Torian Resources Making Fast Work of Goldfields Exploration

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THE INSIDE STORY: The Goldfields region of Western Australia is home to some of the world’s largest gold producers with a long history with the most precious of metals.

The region has generated multi-million ounce gold discoveries supplying numerous projects, many of which have developed into producing mines.

Torian Resources (ASX: TNR) has emerged as a highly active gold exploration company with a focus on finding the gold mines of tomorrow.

The company currently has four advanced projects located in the Goldfields region of WA.

The Zuleika project is a Joint Venture with Cascade Resources, under which Torian has the right to earn up to a 49 per cent interest in the project by spending a total of $5 million over four years.

The company recently achieved a 12.25 per cent interest in Zuleika by having spent the required minimum of $1.25 million in the first year.

The project consists of tenements covering approximately 223 square kilometres lying partly along strike of several major gold deposits, including Northern Star Resources’ (ASX: NST) seven million ounce East Kundana Joint Venture (EKJV).

Drilling at Zuleika this year, on Targets 10 to 14, resulted in the discovery of a one kilometre mineralised strike length at Target 10.

This supported results from previous drilling, which had identified a high-grade system at Targets 16 and 17 with best results including:

1m at 58.8 grams per tonne gold from 1m;

3m at 22.72g/t gold from 66m;

3m at 16.62g/t gold from 54m; and

5m at 5.69g/t gold from 40m.

“This area has been neglected for many years by previous explorers, but is shaping up to be a priority target for the Joint Venture,” Torian Resources managing director Matthew Sullivan told The Resources Roadhouse.

“These results clearly demonstrated our ground to be highly prospective for large gold deposits.

“The high-grade results at targets 16 and 17 support Torian’s strategy of regional consolidation and systematic exploration, which has proven to be successful and we believe it will continue to deliver shareholder value.”

The Mt Stirling project, located approximately 40km northwest of Leonora, comprises 19 prospecting licences covering an area of 23sqkm.

Within Mt Stirling, Torian owns 100 per cent of the Mt Stirling Well prospect, and 51 per cent of the Mt Stirling and Mt Cutmore prospects with an option to earn up to 90 per cent of each prospect under the terms of two separate joint venture agreements.

The Mt Stirling Well prospect has an outcropping Inferred Resource of 41,300 tonnes at 8.54g/t gold for 11,300 ounces of gold.

Much of this resource, whilst inferred, is a high-grade, oxidised system, located at surface, which Torian believes may be amenable to low cost mining.

This Resource is open in all directions and further exploration at this prospect is a high priority.

Torian is preparing to commence drilling to determine the overall size of the Resource and to assess the project as a standalone mining operation.

In May, Torian, along with Cascade, acquired the 38.6sqkm Bardoc project, located 40km north of Kalgoorlie.

The project sits just 16km from the three million tonnes per annum Paddington processing plant and north along strike of Excelsior Gold’s (ASX: EXG) 1.4 million ounce Zoroastrian and Excelsior deposits.

In June, Torian completed an oversubscribed placement to sophisticated and professional investors raising $3.5 million.

The funds will be used to accelerate its exploration efforts, especially at Zuleika, as well as completing step out drilling at Mt Stirling Well while keeping an eye out for further acquisitions and consolidations within the region.

“We are a small company that is moving fast and we don’t believe in sitting around wasting our time,” Sullivan said.

“We have already been active in the areas of exploration and consolidation, and while we continue to receive encouraging drilling results we will keep active in order to continue to develop our assets and add value for our shareholders.”

Torian Resources Ltd (ASX: TNR)
…The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
Unit G4
49 Melville Parade
South Perth WA 6151

Ph: +61 (8) 6216 0424

Email: info@torianresources.com.au
Website: www.torianresources.com.au

DIRECTORS
Andrew Sparke, Matthew Sullivan, Elissa Hansen, Glenn Jardine

Panoramic ready to fly when nickel price moves

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THE INSIDE STORY: The global nickel sector became an unwitting beneficiary when the Philippines overwhelmingly elected its new president, Rodrigo Duterte, in June.

Soon after coming to power Duterte announced a campaign against irresponsible mining in the country, which has already resulted in the suspension of around 10 per cent of the country’s nickel ore production and the results of an environmental audit currently underway could lead to up to 25 per cent of production being suspended.

The Philippines produces about 10 per cent of the world’s nickel ore annual.   

Being China’s biggest supplier, these actions rocked nickel’s world with the price hitting an 11-month high of $10,900 a tonne in July, and maintaining a price well above $10,000 a tonne since.

Australian nickel play Panoramic Resources (ASX: PAN) is watching proceedings carefully.

Panoramic placed its Savannah nickel mine in Western Australia on care and maintenance earlier this year due to the negative effects of a decade low nickel price.

The recent revitalization of nickel has Panoramic well placed, having conserved cash over the past months while actively growing the mine’s resource base to ensure the Savannah Project can restart on a lower cost base and with a long mine life.

Panoramic recently upgraded the Savannah North Resource to 175,000 tonnes of nickel, 74,400 tonnes copper and 12,700 tonnes cobalt, taking the combined Resources at Savannah to 226,400 tonnes nickel, 104,000 tonnes copper and 15,3000 tonnes cobalt.

Numbers are good, but the reality is the company now boasts Resources at Savannah 3.5 times greater than when it commenced mining in 2003.

“There’s an expectation the nickel price will trade higher in the medium term as the market moves back into deficit after more than four years of surpluses,” Panoramic Resources managing director Peter Harold told The Resources Roadhouse.

Panoramic is currently focused on mine planning and scheduling at Savannah, and also at its Lanfranchi operation that was also placed on C&M, to allow a quick restart when prices return to levels that ensure both operations can make an acceptable margin.

The lull in nickel proceedings afforded Panoramic time to take a closer look at its Gum Creek gold asset near Wiluna in WA.

The company has announced it intends to divest the Gum Creek gold asset by way of an initial public offering (IPO), under the terms of which Panoramic will sell Gum Creek for a consideration of $15 million, in return for 50% of the new company, which will then be required to raise an equivalent amount.

The new company will put the funds to work fast tracking exploration activities on new IP targets along the Wilsons Shear and to continue Feasibility Studies on oxide and refractory orebodies.

A recent Scoping Study demonstrated Gum Creek could produce approximately 60,000 ounces of gold per year for at least five years, from various oxide orebodies.  

“The Gum Creek project also host a significant amount of high grade refractory material and preliminary testwork has demonstrated a low temperature/pressure leach of a gold concentrate could be an attractive option to maximise value from the refractory material,” Harold said.

“Further testwork and studies will be carried out on both the refractory and oxide orebodies with funds from the IPO.”

Other precious metals projects owned by Panoramic include two 100 per cent-owned platinum and palladium (Pt+Pd) projects; Panton, located just 60km from the Savannah project which hosts two million ounces Pt+Pd in Resource and Thunder Bay North, located in Ontario, Canada, which hosts 700,000 ounces Pt+Pd in Resource.

Recent testwork undertaken at Panton suggests improved metallurgical recoveries and concentrate grade, and the potential for ore sorting prior to concentrating.      

In Canada, Rio Tinto can earn up to 70% interest in the Thunder Bay North project by spending up to C$20 million over five and half years.

Rio has been drilling at Thunder Bay in 2015 and its interest in the project provides a strong vote of confidence for the future, together with skills, expertise and resources.


Panoramic Resources Limited (ASX: PAN)
…The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
Level 9, 553 Hay Street
Perth, WA 6000

Ph: +61 (8) 6266 8600

Email: info@panres.com
Website: www.panoramicresources.com

DIRECTORS
Brian Philips, Peter Harold, John Rowe, Peter Sullivan

Investigator adds copper potential to Paris silver inventory

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Investigator Resources (ASX: IVR) remained patient throughout the mineral resources downturn as it waited for silver to be revitalised.

The wait has been rewarded with the silver price enjoying a considerable run since the beginning of 2016 from around the US$14 per ounce mark to be currently hovering between the regions of US$19 to US$20 per ounce.

The timing has been ideal for Investigator as the company gains momentum at its 33 million ounce Paris silver project in the southern Gawler Craton of South Australia.

Investigator has been consolidating development studies on the Paris deposit, and other exciting silver, copper-gold and nickel targets it has identified, preparing an exhaustive round of drill testing.

The project received a big tick of approval from investors in July, when the company announced the raising of $5.4 million from an oversubscribed placement to sophisticated and professional investors.

The company intends using the funds in its efforts to upgrade the project’s 33 million ounce Resource while rapidly advancing feasibility studies with an eye on reaching production.

The objective now is to use the funds from the raising to accelerate development to transform Investigator Resources from being an explorer to becoming a producer,” Investigator Resources managing director John Anderson told The Resources Roadhouse.

“Our stated priorities for 2016/17 are to complete the pre-feasibility study for the Paris silver project.

“We are actively re-assessing silver targets with potential to build on the Paris resource.

“In the interim, the infill drilling of the Paris deposit is planned to commence in late September to meet our on-going priority of accelerating the development of the project.”

As well as the Paris silver project, Investigator also has a number of other exciting opportunities it considers ripe for new discoveries, which it has earmarked for selected target drilling during the next 12-months.

These include new silver targets near Paris, which Investigator believes could be either additions to the Paris resource or separate standalone silver targets with conceptual potential for larger and higher-grade styles of silver deposits.

The company has also identified porphyry-style copper-gold deposits, in particular the Nankivel copper-gold target, where the first drill hole, PPDH147, intersected a large copper-bearing porphyry system.

Investigator believes the Nankivel hole, which is being co-funded by the SA State Government PACE incentive scheme, will become a signature drill hole for a new style of large copper deposits in South Australia.

Its thinking is based on the reasoning that porphyry copper deposits generally occur in local and regional clusters associated with gold and silver deposits.

The results from the Nankivel hole provide the State with the opportunity to expand its copper discovery opportunities beyond its well-established inventory of IOCG deposits like Olympic Dam.

“We have determined the Nankivel porphyry to be most likely around the same age as the giant Olympic Dam deposit, making it one of the oldest preserved copper porphyry systems in the world,” Anderson said.

“The Nankivel hole will provide data for vectoring towards shallow copper targets within the porphyry system.

“This includes the conceptual potential for copper-gold rich veins at the top of the porphyry system for which there is evidence of mineralised float assaying up to 1.4 grams per tonne gold at Nankivel.

“The confirmation of a porphyry centre also upgrades the prospectivity for further silver deposits in the outer parts of the Paris-Nankivel field.”

The new drill core will undergo state-of-the-art spectral logging techniques by the Geological Survey (GSSA) branch of the DSD with the copper-gold assays expected in October.

Other petrological work and mineral spectral logging of the core will look for exploration vectors to any copper-rich zones within the porphyry system.

When results are in, Investigator will select the best locations for further copper-gold drill testing at Nankivel, including consideration the use of electrical geophysics to refine the targets.


Investigator Resources Limited (ASX: IVR)
…The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
18 King Street
Norwood, SA 5067

Ph: +61 (8) 7325 2222

Email: info@investres.com.au
Website: www.investres.com.au

DIRECTORS
Roger Marshall, John Anderson, Bruce Foy, David Jones

Azure Minerals gets investor support for Alacran

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THE INSIDES TORY: Mexico-focused Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) is not only progressing two advanced-stage projects in one of the world’s foremost precious metal and base metal mining provinces, it is doing so in partnership with two of the world’s major mining companies.

The first is the Alacrán silver-gold-copper project, which Azure has an option to purchase 100 per cent from Canadian major, Teck Resources.

Azure’s second major project is the Promontorio copper project over which, in 2014, the company signed an Earn-In and Joint Venture Agreement with Kennecott Exploration Company, part of the Rio Tinto Group.

Kennecott has to spend US$45 million to earn an 80 per cent interest in the project, after which Azure is free carried for the next US$200 million of JV expenditure. A major exploration program including deep diamond drilling targeting a large porphyry copper deposit is currently in progress.

Of late, much of the company’s focus has been dedicated to the Alacrán project since it confirmed discovery of the Mesa de Plata silver deposit and the Loma Bonita gold deposit.

It has since established a JORC Code-compliant Mineral Resource – 100 per cent Indicated – for the deposit, estimated to contain 25.9 million ounces of silver, with 15.3 million ounces hosted within a near-surface High-Grade Zone (HGZ).

Azure is currently undertaking studies into the development of a mining and processing operation, particularly focusing on the extracting the HGZ.

Adding further interest to the Alacrán project is the Loma Bonita gold prospect, which is located just 200 metres to the east of the Mesa de Plata silver deposit.

Recent drilling at Loma Bonita successfully extended the footprint of the deposit to over 450m in a north-south direction and up to 150m east-west, with some drill intercept of gold mineralisation in excess of 100m.

The mineralised zone remains open in all directions and drilling is continuing.

Best intercepts from recent Loma Bonita drilling include:

MDPC-089
49.5m at 1.59 grams per tonne gold and 29g/t silver from 54m, including 34.5m at 2.03g/t gold and 34g/t silver from 54m;

MDPC-090
111m at 0.81g/t gold and 18g/t silver from surface, including 30m at 1.56g/t gold and 15g/t silver from 34.5m; and

MDPD-020
14m at 1.59g/t gold and 36g/t silver from surface, including 8.1m at 2.45g/t gold and 39g/t silver from 4m.

“These results are very encouraging and support our belief Loma Bonita could become a substantial gold deposit, particularly as the grades and thicknesses of the gold zone appear to increase significantly to the south,” Azure Minerals managing director Tony Rovira told The Resources Roadhouse.

“Loma Bonita is now a high priority for Azure, as are the ongoing development studies we have underway at Mesa de Plata where drilling to upgrade the Mineral Resource to Measured status continues.

“Meanwhile, we have a grass roots exploration program continuing with diamond drilling proceeding further to the south of Loma Bonita at Cerro San Simon and Cerro Enmedio testing substantial geochemical and geophysical anomalies.”

Azure Minerals recently raised approximately $16 million through a placement to institutional and sophisticated investors.

The funds raised have been earmarked to accelerate development studies and to continue the company’s aggressive exploration campaign at Alacrán.

“We received a lot of strong investor support for the raising, which ultimately strengthened the company’s balance sheet,” Rovira said.

“There was a great deal of support shown from both existing shareholders and institutions, not just from Australia, but also from our loyal supporters from North America and Europe, two regions that have a great understanding of mining in Mexico, in particular of silver and gold.

“It is testament to the Alacrán project, which I consider to be one of the most exciting projects I have been involved with, and I am looking forward to being able to accelerate both our development and exploration programs.”

Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS)
…The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
Level 1, 34 Colin Street
West Perth, WA 6005

Ph: +61 (8) 9481 2555

Email: admin@azureminerals.com.au
Website: www.azureminerals.com.au

DIRECTORS and MANAGEMENT
Peter Ingram, Tony Rovira, Wolf Martinick

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Sprott Inc. 10.7%
Drake Private Investments 7.8%
Yandal Investments (Mark Creasy) 7.2%
Dynamic Precious Metals Fund 4.9%

Impact Minerals hits bonanza silver grades at Silica Hill

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT) declared and encounter with “exceptional silver grades” along with encouraging grades of associated gold at the emerging Silica Hill discovery within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Commonwealth project, located 100 kilometres north of Orange in New South Wales.

Impact said the 48 metre thick zone of mineralisation from hole CMIPT011 comprises of numerous narrow high-grade and bonanza grade sulphide veins, some of which up to 40 centimetres thick, as well as disseminated sulphides within the rock surrounding the veins.

The overall intercept for Hole CMIPT011 returned:

48.6 metres at 137 grams per tonne silver (4.4 ounces) and 0.5g/t gold from 122m down hole, or 2.5g/t gold equivalent (AuEq).

Impact explained the zone has an upper silver rich part and a lower gold rich part, with intercepts from this zone returning:

1.75m at 1,785g/t silver (57 ounces) and 1.8g/t gold from 147.7m, including 0.9m at 3,146g/t silver (101 ounces) and 2.4g/t gold from 148.1m;

23m at 224g/t silver (3.6 ounces) and 1g/t gold from 147.7m, including 2.9m at 406g/t silver (13 ounces) and 0.6g/t gold from 157.6m – within which is a 15 cm vein that returned 3,600 g (116 ounces) of silver and 0.4 g/t gold

This 23m intersection also included 4m at 104g/t (3.4 ounces) silver and 1.5g/t gold from 160m and 1.1m at 4.7g/t gold and 23g/t silver from 169.5m.

“These exceptional silver grades and associated good gold grades indicate that grade is increasing as we get deeper into this unusual and unique deposit,” Impact Minerals managing director Dr Mike Jones said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We have believed for some time that the mineralisation discovered so far lies at the top of a system that may have considerable depth extent.

“To get grades this good in this particular part of the system is very encouraging for further high-grade mineralisation at depth.

“We look forward to further drilling as we continue in our search to uncover what lies beneath Silica Hill.”

Email: info@impactminerals.com.au

Website: www.impactminerals.com.au

Expansion study to unlock Blackham’s untapped potential

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THE INSIDE STORY: Blackham Resources (ASX: BLK) recently claimed the handle of Australia’s newest gold miner, however it is on track to very soon become the country’s newest gold producer.

Blackham Resources has commenced mining operations at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Matilda gold project, located near Wiluna in Western Australia.

The Matilda gold project consists of four very large gold systems, the current largest and best known of which is the historic Wiluna gold mine, to the south is the Matilda and Lake Way systems.

In addition to these is the Quartz reefs that start at the Wiluna mine and extend for 15km to the North West.

Wiluna currently holds a Resource of 3.5 million ounces of gold and has historically produced over four million ounces over the past 100 years.

The total open pit mine plan, incorporating the Matilda, Williamson and Galaxy mines, consists of 5.8 million tonnes at 1.7g/t gold for 324,000 ounces (including stockpiles) of shallow free milling ore to be mined over the first four years.

To supplement the open pit ore, Blackham has commenced underground mining to access the high-grade Golden Age orebody.

The Golden Age initial mine plan consists of 226,000 tonnes at 5.8g/t gold for 38,000 ounces of free milling ore, which Blackham will mine over the first two years.

Golden Age remains open both to the east and up dip and hosts underground Reserves comprising 112,000 tonnes at 6g/t gold for 21,000 ounces.

The Golden Age reef has existing access via the Bulletin decline and has mining infrastructure in place thanks to the project’s previous owners, and good geotechnical conditions, which has allowed easy re-entry to the mine.

The least explored system of the four is Lake Way where Blackham has identified a number of targets and has the potential to hold as much, if not more, than those it has already established within the Wiluna field.

“In July we started mining at our Matilda gold mine and we have also started mining at the Golden Age underground mine,” Blackham Resources managing director Bryan Dixon told The Resources Roadhouse.

“We are currently in the final stages of the refurbishment of the Wiluna gold plant with our initial focus being to produce gold at a rate of 100,000 ounces per annum.”

Blackham’s initial objectives are well grounded, given the company has an eight year mine life across four very large gold systems and a Resource comfortably sitting at over five million ounces of gold at a grade of over three grams per tonne.

All this is complemented by a market cap of around $230 million (approx. $25 per resource ounce), which has been bolstered by a strong share performance over the past 12 months, increasing by over 500 per cent comparing more than favourably against the gold index, which has increased by 140 per cent.

“Once we have completed the refurbishment and recommissioning of the Wiluna plant, we aim to roll straight into expansion work to better utilise the five million ounces we currently have,” Dixon said.

Blackham’s strategy is to eventually ramp up production from the Matilda project to beyond 200,000 ounces per annum.

Having commenced mining at the Matilda mine, the company’s objective for Stage Two of the project will be bringing additional resources into the mine plan.

The 3.5 million ounces at 5.8 grams per tonne gold of Wiluna sulphides will be the focus of an expansion study which Blackham currently has underway. 

The current eight year life of mine is rapidly growing with the inclusion of additional sulphides from Wiluna, Blackham is looking to increase capacity to allow a growth in production to around 175,000 to 230,000 ounces.

This appears to be more likely than not to occur as Blackham continues to optimise the operations and the mine plan with further Reserve upgrades to come from four million ounces it currently has sitting outside the mine plan.

Open pit mining at Wiluna ceased in the early 1990s when the focus of the previous owners shifted to mining high-grade underground deposits.

Historical drilling carried out at Wiluna mainly focused on underground mining targets, following mineralisation down plunge with only limited drilling along strike of the known deposits.

Blackham’s plans for expansion at Wiluna received a great deal of encouragement from the completion of extensional drilling programs carried out earlier this year on the Wiluna Shear System targeting extensions at a number of open pits and undergrounds.

The program consisted some 17 RC holes for 4,067m, targeting an expansion of the mineralisation at the Wiluna mine.

The drilling program was designed specifically to test areas within 150m of existing open pits and underground development to clarify the presence of any extensions to mineralisation that could be rapidly converted to resources.

The first round of results came from drilling at of the Essex deposit, returning results including:

WURC0008
5m at 10.8 grams per tonne gold from 134m, including 3m at 16.4g/t gold;

WURC0009
6m at 3.47g/t gold from 104m, including 3m at 16.4g/t gold, 6m at 8.99g/t gold from 119m, including 3m at 16.4g/t gold, 19m at 6.71g/t gold from 128m, including 5m at 19.7g/t gold and 18m at 4.88g/t gold from, 181m including 7m at 8.81g/t gold.

“The positive results from the drilling at Essex provided the boost we required to immediately plan a program of follow up drilling,” Dixon said.

“We are also now looking at a revision of the Resource estimate at Essex.

“The Essex drilling confirmed further high-grade shallow mineralisation along the Wiluna East Lode Fault.”

On the back of the Essex drilling, Blackham completed further drilling at the West Lode, Squib and Happy Jack deposits, which provided further justification for its decision to focus on the Wiluna mine.

Drilling on these deposits returned results of:

WURC0004
5m at 13.7g/t gold from 191m, including 3m at 20.9g/t gold;

WURC0006
8m at 3.44g/t gold from 48m, including 4m at 5.42g/t gold; and

WURC0011
12m at 7.52g/t gold from 147m, including 2m at 38.1g/t gold.

“Our strategy across the entire project remains fairly simple,” Dixon explained.

“That is to chase open pit and shallow underground mineralisation close to existing infrastructure.

“By leveraging off the existing data, we have been able to add significant ounces to the Matilda gold mine plan very cheaply.

“We are already planning up a round of follow up drilling on this latest drilling.

“All results will be incorporated into the ongoing open pit and underground mining studies.

“We are confident we have identified a significant amount of mineralisation that the company considers can be profitably mined in today’s higher gold price environment.”

Blackham also recently announced a maiden Indicated and Inferred Resource estimate for the Moonlight Shear Zone, located less than two kilometres from the Wiluna gold plant 

The estimate of 2.6 million tonnes at 4.6g/t gold for 381,000 ounces of gold galvanized the company to commence open pit and underground mining studies on the deposit, which will focus on identifying shallow oxide and transitional resources along strike of the existing open pits where the mineralisation continues along the shear zones.

Blackham are very close to pouring gold and have an aggressive internal growth goal to achieve 200,000 ounces per annum, which if successful would make Blackham transitional Blackham to a mid-tier gold producer.

Blackham Resources Limited (ASX: BLK)
… The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
Level 2, 38 Richardson St
West Perth WA 6005

Ph: +61 8 9322 6418

Email: info@blackhamresources.com.au
Web: www.blackhamresources.com.au 

DIRECTORS
Milan Jerkovic, Bryan Dixon, Alan Thom, Greg Miles, Peter Rozenauers,

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Citicorp Nominees 10.9%
HSBC Nominees 10.5% 
Hunter Hall 9.9%

Peel Mining strengthens Cobar Superbasin portfolio

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THE INSIDE STORY: Perth-based Peel Mining (ASX: PEX) has widened its focus on the Cobar Superbasin located in New South Wales.

Peel Mining has enjoyed a promising run of news from its two Cobar Superbasin projects in recent times with the discovery of the Wirlong copper deposit and the high-grade Mallee Bull copper-polymetallic deposit.

There has been more recent good news from both of these projects, however, we will get back to that later.

Firstly we need to look at the company’s latest Cobar dalliance – the Wagga Tank project.

Peel completed the acquisition of the tenements EL6695 and EL7226 from MMG Australia and Golden Cross Operations earlier this year.

The tenure covers a number of prospects Peel consider well worth the effort of following up, including Wagga Tank, Fenceline, Siegals, BMW, and Mt Allen.

Of these Wagga Tank is emerging to be the ‘prospect most likely’.

Peel has already designated Wagga Tank to be a, “highly prospective polymetallic (zinc-lead-gold-silver-copper) prospect with many significant drill intercepts”.

Although there has been no drilling carried out on the deposit since 1989, historic programs undertaken by previous owners led to the defining of a non-JORC compliant inferred resource estimate with results, including:

HD-9
5.3 metres at 2.09 grams per tonne gold, 1164g/t silver, 9.36 per cent copper, 0.78 per cent lead from 119.8m;

HD-11
15.4m at 133g/t silver, 0.4 per cent copper, 4.5 per cent lead, 12.5 per cent zinc from 140.1m;

HD-12
7.5m at 99.4g/t silver, 7.25 per cent lead, 18 per cent zinc from 215.6m; and

HD-14
2.5m at 0.24g/t gold, 100g/t silver, 0.25 per cent copper, 8.59 per cent lead, 11.6 per cent zinc from 216.2m.

“We ran the ruler over the historic drilling and immediately wanted to get in for a closer look,” Peel Mining managing director Rob Tyson told The Resources Roadhouse.

“Our first stop was a program of preliminary field reconnaissance we undertook on the EL6695 Wagga Tank tenement.

“Two rock chip samples were taken from the Wagga Tank and Siegal’s Shaft prospects located on the licence, with both returning very encouraging, highly anomalous values.”

Results from the sampling returned:

At Siegal’s Shaft
PRT01
0.69 per cent lead, 0.31 per cent zinc, 16g/t silver, 2.01g/t gold; and

PRT02
0.31 per cent lead, 0.93g/t gold;

At Wagga Tank 
PRT03
0.26 per cent copper, 2.97 per cent lead, 0.2 per cent zinc; and

PRT04
0.29 per cent copper, 1.45 per cent lead, 0.30 per cent zinc. 

“Our initial review of data at Wagga Tank has indicated the mineralised system remains open along strike and at depth,” Tyson said.

“It also showed the Siegal’s Shaft/MD2 prospect area, defined by historic workings, coincident geochemical and geophysical anomalies including a strong positive magnetic anomaly, to be insufficiently tested.

“We noted that the historic drilling predominantly focused on following-up surface geochemical anomalism and associated IP anomalies.

“But we were encouraged by the holes drilled on the margin of the magnetic anomaly, which encountered substantial intercepts of disseminated and massive sulphide mineralisation.”

The better intercepts from this drilling included:

MMGMD2001
9m at 31.7g/t silver, 0.24g/t gold, 0.41 per cent copper, 0.76 per cent lead, 1.44 per cent zinc from 108m, including 1m at 83.8g/t silver, 0.5g/t gold, 0.98 per cent copper, 2.09 per cent lead, 4.58 per cent zinc from 115m;

SD1
1m at 65g/t silver, 0.8 per cent copper, 3.4 per cent lead, 4.44 per cent zinc from 70m; and

SP1
6m at 55.2g/t silver, 0.73g/t gold, 1.11 per cent copper, 1.3 per cent lead, 3.41 per cent zinc from 55m.

“We’re excited by the potential of Wagga Tank,” Tyson said.

“We have RC drilling programs proposed to commence at both prospects during the September quarter.”

Drilling is something Peel Mining does well, which it has continued to demonstrate at its Wirlong discovery.

Phase 3 drilling at Wirlong, funded by JOGMEC, through an earn-in agreement, in April completed eight drillholes, comprising a combination of RC drillholes and RC precollar with diamond tail drillholes designed to test along strike and up-dip from previous drilling.

All follow-up drillholes intersected copper mineralisation, extending the known mineralisation at the deposit, which remains open in all directions.

Results from the Phase 3 drilling at Wirlong include:

WLRCDD024
121m at 0.73 per cent copper, 3g/t silver from 207m, including 26m at 1.21 per cent copper, 5g/t silver from 227m, 5m at 1.14 per cent copper, 3g/t silver from 260m, 2m at 1.24 per cent copper, 5g/t silver from 278m, 10m at 1.01 per cent copper, 4g/t silver from 288m;

1m at 4.81 per cent copper, 10g/t silver from 556m;

1m at 3.91 per cent copper, 11g/t silver from 617m; and

4m at 1.10 per cent copper, 3g/t silver from 723m.

WLRC026
2m at 3.8 per cent copper, 11g/t silver from 36m;

5m at 0.63 per cent copper, 2g/t silver from 71m; and

46m at 0.51 per cent copper, 2g/t silver from 229m, including 9m at 1.27 per cent copper, 4g/t silver from 255m.

WLRCDD027
16m at 0.56 per cent copper, 4g/t silver from 57m; and

10m at 0.74 per cent copper, 5g/t silver from105m

WLRCDD028
90m at 0.68 per cent copper, 3g/t silver from 412m, including 9m at 1.29 per cent copper, 7g/t silver from 412m, 19m at 1.36 per cent copper, 6g/t silver from 432m; and

1m at 6.96 per cent zinc, 0.58 per cent Pb, 6g/t silver from 546m.

“We have now defined significant copper mineralisation at Wirlong over at least 200 metres strike, and from near surface to more than 500 metres below surface,” Tyson said.

“Mineralisation remains open up and down dip and along strike.

“Our initial interpretation of these latest results suggests a possible easterly offset to the mineral system to the north, as evidenced by highly anomalous copper mineralisation returned from the upper part of WLRCDD027.”

Peel has flagged future activity at Wirlong will focus on extending the known mineralisation while targeting potential higher grade structures at the deposit as well as downhole electromagnetic surveying.

The company recently recommenced drilling at its Mallee Bull project with the stated intention of searching for new mineralisation.

The latest program will be testing EM conductors to the north of Mallee Bull, targeting potential shallow mineralisation (hopefully a repeat, or extension to the T1 deposit), and to test the T3 remanent magnetic anomaly southeast of Mallee Bull.

As the first of its major discoveries Mallee Bull is something of a sentimental favourite of Peel Mining.

Its mineralisation strongly displays features of the ‘Cobar-style’ deposit attributes of short strike length, moderate widths and extensive vertical continuity, with the deepest mineralised drillhole intercept at more than 800m below surface.

Peel established a maiden resource estimate for Mallee Bull in May 2014, in accordance with the JORC Code (2012), comprising 3.9 million tonnes at 2.3 per cent copper, 32g/t silver and 0.3g/t gold for 90,000 tonnes of contained copper, 4 million ounces contained silver and 43,000 ounces contained gold (at a 1% copper equivalent cut-off).

The Cobar Superbasin project includes the Wirlong prospect and is subject to a Memorandum of Agreement with Japan Oil, Gas, and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC).

JOGMEC can earn 50 per cent interest by funding up to $7 million of exploration, over a period of five years.

Peel Mining Ltd. (ASX: PEX)
… The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
Unit 1
34 Kings Park Road
West Perth WA 6005

Ph: (08) 9382 3955

Email: info@peelmining.com.au
Web: www.peelmining.com.au

DIRECTORS
Rob Tyson, Simon Hadfield, Graham Hardie

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Hampton Hill Mining NL and associates: 17.15% (Josh Pitt and Neil Tompkinson)
Point Nominees Pty Ltd: 11.64%
William Hodgson and Associated Companies: 10.5%
Rob Tyson: 5.3%

On the verge of making an Impact at Silica Hill

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THE INSIDE STORY: Impact Minerals decision earlier this year to focus on expanding the already established Resource at the Commonwealth gold-silver-zinc project has already started to pay off.

Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT) 100 per cent-owned Commonwealth project is located 100 kilometres north of Orange in New South Wales.

The Commonwealth project is already ahead of a number of its peer projects in that it has an established mineable gold equivalent resource and a one million ounce – plus exploration target.

Commonwealth has current Inferred gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc Resources of 720,000 tonnes at 4.5 grams per tonne gold equivalent (AuEq) containing 110,000 ounces AuEq, including 140,000 tonnes at 9.3g/t gold for 47,000 ounces AuEq.

Impact Minerals holds the 315 square kilometre project in high regard, and considers it to have the potential for small scale, early production.

Of late, Impact has received a highly-encouraging run of results from a reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling program it has been conducting at Commonwealth, to the point where it recently announced it was to be extended by about 25 per cent to follow up encouraging assay results achieved at the Silica Hill, Walls and Commonwealth prospects.

The drill program is testing a number of targets Impact had previously identified at four separate locations across the Commonwealth project.

These include the eponymous Commonwealth deposit, Silica Hill, the Walls- Welcome Jack Trend, and Doughnut.

A maiden drill hole at the Walls prospect, 1.2 kilometres east of Commonwealth identified a 20 metre thick zone (true width) of gold and silver mineralisation.

The Walls prospect lies at the southern end of the Welcome Jack Trend, which extends over a strike length of at least one kilometre and has not been previously drill tested.

Impact viewed the maiden drill result from Walls to be encouraging for the discovery of further high-grade gold-silver mineralisation, deeming it to indicate potential for near surface open pit resources at the dopiest.

However, it was drilling at the Silica Hill deposit where strong interest grew, as three new drill targets emerged from the identification of two important controls to the higher grade mineralisation in the Silica Hill-Commonwealth deposit when combined with assays from previous drill holes.

It was decided two of the targets would be immediately included into the current program with the third area likely to require a new drill permit from the NSW Department of Mines.

Studies completed by Impact indicated the possibility the high grade mineralisation at Silica Hill and Main Shaft may be linked at depth.

A gold-silver-in-soil anomaly extends in a NE direction from Main Shaft towards Silica Hill and widens in that direction, which remains open to the north and north-east.

Impact believes this to be further indication the two areas may be linked and further drilling at depth is required.

“The results showed a clear overlap in the nature and style of mineralisation, in particular silver, as well as the alteration minerals between the two prospects,” Impact Minerals managing director Dr Mike Jones told The Resources Roadhouse.

“Areas where the two styles of mineralisation connected became obvious priority target areas.”

The subsequent drilling at Silica Hill resulted in the discovery of a 75 metre thick zone of vein and disseminated sulphide mineralisation.

The mineralisation was encountered by Hole CMIPT043 from 99 metres to 174 metres down hole.

Impact released assays for the first 60m of the zone drilled by reverse circulation drilling.

The last 15m of the zone was diamond drilled with the company still awaiting assay results as the time of writing.

The assays revealed the mineralised zone to have an upper silver-rich and a lower gold-base metals rich part, containing a number of higher grade intercepts – mostly associated with the veins.

Assay included:
60m at 0.4 grams per tonne gold, 51g/t (1.6 ounces) silver, 0.2 per cent zinc and 0.1 per cent lead or 1.3g/t gold equivalent from 99m;

This included:
30m at 0.1 g/t gold and 77 g/t (2.5 ounces) silver, 0.2 per cent zinc and 0.1 per cent lead or 1.3g/t gold equivalent from 99m; and

10m at 2g/t gold, 38g/t silver (1.2 ounces), 0.4 per cent zinc and 0.2 per cent lead or 2.9g/t gold equivalent from 149m (to end of RC hole at 159m).

Six higher grade intercepts were encountered within these broad zones, which Impact considers, together with the diamond drill core, demonstrate the presence of numerous veins containing very high-grades of silver and probably other metals.

The upper silver-rich part of the zone also included intercepts of note including:
1m at 122g/t (4 ounces) silver and 0.2g/t gold from 108m;

1m at 146 /t silver (5 ounces) and 0.1 /t gold from 118m;

2m at 373g/t (12 ounces) silver, 0.2g/t gold, 1.8 per cent zinc and 0.9 per cent lead from 123m, including 1m at 525g/t (17 ounces) silver, 0.1g/t gold, 2.1 per cent zinc and 1.1 per cent lead from 124 m; and

1m at 0.1g/t gold and 337g/t (11 ounces) silver from 134m.

The lower part of the zone produced the first significant gold assays from the Silica Hill prospect with higher grade intercepts within a 10m thick zone including:

1m at 2.3g/t gold, 64g/t (2 ounces) silver, 1 per cent zinc and 1.1 per cent lead from 153m; and

1m at 6.4g/t gold and 18g/t silver (0.5 ounces) from 155m.

“There is little doubt this new discovery at Silica Hill is a very significant development for the Commonwealth project,” Jones said.

“It demonstrates that very thick widths and also high-grades of mineralisation exist outside the Commonwealth deposit and that we have been able to achieve an intercept like this very early on in our drilling at the prospect is extremely encouraging.

“Having previously encountered very high-grade intercepts of massive sulphide from the northern end of the Commonwealth deposit itself, these latest results should allow us to increase in the project’s resource.

“It should come as no surprise that we are now very keen to test this new discovery along trend and at depth where potentially it may even connect to the underlying massive sulphide.”

Impact has interpreted the new newly-discovered zone connects to previous thick intercepts in two drill holes drilled during previous campaigns at Silica Hill.

CMIPT011 returned:
20m at 44g/t silver from 122m ending in mineralisation; and

CMIPT026 which returned:
39m at 0.3g/t gold and 16g/t (half an ounce) silver (0.6g/t gold equivalent) from 5m.

According to Impact, there has now been significant silver-gold mineralisation defined by drilling over an area of 200m by 100m down to 200 metres below surface.

The mineralisation is open in all directions, including up-dip towards surface.

Impact has now moved the diamond drilling rig with the intention of re-entering hole CMIPT011. 

This hole has also returned significant mineralisation over a 50m width with assays pending.

Interpretation of previous results has determined this hole to have intersected the top of the mineralised intercept encountered in Hole CMIPT043.

Impact is hopeful that deepening the hole with diamond core will allow the company to glean further insights into the trend and nature of the newly discovered mineralisation.

Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT)
…The short story

HEAD OFFICE
26 Richardson Street
West Perth WA 6005

Ph: +61 (8) 6454 6666

Email: info@impactminerals.com.au
Web: www.impactminerals.com.au

DIRECTORS
Peter Unsworth, Dr Mike Jones, Paul Ingram, Markus Elsasser, Felicity Gooding.

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Bunnenberg Family 28%
Squardron Resources 6%
Directors 7%.

S2 Resources: Gold, Gold, Gold from Western Australia

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THE INSIDE STORY: Some companies take time to hit their straps, while others seem to make their presence known within very short time frames.

Since listing on the Australian Securities Exchange in October 2015, S2 Resources’ (ASX: S2R) ‘shake the tree’ ethos has ensured momentum and kept its news flow ahead of expectations.

No sooner had The Roadhouse written its last piece on S2, focusing on the progress being made on the company’s massive sulphide (VMS) style Skellefte project in Sweden, it released a swathe of results from its Polar Bear gold project located between Higginsville and Norseman in Western Australia.

The Polar Bear project covers the southern continuation of the St Ives and Zuleika shear zones, which are the major controls on gold mineralisation in the region.

There are no shortage of gold pundits out there willing to tell you that all the shallow WA gold deposits have been discovered and it’s always entertaining when somebody comes along to prove them wrong…again.

In their defence Polar Bear and S2’s adjacent land wasn’t exactly sitting above ground waving to passers-by, it actually kept itself well-concealed beneath the salt lake sediments and sand dunes of Lake Cowan.

However, it does cover more than 500 square kilometres of underexplored ground in a strong gold neighbourhood, located between the world class gold producing centres of St Ives and Norseman – two mining camps each having produced around 10 million ounces – and southeast of the two million ounce Higginsville gold operations of Metals X (ASX: MLX).

The fun began in May 2016 when drilling at the Nanook prospect – one of three gold ‘hotspots’ S2 has identified over a 10 kilometre distance on a single trend at Polar Bear – confirmed the continuity of gold mineralisation previously identified in wider spaced drilling carried out by Sirius Resources, the company taken to much success by S2 managing director Mark Bennett.

Several holes of an 82 aircore drilling program intersected gold mineralisation in gravels at the base of the Nanook palaeochannel, and in some cases also in the weathered bedrock immediately beneath it.

Results from this program included:

SPBA3817 
16 metres at 51.3 grams per tonne gold from 44m to end of hole (EOH), including 4m at 203g/t gold from 48m and 1m at 1.56g/t gold from 59m to EOH; and

SPBA3810
16m at 1.63g/t gold from 40m, including 4m at 4.69g/t gold from 44m.

S2 quickly followed up the drilling results by defining an Initial Mineral Resource estimate for Nanook of 2.2 million tonnes at 1.2g/t gold for 84,000 ounces of gold.

“Identifying 84,000 ounces of transported gold in the Nanook palaeochannel was a good result in its own right but the big question remains to be answered of, ‘where has it come from’?, Mark Bennett told The Resources Roadhouse.

“The next step is fairly clear, in that we have to find the source of this gold and when we do, determine how much of it remains intact.

“In this sense the Nanook palaeochannel resource represents a very big geochemical anomaly.”

Bennett has previously told The Roadhouse that S2 is not discounting possible early monetisation of Baloo from a number of options available, including nearby toll treatment, a heap leach operation or even the sale of the currently defined oxide part of the deposit.

The company has already established a maiden Mineral Resource estimate for Baloo of 2.17 million tonnes at 1.8 grams per tonne gold for 123,000 ounces of gold using a 0.8g/t cut-off from just 2m below surface down to about 100m.

The deposit turned a few more heads recently with the release of positive outcomes from various studies relating to a potential future mining operation.

Studies completed include: Metallurgy, geotechnical studies, hydrological and water management studies, and Environmental studies.

The initial metallurgical studies, comprising comminution, gravity recovery and leach recovery testwork, were undertaken on four representative composite samples of oxide and transition zone material at two different grind sizes (nominal 75 and 106 micron grind sizes).

The test delivered good metallurgical recoveries in all material types at a nominal 75 micron grind size, with a sizeable proportion (21.4% to 45.5%) of the gold being recovered by gravity prior to leaching and overall recoveries after 24 hours of leaching ranging from 89.4 per cent to 98.2 per cent.

S2 received encouragement from first pass testwork on the responsiveness of the Baloo gold mineralisation to extraction by heap leaching as an alternative to conventional processing via toll treatment.

Preliminary testwork carried out on oxide composite and a transition zone composite to heap-leach treatment was undertaken at two crushing sizes of 6.3mm and 12.5mm over a ten day period with gold extraction levels hitting 85 per cent and 80 to 82 per cent respectively.

“Gold recoveries continued to increase to the end of the ten day testing period, which we took as an indication gold extraction could increase further with greater residence time,” Bennett said.

“All the test results from Baloo were encouraging, especially the metallurgy tests they suggest that the oxide and transition zone of the Baloo mineralisation is amenable to heap leach extraction.”

More big news was to come, this time from the Monsoon deposit situated midway between Baloo and the Nanook palaeochannel deposit.

S2 announced the first round of RC drilling to be carried out at the Monsoon prospect intersected big high-grade gold mineralisation number to the north of and below high-grade gold intercepts encountered in previously reported aircore drilling.

Ten RC holes were drilled with those intersecting significant gold mineralisation combining with the previous aircore drill intersections to collectively define a large zone of gold mineralisation, which S2 has interpreted to be steeply dipping and north plunging.

Key intercepts included:

SPBC0313
A composite zone of 66m at 11.4g/t gold from 74m to end of hole (uncut) or at 4.2g/t gold (cut), drilled 20m north of the original high grade aircore intersections.

This zone included sub-zones of:

8m at 70.5g/t gold from 77m (uncut) or 11g/t gold (cut), including 4m at 139g/t gold from 77m (uncut) or 20g/t gold (cut);

13m at 8g/t gold from 90m, including 4m at 14.4g/t gold from 95m;

13m at 3.6g/t gold from 110m, including 2m at 13.5g/t gold from 117m; and

8m at 3.3g/t gold from 130m.

SPBC0320
A composite zone of 38m at 6.41g/t gold from 75m (uncut) or 1.78g/t gold (cut).

This hole was drilled 40m north of RC hole SPBC0313 and included sub-zones of:

8m at 26.7g/t gold from 75m (uncut) or 4.7g/t gold (cut);

9m at 2.1g/t gold from 90m;

3m at 1.11g/t gold from 103m; and

1m at 4.93g/t gold from 112m.

The results from Polar Bear underpinned the interest S2 received for a heavily oversubscribed placement to domestic and international institutional and sophisticated investors that raised $9.1 million.

The already well-funded company will be even more so with a bank balance reported to be sitting around $27.5 million.

Proceeds from the raising have been earmarked to accelerate S2’s ongoing exploration activities at Polar Bear and also at Skellefte in Sweden.

“The interest in the placement reflects an increasing level of recognition of the potential of the company’s assets,” Bennett said.

“Having such a strong balance sheet positions S2 to vigorously pursue its various opportunities unfettered by cash constraints, which is a highly-advantageous position to currently be in the junior exploration sector.”


S2 Resources (ASX; S2R)
…The Short Story

HEAD OFFICE
North Wing, Level 2
1 Manning Street
Scarborough WA 6019

Ph: +61 8 6166 0240

Email: admin@s2resources.com.au

Web: www.s2resources.com.au

DIRECTORS
Jeff Dowling, Mark Bennett, Anna Neuling, Grey Egerton Warburton.

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Mark Creasy 29%
Employees 8%.
Global institutions 10%

China to remain top resources sector customer

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Opening the first day of the Mining 2016 Conference in Brisbane, Morgans senior analyst and equity strategist Tom Sartor provided the audience with a dose of optimism for the immediate future.

Sartor told us that the light at the end of the recent resources sector tunnel is now shining brighter than it has been of late.

“It’s an absolutely fascinating times in markets – there’s a lot going on,” he said.

“The resources hangover, from what was the biggest boom in history, has been long and prolonged and there are several reasons as to why the recovery session has been prolonged.”

Sartor identified one of these reasons to be, what he labelled – “inherent industry optimism”.

“To be a miner you have to be optimistic by nature, and when prices are falling miners do tend to hang on as long as they can, not wanting to curtail supply and support price in an environment that might support their competitors,” he explained.

“The barriers to close production and shut a mine are somewhat prohibitive.

“It can be very costly to pay out contractors, to realise pension responsibilities, to rehabilitate mines and to close offices.”

There are also many factors beyond the domesticity of the Australian economy, which Sartor categorised into three sections.

The Good…where monetary policy settings remain accommodative, recovery of the US economy becomes entrenched, central governments begin doing whatever it takes to get things moving, and spare fiscal capacity in Asia.

The Bad…where we could see a gradual tightening of global credit, tepid global growth and inflation, unknown/unforeseen results from Brexit, speculative asset class bubbles, a high China-focused dependence, and slow Australian reform.

And, the potentially ugly…resulting in a disorderly re-balancing of capital markets, emerging market debt, a deflation threat, an Australian housing bubble, populist political movements, and whatever may emerge from Russia or the Middle East.

“After five years of industry pain we are starting to see a lot of fundamental signals starting to accumulate, but I would say this is very much reliant on your view of China,” Sartor said.

“The Chinese economy has had a couple of tough years, but in March the government enacted a few measures that have provided some stimulus and liquidity – their property market has bounced, and consumers have stepped up to prop up growth, although debt is still a concern.”

Sartor’s confidence in China’s ability to help the resources sector weather the current economic storm was supported by CRU / The Independent Authority consultant Allan Trench.

Trench told punters that although there had been a well-worn story regarding China with the major trends emerging being a rebalancing of the country’s economy, which, according to Trench, is actually a good thing.

“We are still seeing strong investment by the fastest growing consumer in the world…the Chinese consumer,” Trench said.

These combined with various other trends, which Trench highlighted as being:

Ongoing reforms – in matters such as corruption, air quality and state owned enterprises;
Ongoing deregulation & urbanisation;
Fiscal easing to avoid hard-landing;
Industrial slowdown, poor real estate sector, good auto performance;
Stock market volatility driving wider sentiment; and
Hard data ‘vacuum’ and a pessimistic global audience.

“Some of these are performing well at various points in time,” Trench explained.

“I think the challenges for us at times, as economists, is the difficulty of predicting quarter by quarter volatility, but overall we are not foreseeing a hard landing for the Chinese economy, instead we are seeing a smoothing of growth and a general rebalancing of the economy, which is the essence of our forecast going forward.”

With around 45 per cent of world consumption of major metals by China, Trench foresees key deficits in some of the larger markets Australia delivers to its major destination via seaborne trade and exports.

“There is a very rosy future for Australia’s resources sector in that regard, even on a slower head setting for China,” he said.

“Overall we are not out of the woods quite yet, although there are a few bright sparks on the horizon”