Gold Road Resources Enters Race for Apollo Consolidated

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) declared its hand as it vies for the affections of Apollo Consolidated (ASX: AOP) shareholders with rival bidder Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS).

Gold Road Resources has emerged with an unconditional off-market takeover offer of 56 cents cash per share for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in Apollo Consolidated.

Gold Road’s asserted its offer superior to the offer announced earlier this week by Ramelius saying it provides Apollo shareholders with a compelling opportunity to realise certain and near-term value for their shares at a price that represents the all-time highest price paid for an Apollo share.

What also emerged from the Gold Road announcement is that it has been in discussion with its target leading up to making the offer.

“Gold Road makes an unconditional off-market takeover offer for Apollo Consolidated Ltd following prior engagement with Apollo and due diligence access,” the company revealed.

Like its rival in Ramelius before it, Gold Road highlighted Apollo’s healthy bank balance of approx. $35 million and its flagship Lake Rebecca gold project, complete with a JORC compliant Mineral Resource of 29.1 million tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne gold for 1.1 million ounces of gold, as the prize for any successful suitor.

“The Offer aligns with Gold Road’s strategy to grow and diversify its growth pipeline with high quality, low risk opportunities in tier one jurisdictions,” Gold Road explained.

“Given a successful outcome, Gold Road intends to undertake continued exploration and studies designed to advance the Lake Rebecca project.

“Gold Road has the balance sheet and capabilities to grow resources at Lake Rebecca and develop new mining operations.

“These activities are exactly aligned with Gold Road’s core competencies, as demonstrated by the discovery of the Gruyere deposit, subsequent resource growth and definition and successful mine construction, commissioning and ramp-up.

“Gold Road’s geological assessment has highlighted a number of as yet untested targets, and Gold Road’s exploration team is experienced at exploring beneath transported cover in the region.

“This strategic acquisition will complement and enhance Gold Road’s existing exploration pipeline by providing an advanced exploration project and diversifying the company’s resource base, aligning with the company’s objective of developing a second operating mine.”

Gold Road’s Bidder’s Statement was released this morning and was greeted with the traditional TAKE NO ACTION response from Apollo Consolidated.

Let the games begin.

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Email: perth@goldroad.com.au

 

Web: www.goldroad.com.au

 

Elixir Energy Set to Start Mongolian Drilling

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THE BOWSER: Elixir Energy (ASX: EXR) is set to commence its 2019 drilling campaign at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Nomgon IX coal-bed methane (CBM) production sharing contract (PSC) located in the South of Mongolia, just near the Chinese border.

Elixir Energy will kick off proceedings with the spudding of the BO-CH-1 chip-hole this weekend.

The company explained the 2019 program has been expanded to include two to four stratigraphic chip-holes in addition to the drilling of two firm and fully evaluated core-holes.

Two rigs will be used and the option to drill a third core-hole remains.

“The commencement of our foreshadowed 2019 drilling campaign is a key step for Elixir’s exploration program over our very large 100 per cent-owned Nomgon IX CBM PSC,” Elixir Energy managing director Neil Young said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The addition of a chip-hole drilling component to the program is a highly cost-effective way of gathering more geological information side by side with the core-holes.”

Elixir intends to not only use the chip-holes to gain valuable data about the general geology and confirm coal continuity, but also to support and substantiate a recently acquired 2D seismic program while de-risking locations for next year’s drilling program.

The company has taken delivery of international standard desorption and permeability testing tools from the USA and Australia respectively and initial training over the use of these technologies with the local contractors has been undertaken.

 

Web: www.elixirenergy.net.au

 

Triangle Energy Raises $3.6 Million to Progress Cliff Head Renewal Project

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THE BOWSER: Triangle Energy (ASX: TEG) has raised $3.6 million having received commitments from both professional and sophisticated investors.

Triangle Energy said the investors had collectively subscribed for 48 million new ordinary shares at 7.5 cents per new share.

In the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange, managing director Rob Towner said funds raised would be used to replenish funds following the acquisition of long lead items to return CH-13 to production and provide working capital to allow the company to progress the Cliff Head Renewal Project to FID.

“We are pleased the Placement received support from our existing shareholders and we also welcome a range of new institutional and sophisticated investors to our register,” Towner said.

“Triangle continues to progress its Cliff Head Renewal Project and its wider Perth Basin oil strategy and to investigate attractive additional development projects.

“We look forward to reporting on project developments and successes throughout the remainder of the year.”

 

 

Web: www.triangleenergy.com.au

 

Comet Ridge Declares Galilee Basin Drilling Progress at Albany 2 Well

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THE BOWSER: Comet Ridge (ASX: COI) updated the market on the progress of drilling operations at the Albany 2 well in the Galilee Basin.

The well is being drilled as part of the Galilee Deeps Joint Venture (GDJV) 2019 drilling program with Vintage Energy (ASX: VEN).

Comet Ridge has taken further core (Cores #2 & #3) from the Lake Galilee Sandstone (LGS) and is now drilling ahead towards the base of the formation.

The company indicated that a large part of the formation has been penetrated and most of the section drilled has been sandstone, which is extremely encouraging.

In its ASX announcement Comet Ridge managing director Tor McCaul said he was excited to see such a significant section of sandstone reservoir in this well, such a long distance from Albany 1, confirming the lateral extent of these sandstones.

“There have been good gas shows through the section, and it was particularly pleasing to see one 10 metre section of sandstone in the core that drilled very quickly, at 17 metres/hr, indicating that it should be high quality reservoir,” McCaul said.

“This particular section of core also showed good mud filter cake (when brought to surface) over part of that length, also an indication of permeable reservoir sandstone.”

McCaul went on to say that he was pleased the JV had obtained such a large section of reservoir core to be analysed, which will enable better stimulation design, later this year.

“I look forward to the well soon reaching total depth so that downhole electric line logs can be run to provide further important reservoir data, including reservoir pressure measurements,” he said.

McCaul further noted that the combination of the core analysis and the log analysis will be critical to enable the GDJV to select which sections of the reservoir are of the highest quality for stimulation and ultimately development and production purposes.

All cores have left the wellsite for Brisbane and will be prepared for a variety of laboratory analyses which will run over the coming weeks, leading to stimulation in 4Q this year.

Comet Ridge also advised that the GDJV has reached the pre-determined Stage 2 funding point of $10 million (gross).

As a result, Vintage has earned a further 15 per cent equity interest in the GDJV, bringing its total interest to 30 per cent.

Vintage was contributing to Stage 2 costs on a 50:50 basis, with the funding contribution for the joint venture to now be incurred in line with the GDJV interests (70:30).

 

Email: comet@cometridge.com.au

Web: www.cometridge.com.au

 

JV Partners Strike Energy and Warrego Energy Announce Major Gas Discovery

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THE BOWSER: The Strike Energy (ASX: STX) and Warrego Energy (ASX: WGO) Joint Venture announced a timely gas discovery that should provide plenty of discussion at the upcoming RIU Good Oil Conference.

The Strike-Warrego Joint Venture announced it has made a, “significant gas discovery”.

The discover is in the Kingia sandstone and was discovered as part of the JV’s West Erregulla-2 drilling campaign.

Logging While Drilling tools confirmed the presence of a thick hydrocarbon bearing zone in the Kingia sandstone at the West Erregulla-2 well.

Elevated mud gas readings were observed whilst drilling.

The logs confirmed the well encountered a total Kingia sandstone of 117 metres with a gross column of 97m and a confirmed net pay of 41m using a 10 per cent cut-off.

The Kingia formation was encountered at 4,753m with gas on rock showing a gross gas column of at least 97m.

The lower section from 4,790m onwards is made up of several high-quality large units of clean sand with thick blocky porosity development.

This 67m section, which has high gas saturation throughout, is interpreted to have net pay of 41m and an average porosity of 14.3 per cent with peaks of up to 19 per cent.

Importantly, the well has not encountered a gas water contact in the Kingia formation which, along with the excellent reservoir quality, is consistent with the seismic amplitude model that supports the interpreted field boundaries.

Strike Energy is the operator and the holder of a 50 per cent interest and Warrego Energy the holder of the other 50 per cent.

Strike completed drilling through the Kingia sandstone encountering the Bit Basher shale.

At the time of announcement drilling had reached to depth of 4,895m where the well is yet to encounter the High Cliff sands.

Strike indicated it will continue drilling through to a nominal final depth of 5,200m at the top of the Holmwood Shale.

This will be followed by wireline logging, side wall coring, casing and running of a production completion followed by a flow test.

“This is truly an exceptional outcome,” Strike Energy managing director Stuart Nicholls said.

“The Kingia results at West Erregulla have exceeded Strike’s highest expectations and indicate a significant discovery that appears to have higher reservoir quality than the Waitsia gas field.

“With West Erregulla-2 now being one of the deepest wells ever drilled onshore Australia and finding such excellent quality sandstone reservoirs, the subsurface paradigms of the Perth Basin are shifting.

“Strike believes it has unveiled a new conventional gas fairway, with these initial results validating our geological model.

“With gas discoveries in the Wagina and now the Kingia sandstones the West Erregulla campaign is company-changing for Strike.

“With the well drilling ahead to the High Cliff sandstones which show an even better anomaly than the Kingia at West Erregulla, the chance of adding a further material discovery looks promising.”

Strike’s excitement was duplicated by that of its JV partner Warrgo Energy with its Group CEO & managing director Dennis Donald declaring the discovery had exceeded its pre-drill expectations for the Kingia and substantially upgraded the company’s view of the West Erregulla gas fields as a whole.

“Our interpretation of analogous Waitsia field data and the seismic amplitude model gave us confidence that West Erregulla-2 would yield results, even though the target formations are substantially deeper,” Donlad said.

“The net pay of 41 metres is significantly thicker than analogues in the Waitsia field and underlines the potential of West Erregulla and EP469 to become an important future source of gas production in Western Australia.

“Drilling will continue through the Bit Basher Shale before intersecting the second primary target, the High Cliff Sandstones.

“For Warrego Energy, the discovery of a substantial, high quality conventional reservoir in the Kingia at West Erregulla is the culmination of 12 years of research, planning, investment and exploration activity in the North Perth Basin.

“The scale is material and has the potential to convert the fields from exploration to production assets in short order.”

The WE-2 well spudded in early June and a conventional gas discovery in the Wagina Sandstone was announced to the ASX on 1 August 2019.

The well will be drilled to a nominal total depth of 5,200 m at the top of the Holmwood Shale, followed by wireline logging and coring before being completed for production and flow testing.

According to Warrego’s announcement further analysis and evaluation of well data and subsequent test results are required before an initial estimate of Resources can be prepared.

The company said the intent is to subsequently flow test the discovered fields in the West Erregulla well.

 

 

Vintage Energy Progresses Albany Field Drilling

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THE BOWSER: Vintage Energy (ASX: VEN) is progressing drilling of the Albany-2 well, located in the Galilee Basin, as part of the company’s Galilee Basin Deeps JV with Comet Ridge (ASX: COI).

Vintage Energy informed the market that Albany-2 is currently drilling ahead at 1848 metres toward the intermediate casing point at 2,430m.

The planned total depth of the well is 2,752m and with drilling, coring and logging, operations are expected to take a total of approximately 31 days.

“The target zone is the Lake Galilee Sandstone, which is estimated to be 280 metres thick and at a depth of 2,430 metres, with a key focus of Albany-2 being the coring of a number of representative sections of the target reservoir sands and intervening shales,” Vintage Energy said in its ASX announcement.

The company explained that the Lake Galilee Sandstone section was encountered in the Albany-1 well and flowed gas, without stimulation, at 230,000 standard cubic feet per day (scfd) from the top 10 per cent of the target reservoir.

The Albany-2 well is located approximately seven kilometres from Albany-1 and is expected to appraise the scale of the gas potential of the conventional Albany Field over its large 61 square kilometre area.

Vintage currently holds 15 per cent of the Galilee Basin Deeps Joint Venture (Comet Ridge 85%).

The company anticipates this equity level to increase to 30 per cent upon completion of Stage 2 farm-in funding obligations relating to the completed Koburra 2D seismic program and the drilling of Albany-2 and Albany-1 ST1.

 

Email: info@vintageenergy.com.au

Website: www.vintageenergy.com.au

 

Leigh Creek Energy Signs Chinese HoA

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THE BOWSER: Leigh Creek Energy (ASX: LCK) has signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) to commence In-Situ Gasification (ISG) in China with China New Energy Ltd (CNE).

Leigh Creek Energy has also been invited to apply for admission as a member of the Shanghai International Energy Exchange by China Lian Cai Petroleum Investment Holdings Limited, a shareholder of the exchange.

Leigh Creek Energy said the HoA originated due to the achievement of a Pre-Commercial Demonstration (PCD) and production of large amounts of gas that ultimately led to the 2P reserve designation of 1,153 petajoules by independent third parties.

The company explained that CNE was established in China to partner with overseas companies with demonstrated growth prospects, strong project and commercial management expertise, and commercial opportunities that align with its strategic investment objective.

CNE has been the major shareholder in LCK since March 2017 and from the outset has understood the opportunity that exists in taking LCK’s ISG process to China.

This means CNE is not just an investor, but a strategic partner with aspirations to produce gas in China with LCK in the future.

Now that the PCD has demonstrated the ability to produced quality gas and the project is moving towards its commercial phase, LCK has been able to move forward on its strategy to enter the Chinese energy market.

The HoA establishes a process to develop a full commercial agreement through a joint working group to formalise documentation through to the formation of a Joint Venture company.

A major focus of the LCK and CNE Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) will be the production of hydrogen and fertiliser using ISG methods for use in China and potentially abroad.

“The HoA with CNE is exciting as it presents a huge opportunity for LCK to move into such a large energy market as China and it is my pleasure to be able to share this news with our shareholders,” Leigh Creek Energy executive chairman Justyn Peters said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This HoA also gives us an opportunity for a quicker path to revenue.

“CNE is a large privately-owned company with assets in mainland China.

“CNE is also our largest shareholder and this agreement shows that, not only are they investors in the company, but have actively worked with LCK to gain a strong foundation in China and positioned LCK for considerable growth.

“This was always the strategic intention when CNE became a shareholder and we are pleased that strategy is now underway.

“China is a nation that is rich in coal with large resource of stranded coal that are suitable for ISG.

“China is also rapidly moving to a ‘Hydrogen Economy’ and is spending billions of dollars on that new energy strategy.

“Leigh Creek’s ISG process has proven that it has the potential to produce massive amounts of hydrogen as a standalone commodity or to be used in the manufacture of fertiliser.

“The development of ISG in China represents a great opportunity for LCK to be a major player in these emerging and important industries.

“We are proud of our relationship with CNE and the opportunity to join the Shanghai International Energy Exchange giving us direct access to the Chinese energy market.

“I would like to thank our two China-based directors who have worked hard on seeing our China strategy coming to fruition and look forward to even bigger and better news in the near future.”

 

Email: contactus@lcke.com.au

Website: www.lcke.com.au

 

Winchester Energy Raises $2.5M from Heavily Supported Placement

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THE BOWSER: Winchester Energy (ASX: WEL) has received firm commitments for the placement of approximately 100 million shares at an issue price of 2.5 cents per share to raise approximately $2.5 million.

Winchester Energy indicated the net proceeds from the Placement will be used to undertake development drilling activities at the Mustang Oil Field at the company’s 17,000 acre leasehold position in the eastern shelf of the Permian Basin, Texas as well as the continued assessment of recently identified prospects.

“Recently drilled discovery well White Hat 20#3 at the Mustang Oil Field has already provided the company with enhanced revenue in a short period,” Winchester Energy managing director Neville Henry said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This highly successful capital raising will provide the company with adequate funding to immediately commence the drilling of a series of high-confidence development wells which have the potential to significantly enhance oil production.

“The next Mustang well will spud in the coming weeks and the company will also immediately commence completion activities at the recently drilled Arledge 16#2 well at the Lightning prospect which recorded a highly encouraging 45 feet of calculated net oil pay in the Cisco Sands.”

 

Website: www.winchesterenergyltd.com

 

Calima Energy Progresses Sale of Namibia PEL 90

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THE BOWSER: Calima Energy (ASX: CE1) has entered into a formal sale and purchase agreement to sell the company’s interest in the Namibia PEL 90 licence (Block 2813B).

Calima Energy is selling the licence to Tullow Namibia Limited, a subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc, a leading deep-water operator with a track record of working in Africa.

Calima explained the transfer of title contemplated by the agreement is subject to customary Government and partner approvals relating to the assignment of interest and transfer of Operatorship.

Calima will receive US$2 million on completion with subsequent success bonuses totalling US$10 million to be paid in two equal tranches (US$5 million) following the grant of a production licence and then upon the commencement of commercial production.

“The completion of a binding sale and purchase agreement is a significant milestone towards completion of this transaction,” Calima Energy managing director Alan Stein said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities exchange.

“We shall now work with the Government and our joint venture partners to secure the necessary consents and approvals required to reach completion.”

 

Email: info@calimaenergy.com

Website: www.calimaenergy.com

 

Strike Energy Completes West Erregulla-2 First Intermediate Section Drilling

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THE BOWSER: Strike Energy (ASX: STX) completed drilling the intermediate hole section of its West Erregulla-2 well to a final TD of 2,499 metres.

Strike Energy said the drilling had encountered the Eneabba formation that had been selected to provide a good setting point.

The company then ran the 11-3/8” casing in hole to the target setting depth of 2,481m before being cemented in place and tied back to the wellhead at surface.

Recent weather conditions have caused some local concerns including road closures, however prior planning for the rain by Strike Energy prevented any material impact on operations to date.

Strike is now preparing to run in hole with the 10-5/8” drilling assembly and commence drilling a second intermediate section to a nominal TD of 4,230m.

The Basal Wagina, a secondary conventional gas prospect, is expected to be intercepted in this section.

Strike Energy explained it that West Erregulla-2 is being drilled in EP 469, which is adjacent to and targeting analogous Permian gas sands of a similar size and nature as the Waitsia gas discovery.

The well will be drilled to a planned total depth of 5,200m and penetrate two additional independent reservoir targets.

These include a conventional gas target in the Basal Wagina sandstones and the primary gas sand sequence in the Kingia High Cliff.

Strike Energy is the operator and the holder of a 50 per cent Joint Venture interest in EP469, and Warrego Energy (ASX: WGO) the holder of the other 50 per cent JV interest.

 

Email: strike@strikeenergy.com.au

Website: www.strikeenergy.com.au