which is convertible into shares in RNI at the price of its next capital raising.

The binding HoA also grants Metals X a first right of refusal on any future sale of its existing copper or gold assets by RN

It’s not all one way traffic, however with Metals X agreeing to sell off its Chunderloo copper-gold project at Meekatharra into RNI for a consideration of 25 million new fully paid RNI shares.

This pick-up complements RNI’s existing portfolio of the Cashmans, Morck’s Well and Doolgunna projects and the Peak Hill copper interests.

RNI considers these tenements to host a combined strike of some 120 kilometres of prospective volcanic hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) target horizons.

Previous exploration work carried out by RNI has already identified a series of high-priority copper targets across these project areas.

Email: reception@metalsx.com.au

Website: www.metalsx.com.au

IronClad raises $600k and changes company name to Tyranna Resources

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: IronClad Mining (ASX: IFE) has completed a capital raising of $300,000 by placement of 15 million shares at 2 cents per share to sophisticated investors.

The company also announced the offering of a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) to all eligible shareholders, also at a price of 2 cents per share.

The company said the total equity raising of $600,000 is part of a previously announced company Re-capitalisation following the recent merger with Trafford Resources.

At its AGM, the company’s shareholders voted in favour of renaming the company, which is now to be known as Tyranna Resources (ASX: TYX).

As Tyranna, the company is already in the process of effecting sales of superfluous assets as part of the re-capitalisation program.

Website: www.tyrannaresources.com

Corazon Mining re-negotiates Lynne Lake acquisition terms

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Corazon Mining (ASX: CZN) has negotiated new, more favourable terms for the company’s acquisition of the Lynn Lake nickel-copper project, located in the central Canadian province of Manitoba.

Corazon currently controls the entire historical Lynn Lake nickel sulphide mining area, which includes ground it owns 100 per cent following the acquisition of the Victory nickel-copper project earlier this year and ground on which the company has the rights to acquire 100 per cent.

Under the terms of the original Option Agreement, Corazon was required to make a cash payment of C$1million by 20 October this year to acquire 100 per cent equity in the project.

The company has renegotiated substantially more favourable terms for the acquisition, which it said removes the requirement for the C$1 million lump sum payment, replacing it with half-yearly payments of C$100,000 until payments totalling C$1 million are made.

This will bring the final payment due on 20 April, 2019.

Corazon said by removing the one-off payment, the re-negotiation of terms ensures development work on the Lynn Lake project area will progress.

“This new deal helps with advancement of the project and we’re fortunate that all parties have the common goal of developing Lynn Lake,” Corazon Mining managing director Brett Smith said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We’ve recently consolidated the land package and having all the prospective nickel ground under the control of one company provides an enormous benefit to focus investment and optimise our resources.

“The work Corazon is currently undertaking at Lynn Lake is extremely exciting.

“We have access to an enormous amount of mining and exploration data across the entire project area which is yet to be consolidated and analysed using modern exploration understanding and techniques.”

In April 2015, Corazon announced an initial JORC Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource estimate for the Lynn Lake project of 9.4 million tonnes at 0.88 per cent nickel and 0.4 per cent copper, for 83,000 tonnes of contained nickel and 37,800 tonnes of contained copper.

The company is currently completing mining studies and compiling datasets for modern exploration targeting ahead of proposed drilling.

Email: info@corazon.com.au

Website: www.corazon.com.au

Excelsior Gold gets Zoroastrian mining proposal approval

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Excelsior Gold (ASX: EXG) has received approval for its mining proposal for the development of the Zoroastrian open pits by the Western Australia Department of Mines and Petroleum.

“The Zoroastrian Mining Proposal covers the extension of the haul road linking Excelsior Gold’s deposits to the Norton Gold Fields’ Paddington Mill and the development of the Zoroastrian Central and Zoroastrian Extended open pits,” Excelsior Gold explained in its ASX announcement.

“This approval is in addition to the mining approvals received earlier this month for the mining of the Bardoc South and Bulletin South open pits.”

Excelsior Gold claims Ore Reserves for the Zoroastrian open pits, based on an Australian dollar gold price of $1,380 per ounce, covered by this Mining Proposal to be 1.196 million tonnes at 1.92 grams per tonne gold for 74,200 ounces of gold.

Mining at the Zoroastrian Central and Extended pits is scheduled to commence in November 2015.

The company anticipates these open pits to provide ore for delivery to the Paddington Mill for processing for the first two years of the Capital Contribution and Ore Treatment Agreement, which kicks in in January 2016.

“The approval of the Zoroastrian open pit Mining Proposal further de-risks the project and will facilitate the finalisation of funding arrangements for the mining program,” Excelsior Gold said.

Website: www.excelsiorgold.com.au

Axiom Mining raises funds for Isabel nickel project

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Axiom Mining (ASX: AVQ) has raised $5 million through a private placement of shares to fund ongoing development of the company’s Isabel nickel project in Solomon Islands.

The placement raised $5 million at a price of 37 cents per ordinary share from institutional, sophisticated and professional investors.

Axiom said it was also having further discussions with industry participants interested in providing structured finance, which it hopes to be in a position to make an announcement on soon.

Axiom is confident of further additions to its bank balance indicating it is anticipating the conversion of $9.4 million of options, the vast majority of which it said were due in the next eight weeks.
 
The company is also counting on a further $5 million dollars of funding immediately available from the award of court costs should it receive a favourable ruling from a recent Court of Appeal hearing.

“Today’s funding, plus the award of $5 million in court costs along with $9 million due from the exercise of options, puts Axiom in an enviable financial position,” Axiom Mining Ryan Mount said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We now have 50 per cent of our mine development capital expenditure covered and expect the balance of funding to come from potential customers, this will see us through to production and a positive cash flow position.”

Axiom said resource drilling and camp upgrade activities were currently underway as the company moves towards its target of establishing a Direct Shipping of Ore (DSO) operation by late 2015.

Email: contact@axiom-mining.com

Website: www.axiom-mining.com.au