Proactiveinvestors Australia short news

CO2 Group receives 'robust' Pre-Feasibility Study for prawn production enterprise

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:20:00 +1000

CO2 Group (ASX: COZ) is developing an agri-food operation in Northern Australia, with a Pre-Feasibility Report (PFS) now completed on the proposed development of 10,000 ha prawn production enterprise - targeting the growing food demand market in Asia.

The PFS delivered robust economics, and positioned the project in the lowest quartile of the lowest cost producers.

The project is known as Project Sea Dragon, and is being undertaken by its subsidiary Western Australian Resources Limited - which is seeking to grow and export high quality volumes of Black Tiger Prawns to international markets.

Project Sea Dragon is a large-scale integrated land-based aquatic operation which will produce up to 100,000 metric tonnes of prawns for international markets

The marketplace for Black Tiger Prawns continues to grow, as they are one of the world's most highly traded seafood commodities.

Australian Government policies continue to highlight the need for major agribusiness business development such as Project Sea Dragon, with the CO2 Group saying that it is pleased with the positive engagement and support of State, Territory and Federal governments in advancing the project.

CO2 Group held $19.5 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of March 2013.

PFS key findings

The selected project option is to develop an integrated production model involving the following infrastructure:

- Feed Mill – to produce a range of feeds for different growth stages of prawns (including sourcing of raw input materials such as grains and animal meal components) of up to 200,000 tonnes per annum;

- Hatchery & Breeding Centres – to produce up to 100 million juvenile prawns per week for supply to the grow out farms;

- Grow out farms located at one or two of a total of five potential sites in Northern Australia which meet the required development criteria for the entire development. Preferred sites have been selected for the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) work going forward with all sites having secure option agreements in place;

- A Processing Plant capable of processing (cleaning, grading, freezing and packaging) up to 500 tonnes of product per day; and

Ancillary infrastructure to be developed by WARL or others including:

- A power station of 100 – 120 MW installed capacity;
- Energy supply to the power station – including up to 500 KL of diesel fuel or 20 TJ of gas
per day;
- Port/wharf upgrades; and
- Road and township infrastructure upgrades.

The CAPEX for the project is still within the estimated range derived from the Concept Study, with the overall project modular and scalable – as a consequence it can be developed in three to five stages, with only slight timing changes to the overall project economic performance.

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Empire Oil & Gas continues gas production at Red Gully

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:20:00 +1000

Empire Oil & Gas (ASX: EGO) is continuing production of natural gas into the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline from the Red Gully-1 well through its Red Gully Gas and Condensate Processing Facility located in the onshore Perth Basin.

Both the Red Gully-1 and Gingin West-1 wells are being flowed at various rates to settle optimal flow rates and condensate recoveries from both wells.

The first load out of Red Gully-1 condensate is currently being commissioned into road haulage tankers. This will include the commissioning of the load out facility.

Key components of the Red Gully Gas and Condensate Processing Facility are functioning as designed with the Export Gas Compressor running extensively over the last week which is now “bedded in”.

In addition, the gas processing section has operated over a range of instantaneous production rates from 4 terajoules (TJ) per day up to 10.71TJ/day. This section continues to produce high quality sales gas as per contractual requirements.

Empire added the facility’s process control operations are now stable enough to be left in full automatic mode.

Red Gully Plant

The Red Gully Gas and Condensate Processing Facility produces gas and condensate from the Red Gully-1 and Gingin West-1 wells.

Gingin West-1 had flowed 7.5 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas and 375 barrels of condensate per day during testing while Red Gully-1 flowed 12MMcf of gas and 832 barrels of condensate during testing.

The EP389 Joint Venture has a Gas Sales Agreement with Alcoa of Australia, which consists of two tranches.

The first tranche contains the Forward Gas Sales component under which Alcoa agreed to pay $25 million for the costs of constructing the Red Gully Facility.

The second tranche, which makes up the majority of the agreement, is a separate and normal Gas Sales Agreement.

Empire will sell an overall total of 15,000TJ of gas to Alcoa in the two tranches.

Empire has a 76.39% interest in the Red Gully joint venture while ERM Gas, a subsidiary of EPM Power (ASX: EPW), holds 23.61%.

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Senex doubles oil production

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:00:00 +1000

Senex Energy (ASX: SXY) has managed to double oil production, to 1.2 million barrels of oil, for the second year running achieving revised guidance.

Full year net oil production will be more than double that of 2011/12, delivering a three year cumulative annual growth rate of 103%.

Senex provided initial oil production guidance for 2012/13 of one million barrels which was subsequently upgraded to 1.2 million barrels in April 2013.

Production guidance for 2013/14 will be advised in July 2013.

The strong production result has been underpinned by the outperformance of Senex’s western flank and southern Cooper Basin oil fields.

Additionally, new oil discoveries at Mustang and Spitfire demonstrate the potential for continued growth in reserves and production.

Senex is in a very strong financial position with $140 million in cash and no debt.

SKY Network Television unsuccessful in snaring English Premier League rights

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:40:00 +1000

SKY Network Television (ASX: SXT) has announced than it has not been successful in its bid for the EPL rights for the coming season.

The New Zealand focused television company's financial results for the six months to 31 December 2012 were $67.4 million in after-tax earnings, a 7.4% increase on the previous period.

Revenues were up 3.9% to $443.3 million and earnings before interest, tax and depreciation (EBITDA) increased by 4.2% to $177.2 million.

Sun Resources' director snaps up $60,000 of stock on-market

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:20:00 +1000

Sun Resources (ASX: SUR) director Damian Kestel has increased his stake in the company following the on-market purchase of 2 million shares at $0.03 for a consideration of $60,000.

Kestel now holds around 18.2 million shares along with 5 million unlisted incentive options with a $0.105 exercise price - which expire on the 12th September 2015.

Earlier in the month Sun attracted Petro-Hunt LLC, one of the world’s largest privately held companies, as a joint venture partner targeting oil and gas in the Lower Woodbine interval in Leon County, Texas.

The partners will drill the first horizontal well into the Lower Woodbine in the December quarter 2013.

Details of the binding agreement

Under the binding agreement, Sun will contribute 810 net acres from its northern Delta Oil Project acreage which lie within the broader 7,832 acre Area of Mutual Interest, while Petro-Hunt is contributing 2,430 net acres that it owns within the AMI.

The combined 3,240 net acres will be owned by Petro-Hunt (75%) as the operator and Sun (25%) and all costs going forward will be shared on this basis.

Doray Minerals expands gold acreage in the Murchison region

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:40:00 +1000

Doray Minerals (ASX: DRM) has acquired a number of gold exploration and mining leases within potential trucking distance of its Andy Well Gold Project in Western Australia from Caravel Minerals (ASX: CVV) for $150,000.

The new leases will almost double Doray’s land position in the northern Murchison.

The Abbotts and Meeka East projects have been subject to limited recent exploration and contain a number of drill targets that Doray is keen to test in the near future.

The Abbotts project covers the south western portion of the Abbotts Greenstone Belt and abuts Doray’s existing 80% owned “Abbotts” project. The combined projects give Doray ownership of a significant portion of the area of the Abbotts Greenstone Belt.

Extensive geochemical sampling over the project by previous owners, primarily focussed on base metal mineralisation, has provided several targets for immediate follow-up.

In addition, there are areas of historic gold workings that require immediate drill testing and verification, including the “Mt Vranizan/New Murchison King” workings where historic drilling has indicated gold mineralisation over a strike length of approximately 600m.

The “Meeka East” project complements tenure already held by Doray within the 80% owned Side Well project, east of Meekatharra.

The majority of the area has been the subject of first pass, shallow rotary airblast and aircore drilling to an average depth of about 20 metres. Several immediate targets have been identified from historic drill data that indicate the potential for Andy Well style, narrow vein, high-grade gold mineralisation.

At the completion of the transaction, Doray plans to integrate the new projects into the upcoming
Murchison region exploration program for 2013-14 that is due to start following first production from the Andy Well Gold Project.

Doray had started mining the high grade Wilber Lode deposit at Andy Well in November 2012 and is targeting first gold production in the September Quarter of 2013.

Killara Resources appoints new managing director

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:20:00 +1000

Killara Resources (ASX: KRA) has appointed Robert Kipp as managing director, effective immediately, with Kipp a founding member of Killara and one of its original shareholders. Kipp previously held the position of executive finance director.

Key terms for Kipp includes a $200,000 salary plus super, with the salary to increase by $50,000 the month Killara moves into coal production. The term of the agreement is not fixed for any period of time.

Killara is currently transitioning to a coal producer following the recent acquisition of an 80% interest in PT Borneo Emas Hitam, located in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Together with strategic alliance partner and major shareholder the Zulkarnaen family, Killara will pay $2.2 million for its share of PT Borneo Emas Hitam.

The transaction not only provides Killara with a coal producing mine, but also a greenfield coal opportunity.

Mining was ongoing at the PT Borneo Emas Hitam concession until early this year, with some coal remaining stockpiled at a nearby barge facility.

Infrastructure includes roads, office and workshop remains onsite and can be readily brought back on stream to support mining activities.

Coal Quality

In total 32 of the 46 mapped outcrops were submitted for analysis at the PT Geoservices Balikpapan laboratory. Results confirmed a direct shipping thermal coal product with high CV, low ash and varying but generally high sulphur levels.

CV of the outcrops ranged from 5,459kcal/kg1 - 7,546kcal/kg with an average of 6,948kcal/kg.

Great Western Exploration starts drilling at Kazakhstan copper prospect

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:00:00 +1000

Great Western Exploration (ASX: GTE) has started reverse circulation drilling at its Hadzikongan copper prospect in Kazakhstan to verify historical drilling.

The 2,500 metre program will also better define the trend of mineralisation ahead of resource drilling at prospect.

Hadzikongan was last drilled in the early 1980s during the Soviet era with wide zones of copper mineralisation reported.

However the Soviets withdrew from Kazakhstan before further work could be carried out and no work has been completed since then.

Great Western had in 2012 confirmed high grade copper mineralisation outcropping using a Niton handheld XRF machine to sample along historical trenches.

Notable results include a 42 metre interval averaging 3.4% copper and a 32 metre interval averaging 4.2% copper.

The company will also carry out inverse polarisation geophysical ground survey at the nearby Altyntobe prospect prior to drilling this prospect which is scheduled to start at the completion of the current program at Hadzikongan.

Hadzikongan is part of the company’s Spasskaya joint venture project (Great Western 50%).

Spasskaya is located 150km southeast of Kazakhstan’s capital Astana and covers 12,500 square kilometres.

Historically the mineral field has been a major source of copper, silver, gold and barite.

Khazakmys, a top ten copper producer, operates two major copper mines in the region (Nurkazgan and Abyz) with a combined resource of 1.35 billion tonnes at 0.5% copper, 0.16 grams per tonne gold and 1.7g/t silver for more than 6.5 million tonnes of contained copper

The project is centred on the major regional mining city of Karaganda that has excellent supporting infrastructure including grid power and rail. Also the city has existing copper and iron refineries and supports the adjacent coalfields that contain significant untapped coal seam gas resources.

Celamin Holdings triples Tunisian phosphate resource to 130Mt

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:40:00 +1000

Celamin Holdings (ASX: CNL) has tripled resources at its Chaketma Phosphate Project in Tunisia to 130 million tonnes at 20.5% P2O5 after receiving an Inferred estimate of 93Mt at 20.3% P2O5 for the Gassaa Kebira prospect.

The resource for Gassaa Kebira, the second of six prospects at the project, sets the platform for additional resource upgrades and expansion.

It has also increased the company’s confidence in achieving its exploration target of 175Mt to 280Mt of economic resources at Chaketma.

The majority of the Gassaa Kebira deposit appears suitable for conventional open-cut mining, although shallow underground workings may be an option in the deepest areas.

Celamin plans to start production with the established resource at the Kef El Louz North prospect.

The company will continue exploration and resource step out drilling to enlarge and improve the classification of the resource at Kef El Louz North and delineating additional resources in the other prospect areas.

Celamin and Tunisian partner TMS had completed a positive scoping study over the project last year leading to a maiden JORC Inferred Resource of 37 million tonnes of rock phosphate at a grade of 21% P2O5, for the Kef El Louz prospect.

This provides a resource base for the initial 10 years of the mining plan as proposed in the Scoping Study.

Classic Minerals detects 18 massive nickel sulphide conductors in Fraser Range

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:20:00 +1000

Classic Minerals (ASX: CLZ) had a filip today after a VTEM survey detected 18 electromagnetic conductors or anomalies; 7 as drill targets with significant potential massive nickel sulphide potential in the Fraser Range in Western Australia.

The Western Australian based explorer has tenements that cover an area of 380km2 in the Eastern Goldfields and Fraser Range provinces of WA, the main Fraser Range project is 40 kilometres from Sirius Resources’ (ASX: SIR) Nova discovery.

Not wasting time, 67 reverse circulation (RC) holes are planned for the initial drill program, for 5000 metres with approvals being sought for drilling.

One anomaly detected a strong bedrock anomaly with a strike length of roughly 650 metres that shows the most promise as a potential nickel sulphide mineralisation.

Once approvals are received, a geological field crew and RC drilling rig will be ready to commence work.

While very early days, clearly if these conductors contain significant nickel or other sulphides in commercial quantities then it would be very interesting indeed.

That there was so many conductors detected by aeromagnetics as well as rock chip sample results augurs well.

Classic made its debut on the ASX on 27 May, raising million $3.6 million from an IPO after issuing 18.1 million shares $0.20.

Artemis Resources poised to start drilling at Western Australia antimony-lead deposit

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +1000

Artemis Resources (ASX: ARV) is now finalising details for its drilling program targeting the Eastern Hills antimony-lead deposit in the Ashburton region of Western Australia.

This follows the State Government approving $140,000 in co-funding as well as the Program of Work for the drilling, which is expected to be completed in the September 2013 quarter.

The planned drilling program will validate historical drilling and analyses with at least one twin hole to be drilled.

It is designed to establish a maiden JORC Resource, expand known mineralisation down dip and along strike and test an adjoining zone immediately to the northeast of the Eastern Hills antimony-lead lode where earlier surface sampling identified anomalous gold in rockchips.

This will consist of up to 16 drillholes totalling 2,800 metres and will be funded from the company’s existing cash reserves.

Drilling will begin once a suitable drill rig is sourced.

Eastern Hills has an exploration target of between 410,000 tonnes and 1.25 million tonnes at 1.5% to 1.9% antimony and 21% to 2.7% lead. It also contains precious metal credits of around 0.22 grams per tonne gold and 26g/t silver.

The deposit consists of a zone of mineralisation up to two metres wide associated with a fault structure and outcropping over a strike length of at least 600 metres. The dominant fault structure trends ENE (Figure 3) and dips steeply to the SSE.

The mineralisation occurs as massive sulphides bounded by a broader zone of disseminated sulphides. The mineralisation contains high levels of antimony and lead, as well as minor gold and silver, associated with a linear quartz vein represented at surface by a thin, outcropping gossanous zone.

Eastern Hills is part of Artemis’ Mt Clement Gold Project that is held in joint venture with Paulsens Gold Mine operator Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST).

Mt Clement (Artemis 80%) contains an Inferred Resource of 1.13 million tonnes at 1.8g/t gold and 17g/t silver.

China house prices continue to rise in May

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:40:00 +1000

China average new house prices rose 6 per cent in May across 70 major Chinese cities from a year earlier, although the growth month to month was at a slower pace.

As opined before, this highlights the dilemna that the central bank in China has attempting to re-ignite the economy while holding down the inflationary spiral in houses.

While a delicate balance the growth does show that the propensity to buy new homes would only occur with strength in incomes.

China’s home prices rose 10.7 percent in the first quarter of 2013 from the previous three months, the biggest gain among 55 global real-estate markets, according to Knight Frank.

The gain also most likely reflects the low base last year.

Moves like Beijing has made, requiring non-residential projects and residential developments larger than an 140 square metres (1,506 square feet) meet requirements on construction progress before applying for presale permits, are likely to increase.

China requires developers to obtain presale permits from local housing authorities before they can sell apartments under construction.

Victory Mines defines rare earth oxide and gold anomalies at Western Australia project

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:20:00 +1000

Victory Mines’ (ASX: VIC) recently completed auger sampling program has defined 14 anomalies with average grades of 220ppm rare earth oxide at its Jungle Well Project in Western Australia.

The largest anomaly is about 700 metres long and 80 metres in width while some anomalies are open to the east or west.

Sampling also defined 14 gold anomalies were also defined, with one being up to 700 metres in strike length and others up to 120 metres in width. Some of the anomalies are open either across strike or along strike.

These had an average gold grade was 2ppb, with a maximum of 242ppb.

Victory is planning an additional extension and infill auger geochemistry program to identify and best target anomalies for the next stage, which is likely to be an aircore drilling program.

These are likely to take place by the end of this year.

The auger sampling program had followed up on an airborne geophysical survey that identified a major regional structure which links all three Redlings prospects at Jungle Well.

This structure has a strike length of about 11 kilometres and is considered to be highly significant in controlling the distribution of rare earth mineralisation.

Victory has a 70% interest in the Jungle Well joint venture.

Coventry Resources targets gold extensions with diamond drilling in Canada

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:00:00 +1000

Coventry Resources (ASX: CYY, TSX.V: CYY) has commenced a 2000 metre diamond drilling program at its West Cedartree Gold Project in western Ontario, Canada, targeting extensions to known gold mineralisation at the Robertson and McLennan Prospects.

At Robertson in 2010 and 2011, the previous operator conducted a diamond program with highlights such as; 20.5 metres at 2.17g/t gold from 62.0 metres, including 5.6 metres at 4.08g/t gold; and 11.9 metres at 3.10g/t gold from 149.1 metres.

The West Cedartree project is part of the company's greater wholly-owned Cameron Gold Camp Project, where it is advancing the evaluation of the construction of a centralised processing facility at the Cameron gold deposit, located 10 kilometres to the east.

Cameron currently hosts a JORC and NI 43-101 Resource comprising; Measured and Indicated 600,000 ounces at 2.45g/t gold, plus Inferred 800,000 ounces at 2.11g/t gold.

The potential at Cameron comes from the potential to develop a “mine camp” to include many other prospects within the broader project area, which covers around 170 square kilometres.

A plus for the project is supporting infrastructure, with a regulated permitting process and experienced work force.

Cameron can be accessed by a purpose built all-weather gravel road, which is 23 kilometres from a sealed highway, with high voltage power within 30 kilometres.

Highlighting the prospectivity of the region, there are numerous plus one million gold ounce deposits and mines.

Coventry has around $2.6 million in cash.

Invictus Gold receives R&D tax refund

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:40:00 +1000

Invictus Gold (ASX: IVG) has received a $317,490 refund from the Australian Tax Office for its expenditure on research and development in the 2012 financial year.

The funds will be used to advance exploration on its wholly-owned Commonwealth gold-VMS project in New South Wales and on project generation in Turkey.

Invictus’ recent review of historical drill core and logs at the Commonwealth Project uncovered some memorable gold hits including 30 metres at 6 grams per tonne gold from just 28 metres including 2 metres at 77g/t gold.

This data has also found six new targets, highlighting the value of the Endeavour acquisition considering the projects location within a prolific gold-copper region of Australia.

The company has since started electromagnetic and induced polarisation surveys. Initial re-logging and sampling of previous drill core has also been completed and about 130 samples have been sent for assay. Results are expected by early August.

Invictus has an option to acquire 100% of the Himmetdede South Gold Project located 200 kilometres south east of Ankara in the emerging mineral province of Central Anatolia, Turkey.

The project is adjacent to the 800,000 ounce Himmetdede gold deposit (31 Mt at 0.7 g/t gold) owned by Koza Gold A.S which is in development.

Rock chip sampling has assayed up to 419/t gold while drilling has returned an intercept of 1 metre at 21g/t gold.

Aeon Metals has 6% copper hit in Queensland

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:20:00 +1000

Aeon Metals (ASX: AQR) has delivered some high-grade copper assays from the latest round of drilling at the 7B copper project centred 30 kilometres to the west of the town of Monto in Queensland, and 110 kilometres south of Gladstone.

The latest highlights from Hole 22 include: 9 metres at 1.42% copper, 14g/t silver and 0.20g/t gold from 30 metres, including 3 metres at 3.68% copper, and 1 metre at 6.01% copper.

Hole 23 provided broader mineralisation such as; 19 metres at 0.48% copper, 4g/t silver and 0.07g/t gold from 66 metres.

More assays are pending.

Results from the geophysics program (Induced Polarisation, IP) identified a correlation between chargeability and mineralisation to some degree, with the strongest IP chargeability response beneath shallow basalt cover still to be drill tested.

Before Aeon conducted an extensive 2012 soil sampling regime uncovered multi-element base metal anomalies, the project had been largely unexplored.

A geological model has indicated mineralisation consistent with a volcanic hosted massive sulphide environment.

Aeon completed a $1.15 million placement earlier in the year, increasing its cash position to around $2 million at the end of March 2013.

Golden Rim Resources finds multiple zones of high grade gold at Burkina Faso project

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:00:00 +1000

Golden Rim Resources’ (ASX: GMR) maiden drilling at its Banouassi Prospect in Burkina Faso has identified multiple parallel zones of gold mineralisation along a 3.3 kilometre strike length with a peak assay of 59.7 grams per tonne.

The zones remain open at depth and along strike and are located across a 1.2 kilometre wide corridor.

Notable intersections include:

-    7 metres at 11g/t gold from 141 metres, including 1 metre at 59.7g/t gold;
-    5 metres at 4.7g/t gold from 16 metres, including 1metre at 21.3g/t gold, and 9 metres at 1.4g/t gold from 50 metres, and 12 metres at 0.5g/t gold from 72 metres; and
-    8 metres at 2.6g/t gold from 67 metres, including 1 metre at 16.2/t gold.

Further gold mineralisation in multiple zones has been discovered at the Namagdo Prospect, which is located 4 kilometres southwest along strike from Banouassi.

Three of four drillholes intersected anomalous gold mineralisation with one intersecting 5 metres at 1.8g/t gold from 66 metres and 11 metres at 3.6g/t gold from 77 metres.

The maiden drilling program has confirmed that significant gold mineralisation is widespread at Korongou.

Most of the drill holes completed by Golden Rim intersected multiple zones of gold mineralisation which remain open at depth and along strike. Further drilling is now required to delineate the extent of this mineralisation.

Follow-up drilling is expected to start later this year after the end of the wet season. This will focus on following-up the better intercepts obtained in the maiden drilling program with the aim of delineating resources in these areas.

Gas2Grid flows oil from second sandstone interval at Philippines well

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:40:00 +1000

Gas2Grid (ASX: GGX) has further reinforced its belief that the Malolos-1 well onshore Cebu, Philippines, is capable of commercial oil production after recovering 30 barrels of oil from the upper sandstone interval.

The company had successful perforated and swabbed the interval before flowing oil to surface. This continued until the swabbing equipment broke off and was left in the hole.

Gas2Grid will now perforate and test the first of four interpreted gas bearing intervals, located at depths between 1,658 metres and 1,868 metres.

This will occur once these zones have been isolated with a retrievable packer.

The company added the recovery of oil reinforced its view that enough information had been gathered to conclude that both of the lower sandstones are capable of oil production.

Earlier testing of the lower sandstone had resulted in oil flowing at small, unmeasured quantities to surface under natural pressure.

A decision on whether to start planning for commercial oil production and oil field development will be determined after testing of the other intervals has been completed.

Newera Resources intersects coal in northern section of Mongolian project

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:20:00 +1000

Newera Resources (ASX: NRU) has intersected thick, near surface coal from drilling at a new northern section of its Shanagan East project in Mongolia.

These new intercepts from the recently completed Phase 3 drilling program sit partly outside the current Exploration Target area and provide significant upside potential in both coal tonnage and quality.

Significant intercepts include 14.5 metres of net coal between 8 metres and 37 metres; 7.6 metres of net coal between 11.7 metres and 22.8 metres; 7.2 metres of net coal between 5.7 metres and 44.5 metres; and 5.6 metres of net coal between 5.7 metres and 44.5 metres.

Notably, two of the holes intersected significant shallow coal in the stratigraphically lowermost inferred mapped coal Seam I.

This lower seam was not specifically targeted during phase 1 and 2 drilling.

Sufficient core sample material has also been collected to undertake general and coking coal analysis testing through a qualified analytical laboratory.

Progress has also been made in locating a suitable mining contractor to sink a 30 metre long inclined shaft to collect enough coal for a bulk sample that will allow consultants Sedgman Ltd to design a washing process and undertake comprehensive washability testing of the Shanagan coal collected.

It is expected that the shaft sinking and sample recovery exercise will take one month to complete.

Shanagan has an Exploration Target of 64 million to 111 million tonnes of coal within the central and southern portions of the licence.

Carbon Energy appoints Morné Engelbrecht as managing director

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +1000

Carbon Energy (ASX: CNX, OTCQX: CNXAY) has appointed Morné Engelbrecht to the position of chief executive officer and managing director effective today, with Engelbrecht holding the acting chief executive officer position for the past six months.

Prior to joining Carbon Energy, Engelbrecht held senior financial and commercial management positions, with experience including more than 13 years in the international oil & gas and resources industry.

Engelbrecht will lead Carbon Energy into the next stage of its development and growth through the use the company's proprietary keyseam underground coal gasification technology, along with securing partnerships to monetise coal assets and commercialising its gas Reserves in Queensland.

Earlier in the week the company announced that it is now the exclusive underground coal gasification technology partner for an Inner Mongolia project after executing the Master Technology Licence Agreement with Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group.

The company will earn $10 million in technology licence fees, upon achieving milestones, additional revenue from technology service fees and ongoing royalty payments.

Zhengzhou Group, one of China’s top 500 Enterprises, owns the Haoqin Coal Field in Xiwuqi, Inner Mongolia.

Sovereign Metals' drills for graphite in Malawi

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:40:00 +1000

Sovereign Metals (ASX: SVM) has kicked off a nine-hole diamond drilling program at the Duwi Trend and Nanzeka Prospect, which is within the Central Malawi graphite project - in south-east Africa.

Drilling will test the depth and grade of graphite mineralisation and to obtain unweathered material for key metallurgical testwork, which follows on from trenching at the Duwi Prospect - with samples currently being prepared for shipment to the laboratory for chemical analysis.

At the project recent rock-chips delivered a peak grade of 35.3% Total Graphitic Carbon.

The project covers an extensive 7261 square kilometres, which includes two prospecting licenses covering close to 3300 square kilometres, with a reconnaissance licence covering the remainder.

This region of Africa is a hot spot for graphite exploration, with Syrah Resources' (ASX: SYR) Balama graphite project located 235 kilometres to the east, and hosts an Inferred Resource of 1.15 billion tonnes at 10.2% TGC and 0.23% vanadium.

A plus for Sovereign's project is that it is surrounded by established infrastructure including high capacity power lines, rail, roads and a port which is currently undergoing a major expansion.

Adding to the prospectivity, five substantial graphite gneiss belts have been identified within the area covered by the company's licenses.

Sovereign had over $3 million in cash at the end of March 2013.

Peak grade of 35.3% TGC

Sovereign only acquired the project around six months ago, with a rock-chip program totalling 132 representative rock-chip identified 74 with grade above 10% TGC, averaging 14.8% TGC, with a peak grade of 35.3% TGC.

Uscom Limited closes acquisition of New Zealand's Pulsecor

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:20:00 +1000

Uscom Limited (ASX:UCM) has disclosed it has completed the acquisition of all the assets of Pulsecor Limited, a non invasive central blood pressure device company for just 5 million shares consideration.

The acquired assets include the BP+ suprasystolic central blood pressure device, the CardioReporter pulse pressure wave analysis software, and 34 blood pressure measurement and analysis patents, and 4 trademarks.

Pulsecor Limited was valued at NZ$2.9 million at its last capital raising in May 2011 before regulatory approvals.

Pulsecor's product offerings are a qantum leap forward in terms of cardiovascular medicine as they combine noninvasive cardiac output with central blood pressure to provide accurate measurements.

Previously, only available with invasive cardiac catheters, it should provide Uscom with a strong platform to distribute the products through its distribution network.

Signficantly, Pulsecor’s BP+ product, currently being sold internationally, has U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510k, European CE mark and Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval.

The BP+ device uses patent protected “suprasystolic oscillometry” to measure simply and noninvasively central blood pressure at the heart, while older methods measure the pressure in the arm or hand.

These measurements are an improvement on conventional blood pressure measurements and can be applied in all research and clinical environments.

Hypertension affects approximately 25% of all adults worldwide, and the hypertension market is thought to be in excess of $15 billion U.S.

Stellar Resources appoints non-executive director

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:00:00 +1000

Stellar Resources (ASX: SRZ) has appointed German mineral resources investor and long term shareholder Dr Markus Elsasser as a non-executive director.

He is the head of the Elsasser family office M. Elsasser & Cie AG 1971 in Dusseldorf, Germany, where he provides advice to a number of European investors.

Elsasser was also previously director of Finance at the Dow Chemical Company in Germany and also has extensive experience as a managing director in the chemical and food industries in Singapore and Australia.

He is also the a non-executive director of Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT), Stellar Diamonds Plc (LON:STEL) as well as Swedish companies Arctic Gold AB and Kopy Goldfields AB.

Stellar expects Elsasser’s experience and advice in financing junior resource companies to be a valuable asset.

Elsasser has held shares in the company for the past three years and currently holds 5,717,666 shares.

The company had in April reported that it had made a thicker than expected intersection of high grade tin – including a peak assay of 10 metres at 2.54% tine – with its first hole at the main Queen Hill ore body at its Heemskirk Tin project in Tasmania.

Most (more than 97%) of the tin also appears to take the form of cassiterite – the most favourable tin mineral for processing.

Horseshoe Metals' raises funds to advance copper exploration in WA

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:40:00 +1000

Horseshoe Metals (ASX: HOR) has launched a $1.8 million capital raising program for follow-up exploration at the Horseshoe Lights and Kumarina Projects in Western Australia, which will include geophysical survey work and drilling.

Earlier in the month the Horseshoe Lights Project delivered a 40% increase in the high grade copper resource, and now hosts a resource of 12.85 million tonnes at 1.00% copper, and 0.1g/t gold for 128,600 tonnes of contained copper and 36,000 gold ounces.

The capital raising comprises a share placement of 7.857 million shares at $0.07 to raise $550,000, with an additional 2.143 million shares at the same price to raise an additional $150,000 to one or more entities associated with director Michael Fotios - subject to shareholder approval.

A one-for-five non-renounceable rights issue will also be offered to existing shareholders to raise an additional $1.173 million.

Horseshoe Metals said that negotiations are ongoing with a number of parties/major shareholders about possible participation as sub-underwriters.

The company's projects cover around 300 square kilometres in the highly prospective Peak Hill Mineral Field, located north of Meekatharra in Western Australia.

Cleveland Mining seeks approval for small scale mining at O Capitão Gold Project in Brazil

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:20:00 +1000

Cleveland Mining (ASX: CDG) will apply to start small scale mining at its O Capitão Gold Project in Brazil after receiving the formal award of its two exploration concessions.

The application of two Utilisation Guides will allow the Cleveland Premier Joint Venture to extract ore from O Capitão and haul it to its Premier Gold Mine for processing.

As the project has previously been subjected to small scale mining and no new infrastructure is required, the permitting is considered low risk.

The JV intends to mine a lower volume of higher-grade material from Premier using underground mining methods during this period, providing mill capacity to process ore from O Capitão.

Work is currently underway to define JORC Resources for one of the two gold mineralised bodies intercepted near surface after limited drilling.

Further drilling, engineering and metallurgical studies will also be prepared. This will be supported by the $10 million investment facility entered into with Baycrest Capital.

O Capitão

Two distinct zones of mineralisation have been defined at O Capitão, one of which hosts significantly higher grade material than that currently being mined at the Premier Mine.

The project is widely viewed as offering excellent potential and offering the potential to hold a significant gold resource that could supplement the expansion of the Premier Mine.

During the 1980’s an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 artisanal miners took control of the property, working the high-grade area in the south by hand, and reportedly extracted between five and 10 tonnes of gold.

Cleveland believes that it is the only professional group to explore the project in 25 years, producing noteworthy drilling results in mid-2011.

Early diamond drilling of the artisanal pit by Cleveland returned highlights including:

-    1.3 metres at 14.29 grams per tonne gold from 44.7 metres;
-    2 metres at 17.21g/t gold from 39 metres including 1 metre at 33.61g/t gold; and
-    4 metres at 3.06g/t gold from 1 metre including 1 metre at 10g/t gold.

Drilling also delineated a 250 metre strike length of multiple, stacked, mineralised zones at the Dona Maria target, which is 1 kilometre north of the high-grade artisanal pit.

Mineralisation in both areas is open, presenting significant potential for extension

O Capitão will be developed as a 50/50 joint venture with Edifica.

Australia Minerals and Mining Group defines another resource at Glenarty Creek Mineral Sands Project

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +1000

Australia Minerals and Mining Group (ASX: AKA) has logged another JORC resource of heavy mineral sands at its Glenarty Creek Mineral Sands Project in south western Western Australia.

Today's inferred resource of 701 million tonnes at 3.8% heavy minerals containing 2.6% ilmenite has been defined at the Rover Range Deposit.

This follows a previous JORC resource to the north-east, the Miller’s Mill Deposit which containes 106 million tonnes at 3.6% HM containing 2.8% ilmenite.

A mineral analysis to validate potential product and revenue streams is proposed.

The project is located within a known mineral sands region and is approximately 120 kilometres from the Bunbury port via sealed highway in the south-west of Western Australia.

It is bisected by the Brockman Highway, with a direct route to the port of Bunbury via BHP’s purpose-built heavy haulage Sues Road.

The Glenarty Creek Project is situated over private freehold bush and farmland where Native Title is extinguished and sits within a well established mineral sands province, with port and infrastructure within close proximity.

Commissioners Gold acquires new Peruvian project, up to 454g/t gold samples

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:40:00 +1000

Commissioners Gold (ASX: CGU) is continuing with the company strategy of increasing available ore near the Mollehuaca Processing Plant (CGU 25%) in Peru, and has acquired a third gold asset known as Eladium.

The company said the asset was acquired to boost maiden gold production.

Highlighting the prospectivity of Eladium, 120 samples have been taken (at 3 metres intervals over 3 mine levels) with the average grade at 10.14g/t gold, including a maximum measured grade of 454g/t gold in a 20 centimetre composite sample across the principal vein.

The importance of the high grade, low tonnage satellite mining projects around the gold processing plant as they deliver near-term production potential, low entry cost and scalability.

The Eladium mining concession located 35 kilometres east (140 kilometres by road) of the gold plant, and covers 973.75 hectares of prospective ground within the Nazca-Ocoña geological belt which hosts a number of medium-sized, high-grade operating gold mines.

Earlier in the month Commissioners Gold the Saulito gold project, which is hosted within the same gold belt as Eladium.

The acquisitions, from local vendors, are being channelled through Commissioners Gold’s 50/50 joint venture with Australia Gold Corporation Limited.

Terms of Eladium acquisition

Highlights:

- Five year mining agreement for 90% of the extracted ore
- Bonanza gold grades
- Permitted for production
- Strong upside potential for other vein systems (plus Au-Cu porphyry and IOCG)

The Eladium Agreement is in the form of a binding Memorandum of Understanding with a 90 day period in which to exercise. Final due diligence will be completed within the period. However, both parties are keen to move forward to execute a Mining Agreement as soon as practicable.

The Mining Agreement comprises:

- US$5,500 payment on executing the MOU (as contribution to annual mining fees)
- Five year Mining Concession Agreement for 90% of the extracted ore (10% of ore goes to the Vendor)
- Option to purchase the project outright within five years.

Minera Gold granted trading halt, to raise capital

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:20:00 +1000

Minera Gold (ASX: MIZ) is preparing to announce capital raising details, with the ASX granting the company a trading halt - with its shares placed in pre-open.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Thursday 20th June 2013.

Australian equities set to open firmer

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:00:00 +1000

The ASX SPI 200 futures point to a higher open on the Australian Stock Exchange, with the contract up 11 points to 4840.

The All Ordinaries has pulled-back around 7% in the past month, which followed a stellar run on the local market as investors chased yield in a low interest rate environment. The benchmark index though is still up 19% over the past twelve months.

Providing a positive impetus to the domestic market was a rally on international bourses, which included the Dow Jones climbing 110 points to 15,180.

European markets finished broadly higher as well, with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 was up 1.54% while Germany's DAX gained 1.08% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.35%.

All eyes on Bernanke

Global financial markets are waiting for the two-day FOMC meeting which ends on Wednesday in the U.S., with a press conference to be held by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shortly afterwards.

The outcome from the press conference will provide investors with firmer knowledge of the Fed's stimulus packages, including a potential timeline with measures will be tapered.

Sirius Resources lodges Mining Lease Application for Nova

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:40:00 +1000

Sirius Resources (ASX: SIR) has lodged an application with the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum for a Mining Lease covering the Nova Project, which is located 700 kilometres east of Perth in Western Australia.

The Mining Lease Application (MLA) process will be progressed in parallel with consultations and negotiations with relevant stakeholders and preparations for future mining activities.

The maiden resource for Nova was announced in March this year, and contains 242,000 tonnes of nickel, 100,000 tonnes of copper and 7,700 tonnes of cobalt (at a 0.6% nickel equivalent lower cutoff).

The resource comprises 10.2 million tonnes at 2.4% nickel, 1.0% copper and 0.08% cobalt.

The MLA process is integral to the current Scoping Study and the advancement of the Nova Project towards development. The MLA covers 48 square kilometres and encompasses all of the known mineralisation at Nova and Bollinger as well as the surrounding area which will be required to access the proposed underground mine and for a concentrator and other supporting mine infrastructure.

Bollinger drillout and resource status

The drilling program to define the Bollinger deposit has been completed. Final assay results for the resource drillholes are expected within two weeks. Sirius said that it is anticipated that a JORC 2012 Resource estimate will be completed by mid-July.

Xstate Resources completes sale of Tunisian assets, focuses on U.S. oil and gas

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:20:00 +1000

Xstate Resources (ASX: XST) will now focus on its U.S. oil and gas assets after completing the sale of its Tunisian assets to Gulfsands Petroleum plc (LON: GPX).

The company was paid US$890,000 for the assets and may receive a US$500,000 cash bonus upon first production resulting from the drilling of the next exploration well on the Kerkouane Permit.

Xstate had held a 10% participating interests in the Chorbane, Kerkouane and Pantelleria permits.

It continues to review opportunities with high prospectivity for oil and gas; availability of new data like 3D seismic; access to production and transport infrastructure; relatively underexplored; and located in a lower operating cost area.

Tiger Resources ups copper production guidance by 13.5% at Kipoi in DRC

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:00:00 +1000

Tiger Resources (ASX: TGS) continues to advance the Kipoi Copper Project, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and today has increased production guidance for 2013.

Production from the Stage 1 HMS plant is now forecast at 41,000 tonnes to 43,000 tonnes in concentrate for the year, which is around 13.5% higher than the original 37,000 tonnes of copper.

The average operating cash costs of $0.48 per pound of copper produced is maintained for 2013.

Year-to-date production to the end of May 2013 is 16,182 tonnes of copper in concentrate, supporting a production estimate of 19,500 tonnes for the six months to 30 June 2013.

The current plan is for the HMS plant to continue production until the end of 2014, after the completion and ramp-up of the Stage 2 Solvent-Extraction Electro-Winning plant.

Kipoi currently hosts 795,600 tonnes of copper, with Tiger holding a 60% stake. Tiger wholly owns the Lupoto project 10 kilometres away which hosts 200,000 tonnes of copper - providing the company with an equity attributable resource base of 677,360 tonnes of copper.

Kipoi Stage 2 DFS

After-tax free cashflow: $680 million
NPV: $378 million
Phase 1 Capex: $161 million ($105 million committed)
Phase 1 Capex spent: $18 million
Life of mine: $385 million
Site cash operating costs; $0.72/lb (2014-2015); $1.13/lb (LOM)
Life of Stage 2: 9 years

Spot gold price edges higher to US$1386 an ounce

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:40:00 +1000

Gold is currently trading marginally higher at US$1386 an ounce in the spot market, which follows on from the yellow metal easing in the futures market.

Gold for August delivery was off 0.3% to close at US$1,383.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bullion has recovered some losses in recent weeks, and is trading 1.8% higher than a month ago, but 14.9% lower than this time last year.

Elsewhere in the metals markets, July silver edged down 0.9% to US$21.76 an ounce. September palladium slid US$13.85 to settle at US$717.85 an ounce, with July platinum giving back US$12.60 to end at US$1,434.80 an ounce.

Copper for July delivery finished flat at $3.20 a pound.

Moving to energy markets, crude oil for July delivery was slightly lower to US$97.77 a barrel, after spending most of the day showing a gain on concerns about the rising tensions in Syria.

Sun Resources managing director acquires shares on market

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:20:00 +1000

Sun Resources (ASX: SUR) managing director Dr Govert van Ek has acquired 500,000 shares in the company on the market.

He paid a total of $15,815 for the shares, or an average consideration of about $0.032 per share, giving him a total shareholding of 500,000 shares held directly.

He also holds 10 million unlisted options exercisable at $0.057, 10 million unlisted options exercisable at $0.067 and 10 million unlisted options exercisable at $0.076.

Sun had recently attracted Petro-Hunt LLC, one of the world’s largest privately held companies, as a joint venture partner targeting oil and gas in the Lower Woodbine interval in Leon County, Texas.

The partners will drill the first horizontal well into the Lower Woodbine in the last quarter of 2013.

Sun has a 25% interest in the joint venture, which includes 810 net acres from its wholly-owned Delta Oil Project.

Range Resources’ associate to start commercial oil production from Guatemala well

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:30:00 +1000

Range Resources (ASX: RRS) associate Citation Resources (ASX: CTR) is poised to start commercial oil production from its Atzam-4 oil well in Guatemala that had tested an initial rate of 610 barrels of oil per day.

Negotiations are currently underway between the operator Latin American Resources and a number of parties for the immediate and long term oil commercial production from Atzam-4.

Range has an indirect attributable interest of 23.93% in the Atzam project, consisting of a 19.9% interest in Citation and a further 10% interest in the project.

Latin American, which is 70% owned by Citation, also believes the well could flow at higher rates with a larger choke size. The optimal production flow rate will be determined on completion of the current testing and evaluation program.

During the 10 day production and reservoir pressure testing program, strong well head pressures were maintained during testing with oil production continuing between 250 and 600 barrels per day on restricted choke sizes when flowing between shut-ins for pressure testing.

No water cut has been produced to date while the oil quality has improved over the past week with samples assaying 36 to 37 degrees API oil.

Pressure testing operations will continue for another 3-4 days, with the well then to be immediately turned to production.

Construction of additional on-site production and storage facilities is underway in preparation of the well commencing its production operations.

Atzam-4 is currently estimated to host Probable Reserves of 2.3 million barrels of oil.

Citation has a 70% interest in Latin American.

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Superior Resources in JV with Diatreme Resources over Tick Hill Gold project

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:00:00 +1000

Superior Resources (ASX:SPQ) has entered into a formal farm-in and joint venture agreement with Diatreme Resources (ASX:DRX) over the Tick Hill gold project that covers three mining leases in northwest Queensland.

The farm-in agreement comes as Mt Isa Mines and Diatreme have made sufficient progress in assigning 100% of the mining leases to Diatreme as part of the Option and Sale agreement between the two.

As part of the farm-in, Superior Resources will have the right to earn a 50% interest in the project by completing $750,000 of exploration including substantial drilling; payment of $100,000 to Diatreme and lodging of 50% of government security bond on the tenements.

However, the start of the deal remains conditional on the completion of the transfer of the mining leases from Mt Isa to Diatreme.

The Tick Hill gold project comprises three granted Mining Leases No's 7094, 7096, 7097 each with an area of 130 hectares for a total area of 390 hectares.

The Tick Hill Gold Deposit was mined between 1991 and 1995 by Carpentaria Gold, a subsidiary of MIM Holdings, for the production of 513,333 ounces of gold from 705,000 tonnes of ore at a recovered grade of 22.6 grams per tonne gold.

Circadian Technologies secures U.S. disease monitoring patent

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:30:00 +1000

Circadian Technologies (ASX:CIR; OTCQx:CKDXY) has been granted a U.S. patent covering the measurement of disease development.

The patent specifically covers the measurement of VEGFR-3 levels in human tissue samples, to assist in disease detection. Studies have shown the diagnostic potential of measuring VEGFR-3 levels to identify the patients at risk of developing different cancer types.

The measurement tool can be used for a wide array of different cancer types as well as to monitor the ongoing effectiveness of a range of different cancer therapies.

Circadian is a biologics drugs developer focusing on cancer and opthalmic disease therapies. It has specific focus on the treatment of lymphedema resulting from breast cancer treatment and colorectal cancer.

It is also developing the VGX-300 antibody for 'back of the eye' disease such as age related macular degeneration.

Citation Resources to bring Guatemala oil well into production within days

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:30:00 +1000

Citation Resources (ASX: CTR) plans to start commercial oil production from its Atzam-4 oil well in Guatemala after successfully carrying out a production and reservoir pressure testing program.

Pressure testing operations will continue for another 3-4 days, with the well then to be immediately turned to production.

Construction of additional on-site production and storage facilities is underway in preparation of the well commencing its production operations.

Negotiations are currently underway between the operator Latin American Resources and a number of parties for the immediate and long term oil commercial production from Atzam-4.

Citation added the well could flow at higher rates with a larger choke size, and the optimal production flow rate will be determined on completion of the current testing and evaluation program.

During the 10 day testing period, strong well head pressures were maintained during testing with oil production continuing between 250 and 600 barrels per day on restricted choke sizes when flowing between shut-ins for pressure testing.

No water cut has been produced to date while the oil quality has improved over the past week with samples assaying 36 to 37 degrees API oil.

This has improved the company’s assessment of the well’s immediate commercial potential and reservoir quality.

The initial oil production of a 610bpd average rate over a 24 hour period post perforation without acid wash of the section was considered a strong indication of the commercial potential of the well, and likely to increase the recoverable resource volumetrics for the Atzam Field.

Atzam-4 is currently estimated to host Probable Reserves of 2.3 million barrels of oil.

Citation has a 70% interest in Latin American.

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Empire Energy Group inks Native Title agreement for NT oil and gas exploration

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +1000

Empire Energy Group (ASX:EEG), through its wholly owned subsidiary Imperial Oil & Gas, has signed an Exploration Agreement with Aboriginal Native Title Claimants and the Northern Land Council covering its petroleum exploration area EPA 184 in the Northern Territory.

The EPA 184 exploration area covers 11,220 square kilometres of highly petroleum prospective Urapunga region in the central trough of the McArthur Basin south of the Roper River.

The principal target is unconventional and conventional oil & gas sourced from Palaeo-Proterozoic age black carbonaceous shales of the Barney Creek and equivalent formations.

With the Native Title agreement in place, the relevant Northern Territory government authorities are required to complete their formalities and endorse the proposed exploration program before the permit is granted.

The exploration permit is likely to be granted next month after which Imperial will start its exploration program. As part of its exploration plan, Imperial will conduct geological field studies including outcrop sampling and analysis of target black shale and associated formation in the area.

2D seismic data will also be acquired across the northern part of EPA 184, which is aimed to characterise the subsurface basin architecture and constrain the depth and thickness of the target black shale formations.

A successful grant of an exploration permit over EPA 184 will be the first from Imperial's seven permit applications that total about 14.6 million acres.

Of note is that the EPA 184 is close to Armour Energy’s (ASX: AJQ) Glyde-1 well that flowed gas last year at a rate of 3.3 million cubic feet per day during testing and the Cow Lagoon-1 well, which flared gas.

The McArthur Basin contains a large scale shale oil and gas exploration play in the Barney Creek Formation, which is up to 900 metres thick.

Empire Energy has previously noted the uniformity of this shale formation, which in light of the strong gas flows from Glyde-1, make it likely that commercial gas flows are possible throughout the Batten Trough of the Basin.

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Argentina Mining drilling confirms gold-silver mineralisation in Argentina project

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:40:00 +1000

Argentina Mining’s (ASX: AVK) scout diamond drilling program at the 3,700 metre long Las Leñas epithermal-porphyry gold-silver target in Argentina has confirmed continuity at depth beneath high grade surface gold and silver results.

All holes intersected the targeted silicic and breccia reefs mapped during surface sampling with results showing the reefs to be components of a large gold-silver mineralised shear system.

Notable results include:

- 5 metres at 2.14 grams per tonne gold and 34.93g/t silver from 59 metres including 2 metres at 5.1g/t gold and 79.65g/t silver; and
- 2 metres at 2.63g/t gold and 47.80g/t silver from 14 metres.

Drilling had also identified an additional mineralised breccia zone, hidden under surface deposits that defines a major fault and may be the most significant zone in the system.

Interpretation shows potential for a large epithermal gold-silver deposit in a 20 metre to 50 metr wide, fault-bounded shear system in inter-bedded black shales and sandstones enclosing massive and drusy hydrothermal quartz-veining, quartz-breccias and quartz-vein stock-working originating from an adjacent “blind” intrusive porphyry whose emplacement is responsible for deformation of the host rocks and structural ground preparation for loci of mineralization.

With just 130 metres tested on a scout basis by the recently completed program, further surface mapping, geophysics and drilling is justified to test the full length of the shear system.

Las Leñas is part of the San Francisco project.