logo-loader

Proactive weekly mining news summary including Premier African Minerals, Gemfields, Ariana Resources, SolGold and Herencia Resources

Published: 17:30 03 May 2014 AEST

mining_apparell_350_536396614a5a2

It was quite a week for Premier African Minerals (LON:PREM).

It saw shares rise yesterday (Friday) after it agreed a bridging loan to fund its option over 30% of the Danakil potash project in Ethiopia.

In March, Premier agreed an option to buy Canada-listed AgriMinco’s 30% interest in Danakil, which is held in a subsidiary called Madalore. Circum Minerals is providing the US$2.5mln bridging loan, which is interest free and runs until the end of 2014. 

That came after Thursday's resource upgrade at the RHA tungsten project in Zimbabwe, which saw shares zoom up.

The resource where Premier is the operator and has a 49% stake, increased by 152% to 2.7mln tonnes at a composite grade of 8.7 kilograms per tonne (kg/t) tungsten oxide (WO3).

The measured and indicated resource has been upped by a staggering 957% to 1.55mln tonnes at a grade of 8.0 kg/t WO3, while there is 1.2mln tonnes at a  grade of 9.7kg/t WO3 in the inferred category.

The previous resource totalled 1.24mln tonnes, of which the inferred resource was put at 8.70kg/t and the indicated resource at 4.68kg/t.

Meanwhile, SolGold (LON:SOLG) boss Alan Martin said on Friday he believes the Cascabel copper-gold project in northern Ecudor has the potential to be a deposit running to “billions of tonnes”.

His comments accompanied a progress report in which the group revealed it had carried out a second round of magnetic modelling and chosen the location for its seventh exploration hole.

It said the expansion, deepening and further refinement to magnetic modelling confirmed multiple, large targets northwest, west and southeast of the current drilling at Alpala.

It represented a “significant step forward” to its understanding of Cascabel, Martin told investors.

In the same announcement, the AIM-listed explorer said hole-six had been completed to a final depth of 1401.5 metres, while the location of the next hole will be between five and six, drilling south-west.

Gemfields (LON:GEM)  confirmed more progress on the bulk sampling at the Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique ahead of the coloured gemstone group’s first ruby auction next month.

Around 1.2 million carats of ruby and corundum was extracted in the first three months of 2014 from the 75%-owned mine as part of the ongoing bulk sampling operation, compared with 500,000 carats in the same quarter last year.

It takes the total extracted at Montepuez since the start of bulk sampling to 8.2mln carats.

Bullabulling Gold (LON:BGL) has pointed to a punchy reserves estimate for its flagship gold project as it prepares a formal defence against the bid approach from Norton Gold Fields.

Norton, which is majority-owned by giant Chinese gold miner Zijin, launched a 7c per share offer last week, but this was again rejected by Bullabulling’s board.

Shareholders should consider a number of developments expected over the next 9-12 months, Bullabulling's statement said.

These include: completion of a metallurgical test-work programme to reduce operating costs and increase gold recovery; completion of the definitive feasibility study (DFS) and, if positive, commencement of the financing arrangements and also the implementation of an infill drilling programme.

Herencia Resources (LON:HER) hailed last week the start of drilling at its Picachos copper project in Chile as a huge step forward for both shareholders and the company.

Picachos lies 8km west of both the existing Andacollo copper-gold project operated by Teck Resources and 10km south of the privately owned Tambillos copper mine.

The 3,000 metre drill programme aims to identify shallow zones of mineralisation that could underpin an initial open pit operation at Picachos.

It is the first significant drill program undertaken at Picachos in over 20 years, with first results are anticipated in late-May.

Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) reported drill results on Thursday, which further show the potential of increasing the resource at its Red Rabbit project in Turkey.

It has disovered additional gold-silver bearing zones within the Kiziltepe sector - the area for the firm's first mine.

The company expects to identify further significant resources across this region, which would increase the mine life beyond eight years.

Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) kicked off a 2000m drilling programme at its Soledad gold-silver-copper in Peru.

Approximately 34 km south of the Barrick’s Pierina, Mariana has an option to take a 70% interest in Soledad.

Glen Parsons, chief executive, said:  said he was delighted the drill bit is turning at Soledad. “We are drilling the first hole in the known mineralisation at Breccia 1.

Shares in Leyshon Resources (LON:LRL) advanced this week after itposted a quarterly update, saying it had been encouraged by talks over financing.

It has begun early talks with prospective debt and equity financiers in regard to a number of investment opportunities and had been encouraged by what may be available.

The company demerged its gas business in January and is now focused on the resouce sector. It has working capital of around US$2.7 million.

Last week, the company launched a strategic review to assess potential opportunities at the historic Mt Leyshon mine, in Queensland, Australia, which produced 2.5mln ounces of gold and 2.3mln ounces of silver between 1987 and 2002, is currently on ‘care and maintenance.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

6 hours, 16 minutes ago