Proactiveinvestors Australia short news

Spot gold price climbs $6.10 to $1,378 an ounce

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:40:00 +1000

Gold has traded US$6.10 higher, or 0.5%, to US$1378 in the spot market by 4pm EST Australia, as the yellow metal regains some of its lustre following a recent sell-off.

Overnight gold futures rode a price roller-coaster following comments from the Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, with the June contract swinging in a four per cent range.

Gold and U.S. equities initially rallied after Bernanke said in his testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress that any premature tapering of the bond purchasing policies could threaten the economic recovery, but when pressed for more details by officials, he said the easing of the program could occur in the "next few meetings".

This, combined with minutes from the central bank's April 30-May 1 meeting released later in the that day showed some officials were advocating for the tapering of the bond purchasing as early as June, which led to a sharp sell-off in gold and equities.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Otto Energy to drill Philippines oil development wells in June

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:20:00 +1000

Otto Energy (ASX: OEL) expects to spud the first of two Galoc Phase II in June with the mobilisation of the Ocean Patriot semi-submersible drilling rig to the Galoc oil field offshore Philippines.

The rig is currently under tow from Singapore and is expected to arrive on site in early June. After it is anchored, it will proceed to spud the Galoc-5H and Galoc-6H wells.

The Phase II development of the Galoc will more than double production to 12,000 barrels of oil per day and ensures the field will remain in production beyond 2020.

It will also Otto and its partners to access the additional reserves in the field.

Otto had in March updated Proved (1P) Reserves at Galoc to 3.4 million barrels of oil while Proved and Probable (2P) Reserves have also been updated to 4.3 million barrels of oil.

This represents a Reserves Replacement Ratio of 115% for 1P and 98% for 2P Reserves.

Otto has a 33% interest in the Galoc oil field (SC14C) while fellow Australian Nido Petroleum (ASX: NDO) holds 22.87952%.

Golden Gate Petroleum to production test Louisiana oil well

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:00:00 +1000

Golden Gate Petroleum (ASX: GGP) will soon participate in production testing of the Hensarling-1 well in the Napoleonville Project, Louisiana.

A workover rig is scheduled to arrive today to run the completion operation and commence production testing from the Cris R III sands, which has 49 feet of net oil pay.

Another 31 feet of net pay was intersected in the Cris R II sands.

Hansarling-1 has post drill Reserves estimate of 952,000 barrels of oil and 400 million cubic feet of gas in the Cris R II & III sands.

Partner Grand Gulf Energy (ASX: GGE) expects the well to be placed on production within 3-6 months from completion.

Golden Gate has a 3.99% working interest in Hansarling-1.

Flinders Mines targeting DSO iron with new Pilbara drilling program

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:40:00 +1000

Flinders Mines’ (ASX: FMS) new drilling program will target DSO quality Brockman Iron Deposit mineralisation at its wholly-owned Pilbara Iron Ore Project.

This follows the company increasing the Brockman Iron Deposit (BID) Exploration Target to between 180 million tonnes and 280 million tonnes at 55% to 58% iron.

Scoping studies completed by the company have indicated the potential for savings in both initial project capital expenditure and operating costs from mining the BID mineralisation.

This is due in large part to the DSO quality which requires no beneficiation as well as the expected lower strip ratio than other parts of the Pilbara Iron Ore Project (PIOP) resource.

Flinders will immediately move to drill test and convert areas of interpreted mineralisation to increase the current 917Mt global resource.

The $1.2 million program will be carried out from June 2013 over the Delta Hills and Blackjack Hills areas.

Delta Hills drilling will focus on those areas immediately adjacent to existing ore intersections, whilst Blackjack Hills drilling will target untested mineralisation in areas that have had no or minimal drilling activity to date.

Background

Flinders first recognised BID on the flanks of the existing channel iron mineralisation in 2010 and has been investigating the potential for further BID mineralisation over the unexplored areas between the channels.

A 2011 drilling program generated outstanding near-surface BID mineralisation up to 54 metres in thickness and around 80% of the holes drilled to date have intersected greater than 4 metres of BID mineralisation.

Green Invest set to finalise funding proposal

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:20:00 +1000

Green Invest (ASX: GNV) has been granted a trading halt today by the ASX - with its shares placed in pre-open - pending a funding proposal.

The company is focused on the expanding environmental sustainability sector.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Monday 27th May 2013.

Other Green Invest news

Green Invest also announced today that it has settled a long running dispute with one of its former directors, John Filippo, in relation to accounting and other fees for work claimed to have been done, the value of which GNV disputed.

The settlement has been confirmed by an order made in the County Court that GNV pay Filippo $180,000. The Company intends to pay this amount by the end of May 2013.

Cogstate's cognitive tests to play key role in international Alzheimer’s study

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:00:00 +1000

CogState’s (ASX: CGS) computerised cognitive tests have been selected as part of the battery of cognition tests in a major global study investigating the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

The trial is being run by the international research partnership Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network out of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Trials Unit at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

It will evaluate whether two investigational drugs, currently being developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, can halt or reverse pathological changes in the preclinical biomarkers known to be present in patients with the disease.

The trial will include 210 adults, of which 120 carry a gene mutation linked to a rare form of Alzheimer’s disease, but have not yet demonstrated symptoms of the disease. The remaining trial participants do not carry the gene, but have a parent with the gene mutation.

Cognitive testing is a key part of the trial as it may valuable insights into the earliest mental changes in pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.

Participants in the study will undergo PET brain scans to track amyloid levels in the brain, and will also have their memory function and other cognitive abilities tested with the computer-based tests developed by CogState at the commencement of the study and at a total of six separate intervals during the 24 month duration of the trial.

The study is being run across over 30 investigational sites spanning the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Europe.

Castle Minerals confirms Ghana prospect as a gold and zinc discovery

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:40:00 +1000

Castle Minerals (ASX: CDT) has confirmed that its Bundi Prospect in northwest Ghana as a new gold discovery with associated zinc mineralisation.

Reverse circulation drilling had intersected a coherent zone of gold mineralisation over at least 1100 metres of strike.

This occurs within a zone of sulphide alteration that has a strong correlation with elevated zinc levels with up to 4% zinc reported from portable XRF analysis.

Coarse sphalerite (zinc sulphide) has also been observed in drill chips.

Notable gold intercepts include 20 metres at 1.13 grams per tonne gold from 50 metres including 10 metres at 1.92g/t gold from 10 metres and 15 metres at 1.15g/t gold from 30 metres including 10 metres at 1.61g/t gold from 35 metres.

Castle plans to carry out individual metre analysis of gold samples, laboratory analysis of zinc zones reported from the portable XRF analysis, rotary air blast and reverse circulation drilling as well as airborne geophysical surveys.

Indus Coal spins six rigs at Indonesian thermal coal project

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:20:00 +1000

Indus Coal (ASX: ICZ) has kicked off a 9100 metre Exploration HQ core drilling program on Block 9 of the Jambi Coal Projects, which is located in the Central Tebo District, Tebo Regency Jambi Provence of Eastern Sumatra, Indonesia.

The area is a known coal producing region with a recognised export thermal grade coal product sought after by Indian and Chinese power producers, with Indus aiming to monetise Jambi and the MukoMuko Coal Project over the next 12 months, with a plan to add scale through acquisitions.

Indus will have six rigs drilling the aggressive program at Block 9, with initial drilling having intersected good thicknesses of Coal Seam A at about a vertical depth of 35 to 40 metres and about 400m down dip from outcrop.

An additional four coal seams below Coal Seam B have been discovered which substantially increases the volume of coal on the Block 9 concession.

The company has conducted all its mining studies on a coal to waste ratio of 1:6, with economic studies on a coal removal cost of US$1.30 per MT of coal and a waste removal cost of US$1.80 per cubic metre.

Indus had around $1.4 million in cash at the end of March 2013.

The Lind Partners: Media sponsor of "Stars in 2013" Industrial Forum

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:00:00 +1000

The New York-based asset management firm 'The Lind Partners' is Media Sponsor of Proactive Investors' "Stars in 2013" Investor Forum to be held in Sydney on Tuesday 4th June 2013. Attendance is free but registrations are essential as seats are limited.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The Lind is a New York-based asset management firm that manages a family of institutional investment funds focused on small- and mid-cap publicly traded companies with an emphasis on Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Since 2009, the core team at Lind has worked on direct investments with a total transaction value in excess of $385 million.

Jeff Easton is the founder and managing director of The Lind Partners, and has spent over 15 years in the funds management business, and in 2009 co-founded SpringTree Global Investors, a New York-based institutional investment firm.

Easton has since been instrumental in developing and implementing an institutional investment platform that has made investments across a wide range of industries including biotechnology, healthcare, oil & gas, coal and other natural resources.

EVENT DETAILS:

Start time: 5:30pm SHARP - Please arrive before 5:15pm.

Date: Tuesday 4th June 2013

PRESENTING COMPANIES

TZ Limited (ASX:TZL)

Chairman Mark Bouris' TZ Limited (ASX: TZL) leverages its Intellectual Property and technology and over 180 patent applications in process, the distributed intelligence of TZ SMArt Devices™ and SMArt Systems™ provide solutions including the Automated Delivery Asset Manager (ADAM) locker system for online shoppers.

Novogen (ASX:NRT)

Novogen (ASX: NRT) has set itself the lofty goal of conquering cancer by developing the CS-6 comprehensive cancer therapy. A bold endeavor that Novogen is passionate about, committed to, and focused on. See why Novogen believes it can succeed where so many others have not fared well.

Cellmid (ASX:CDY)

Cellmid (ASX: CDY) is focused on developing innovative new therapies and diagnostic tests for heart attack, inflammatory diseases and cancer. Cellmid set up a dedicated subsidiary, Advangen International Pty Ltd, for the development of midkine for hair growth. In May, Cellmid made a transformative acquisition of Advangen Inc., Japan, the company that owns the FGF-5 inhibitor hair growth technology.

E&A Limited (ASX:EAL)

E&A Limited (ASX: EAL) is a dividend-paying company based in South Australia and operates nine wholly owned operating businesses providing services across the financial services, mining, defence, water, wind power and heavy industry sectors.

bluechiip Limited (ASX: BCT)

bluechiip Limited (ASX: BCT) is global technology company that provides a unique chain‐of‐custody tracking and monitoring tool which is initially focused on the life science market. Biobanking is the company's first market, where there is a broad and rapidly growing demand.

Orbis Gold hits 3m at 40.83g/t gold in Burkina Faso

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:40:00 +1000

Orbis Gold’s (ASX: OBS) has received a peak gold intercept of 3 metres at 40.83 grams per tonne gold from 142 metres from the recently completed diamond drilling program at its Bantou Gold Prospect in southwest Burkina Faso.

This also confirmed an extension of high grade gold mineralisation within the Bantou structures over an approximate 700 metre strike length and to 125 metres vertical depth.

Notable results include:

-    11 metres at 11.73g/t gold from 141 metres including 3 metres at 40.83g/t gold;
-    6.7 metres at 17.81g/t gold from 104.3 metres including 3.7 metres at 31.49g/t gold from 104.3 metres; and
-    1 metre at 29.6g.t gold from 102 metre and 3.4 metres at 8.36g/t gold from 120 metres.

Notably, the gold mineralisation remains open at depth offering the potential to further extend mineralisation at Bantou through additional drilling, which is being planned.

Assays are also awaited for a further five diamond holes.

Positive exploration results recently announced for the adjacent Safia and Tankoro Prospects also indicate potential for discovery of additional large‐scale gold deposits across the broader permit area.

Rock chip samples of up to 3.77g/t gold were recorded at Safia – a 6 kilometre long high‐order soil anomaly – while samples of up to 57.8g/t gold were recovered from the 12 kilometre long Tankoro.

Bantou is currently centred on a 1,000 metre long zone of artisanal gold workings that are developed over a series of steeply dipping north‐trending gold mineralised structures.

Pan Pacific Petroleum days from spudding Vietnam offshore oil and gas well

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:20:00 +1000

Pan Pacific Petroleum (ASX: PPP) is poised to participate in the drilling of up to three wells in the Nam Con Son Basin offshore southern Vietnam.

The Ocean General semi-submersible drilling rig is now on tow to Block 121, operated by Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) to drill the Ca Voi-1X well targeting the large Whale Prospect.

Ca Voi-1X is expected to spud during the first week of June.

This will be followed by two wells in the Block 07/03, operated by Premier Oil (LON: PMO).

Pan Pacific has a 15% interest in Block 121, which contains significant follow up potential, while Block 07/03 (Pan Pacific 5%), is adjacent to Block 12W which contains the Chim Sao (50 million barrels of oil equivalent) and Dua Oil Fields as well as the Lan Tay and Lan Do Gas Fields (2 trillion cubic feet) in Block 06-1 to the north.

Block 07/03 also contains the CRD-1X oil and gas discovery well that was drilled in June 2009 and produced 3,265.4 barrels of oil and 8.1 million standard cubic feet of gas per day from two zones in the Miocene sands.

Rey Resources completes acquisition of additional interests in Canning Basin oil permits

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:00:00 +1000

Rey Resources (ASX: REY), an associate company of ASF Group (ASX: AFA), has completed its acquisition of an additional 15% stake in two Petroleum Exploration Permits in the Canning Superbasin, Western Australia.

The company had received approvals from Western Australia’s Department of Mines and Petroleum of Western Australia and Foreign Investment Review Board and has paid Buru Energy (ASX: BRU) $6 million for the stakes in EP 457 and EP 458.

Rey now holds a 25% interest in the two permits, 10% of which is free carried to production.

EP457 and EP458 – the Fitzroy Blocks, cover parts of the Ungani oil trend, the Laurel tight gas formation and the Goldwyer Shale

Buru, an experienced operator in the Canning, has flagged it will move forward with exploration on the permits, which are interpreted to contain, amongst other very prospective play types, an extension of the Ungani conventional oil trend.

Modun Resources sees significant upgrade in Nuurst coal quality in Mongolia

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:40:00 +1000

Modun Resources (ASX: MOU) has found that coal briquettes created from coal from its Nuurst coal in Mongolia could be upgraded to the benchmark Newcastle thermal coal energy level.

The testwork saw an increase in calorific value achieved to 5,648 kcal/kg from a 4,178 kcal/kg for the raw coal sample.

The improvements in coal quality were achieved via a cost effective beneficiation process, the improvements ensure a far more efficient burning coal.

Mongolian government

Modun is also in discussions with the Mongolian Government to develop a low cost, high energy and low emission coal to help improve the air quality in Ulaanbaatar.

Modun has also had several discussions with the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia over the last few weeks as part of the approval process for the mining licence which Modun expects to receive afer the completion of the administrative process.

The Nuurst thermal coal Project is located in central Mongolia on a 34.5 square kilometre licence area. In November 2012, Modun announced a 478 million tonne JORC reported Coal Resource at Nuurst. It is located 120 kilometres south of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar and just six kilometres from existing rail infrastructure which links directly into China.

Rampart Energy to announce oil and gas exploration agreement

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:20:00 +1000

Rampart Energy's (ASX: RTD) (formally Earth Heat Resources) shares are in pre-open this morning following the ASX granting the company a trading halt, pending details of an oil and gas exploration agreement.

The new Rampart, which has Torey Marshall at the helm (as it did with Earth Heat Resources) has outlined a focus on the acquisition and development of energy assets globally.

Rampart said that these assets include both conventional and unconventional oil and gas, with the aim to identify new opportunities within mature provinces that have established infrastructure and sophisticated investment environments.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Monday 27th May 2013.

Rimfire Pacific Mining completes diamond and reverse circulation drilling at NSW gold project

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:00:00 +1000

Rimfire Pacific Mining (ASX: RIM) has completed diamond and reverse circulation drilling at its Sorpresa gold project in New South Wales with mineralisation encountered in most holes.

All five of the diamond holes intersected mineralisation with some geological consistency noted, indicating the mineralised system is likely continuous and large scale.

Core orientation for structure determination will take a further two weeks, with priority intervals to be finalised and sampled for laboratory assay.

Petrological assessment is being carried out on the cores to assist in the understanding of the characteristics of the various geological components of the Sorpresa mineralisation.

The fifth hole was taken to a depth of about 500 metres to gain further context of the stratigraphy and geology at Sorpresa. The hole is considered to provide guidance on the important geological changes noted in the southeast direction from the other preceding diamond holes.

Many holes in the 38 holes reverse circulation program appear mineralised based on handheld XRF analysis and assays for the program are expected within the next three weeks or so.

Rimfire is also continuing its rotary air blast drilling program to the southwest of the known gold mineralized position at Trench 31 location where much of the highly prospective Sorpresa Project Area has not been explored and is concealed under shallow alluvium.

The company has completed 125 drill holes to shallow depths to date and has identified mineralised bedrock.

Relevant geology appears present including “black silica”, doubling the known area of this important rock type and geochemistry assays will be compiled for the bedrock and used as a basis for deciding deeper reconnaissance drilling to be conducted at a later stage.

Vortex Pipes options iron ore project adjacent to Mamba Minerals in Canada

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:40:00 +1000

Vortex Pipes (ASX: VTX) has signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the Snelgrove DSO iron ore project located in Newfoundland Labrador, Canada, from TSX-listed Cap-Ex Iron Ore (TSX:CEV) and Preston Mineral Resources.

What is likely to get attention is the project is adjacent to mineral claims and hematite deposits owned by Mamba Minerals Ltd (ASX:MAB) and the recently discovered CLC deposit, the Blaire deposit and the RW deposit.

Recent drilling at Mamba's CLC deposit saw a discovery drill hole intersect 303 metres of hematite from a depth of 10 metres. The CLC hematite deposit continues at depth, is open to the north and is prospective to trend southerly.

The Blaire hematite deposit is located approximately 500 metres north of CLC and adjoins the project boundary.

The RW deposit is located approximately 2,500 metres northeast of CLC and also adjoins the project boundary. These deposits form part of the reported hematite targets areas, measuring 7 kilometres strike by 250 metres width.

Due to the success of a 2010 survey, Mamba Minerals has agreed to commission a joint low level, high resolution airborne Falcon Gravity and Magnetometer survey that will consist of approximately 754 line kilometres at 100 metre spacing of which 435 line kilometres is directly over the project area under option by Vortex.

Vortex expects to release the preliminary airborne survey results in the coming weeks.

Vortex is required to pay a modest deposit in order to secure the option over the project until completion of due diligence is completed and approvals are received.

Labrador Trough

Approximately 50 million tonnes of iron ore is exported annually from the Labrador Trough through Port Sept Iles and Port Cartier to the south. Global companies currently operating or partnered in the region include Rio Tinto, Cliffs, Arcelor Mittal, Tata Steel, Wuhan Iron & Steel, Hebei Iron & Steel, Posco, China Steel and Mitsubishi Corporation.

There is significant export infrastructure in the Trough to support iron ore producers in the region as could be expected.

TZ Limited in trading halt for capital raising

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:20:00 +1000

TZ Limited (ASX: TZL) is preparing to release an announcement regarding a capital raising and has placed its shares into an ASX trading halt.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Monday, 27th May 2013.

TZ has logged significant progress this week, locking in the initial locations for the first stage roll out of its A.D.A.M. Parcel Locker System while signing on Fastway Couriers to use its Parcel Locker Network during a 12 month trial.

To top it off, the company has received a new purchase order from Singapore Post "for a material and significant number of smart lockers."

TZ Limited will be presenting at the Proactive Investors One2One Forum in Sydney on 4 June 2013. Click HERE to register.

Primary Gold could increase gold recoveries to 92% from Toms Gully mine

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:00 +1000

Primary Gold (ASX: PGO) has near-term gold production potential from the Mt Bundy Gold Project in the Northern Territory, with the company now re-invigorated following raising funds and changing focus, and its name, from Hydrotech International earlier in the year.

The company recently completed the acquisition of the project, and has now delivered a potential boost to the economics through metallurgical process improvements.

Primary Gold is now in a position where over 50% of gold at Toms Gully underground mine could be recovered by using gravity concentration, with additional process improvements to then potentially improve gold recoveries by 7% to 92%.

The Mt Bundy assets have a combined Inferred and Indicated JORC Mineral Resources of 1.15 million ounces gold, including a 9.0g/t Resource at the Toms Gully underground mine which also hosts a 250,000 tpa processing facility and substantial underground and surface infrastructure.

An ore Maiden Reserve is also on track at Toms Gully in the June 2013 quarter, with a Feasibility Study also on target to be completed in this period as well.

Primary Gold had over $5.2 million in cash at the end of March 2013.

Mt Bundy

The Mt Bundy assets comprise around 1000 square kilometres of tenements which includes the Toms Gully mine and processing facility and the Rustlers Roost open pit. Primary also holds an additional 1,600 square kilometres of exploration tenements in the vicinity.

Horizon Oil to reveal asset disposal

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:40:00 +1000

Horizon Oil (ASX: HZN) has been granted a trading halt by the ASX this morning, with its shares placed in pre-open, pending details of an asset disposal.

During the March 2013 quarter the company's working interest share of production from Maari and Manaia fields in New Zealand was 77,409 barrels of oil. Crude oil sales were 84,210 barrels at an average effective price of US$105.87.

In November 2012 the Maari joint venture exercised its option to purchase the FPSO Raroa from Tablelands Development Ltd at a gross cost of US$32.9m. The transaction was completed on 8 March 2013 and the transfer of operations to MODEC Management Services Pte Ltd was accomplished smoothly and without incident.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Monday 27th May 2013.

Horizon had cash on hand US$34.7 million at end of March 2013, with US$140 million drawn down on
bank facility.

ThinkSmart reaffirms six month net profit guidance of $0.5M

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:20:00 +1000

ThinkSmart (ASX: TSM) has reaffirmed its guidance that it will report a net profit after tax of $0.5 million for the six months ending 30 June 2013.

This is due to ongoing strong growth from its UK business as well as good progress with its payment plan product, Fido.

The result is a $2 million improvement from the corresponding prior year period for the provider of point of sale financing solutions in Australia and the UK.

ThinkSmart’s UK business had achieved a record set of results in 2012 and is expected to deliver further growth in 2013 with both volumes and profit building well.

This is due to high demand for its consumer rental product Infinity and its highly scalable operational capability which resulted in fixed costs in the UK remaining largely flat despite the growth in volumes.

Its Fido payment plan product is also building volumes steadily and in line with expectations.

SubZero awarded $2 million mining service contract from BHP Billiton

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:00:00 +1000

SubZero Group (ASX:SZG) has been awarded a new contract worth $2 million from BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) for dozer push works at its Mt Arthur Coal mine.

Formerly SVC Group, it acquired 100% of the issued capital of SubZero Group Pty Ltd in a backdoor listing with a change of name to SubZero in April.

The BHP contract will run for approximately four months with the possibility of a 12 month extension.

The contract will be delivered by SubZero’s Mining Service division that provides an extensive range of mining equipment and machinery, available for wet or dry hire on a 24/7 basis.

SubZero was established and is a profitable mining service business based in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

In April, SubZero was awarded $5.9 million infrastructure & poly contract with BHP Billiton to upgrade part of the water network at the Mt Arthur Coal mine.

Red Mountain Mining uncovers new 1km gold corridor at Lobo Prospect in Philippines

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:40:00 +1000

Red Mountain Mining (ASX: RMX) has uncovered further high grade gold with peak results of 6.63 grams per tonne gold and 67.4g/t silver from surface sampling at Lobo prospect within its flagship Batangas Gold Project in the Philippines.

This along with new soil sampling geochemistry have allowed the company to define a greater than 1 kilometre long corridor of mineralisation at the southwestern end of the 2 kilometre long Ulupong structure.

“The Ulupong discovery is starting to look very significant. High-grade gold, in outcropping veins, is supported by strong soil anomalies over a one kilometre strike length,” managing director Jon Dugdale said.

“We are excited at the prospect of drilling this new discovery, along with the other high grade, near surface targets at Pica and Japanese Tunnels.”

The sampling was carried out over sub-cropping quartz-sulphide boulders in the Bigaan-Ulupong area about 800 metres along strike to the northeast of the ULOC 4 trench where a recent result of 1.4 metres at 1.26 g/t gold including 0.3 metres at 5.3 g/t gold was produced across northern extensions of the ULOC 4 vein.

Previous sampling across the vein at ULOC 4 intersected 0.45 metres at 23.39 g/t gold while sampling along the vein produced results of 19 metres at 9.77 g/t gold including 7 metres at 23.58 g/t gold.

Drilling is now planned to test the high-grade veins and soil anomalies at Ulupong as part of the next phase of drilling, which is expected to be funded by the Rights Issue of three new shares priced at $0.01 each for every two shares held by shareholders to raise up to $2.8 million.

This is partially and conditionally underwritten by Patersons Securities to $550,000.

Batangas

Batangas, located 120 kilometres south of Manila, comprises two key gold prospects, Archangel and Lobo, which have combined JORC Mineral Resources estimates of 5.78 million tonnes at 2.2 grams per tonne gold and 3.3g/t silver for 408,000 ounces of gold and 606,000 ounces of silver.

The bulk of resources are currently located at Archangel where surface stockwork gold mineralisation hosted by shallow dipping andesitic volcanics remains open to the east and west

Red Mountain has recently discovered four new, high-grade, near surface, epithermal gold vein zones at Lobo, Batangas, that will be the focus of further drilling with the objective of upgrading gold Mineral Resources and significantly enhancing the economics of a potential gold operation at the project.

Recent diamond drilling at Lobo had returned assays of 5 metres at 4.28g/t gold and 15.75g/t silver from 22.4 metres, including 1.3 metres at 9.49g/t gold and 21.5g/t silver, and 1.7 metres at 4.4g/t gold from 58.1 metres.

Triton Minerals receives substantial shareholder notice

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:20:00 +1000

Graphite focused Triton Minerals (ASX:TON) has received a substantial shareholder notice from Craig Stubbs as a result of on-market purchases that took his stake to 5.06%.

Stubbs acquired the shares in February and in May and now holds 8,268,445 shares in Triton.

Triton shares have been firm of late, up 12.7% since 13 May.

During the last quarter, Triton confirmed the presence of graphite in the Balama prospects in Mozambique’s prolific Graphite region of the Cabo Delgado Province.

It focused its initial exploration to defining level 1 and 2 target zones.

Exploration program work will be expanded to incorporate the remaining levels.

The initial interpretation is that the graphite mineralisation continues on the North-East trend, extending up from the Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX SYR) large and high grade graphite deposits.

Sirius Resources continues to discover nickel and copper at Bollinger

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:00:00 +1000

Sirius Resources (ASX: SIR) said that ongoing drilling at its Bollinger nickel-copper deposit continues to define significant widths of sulphide mineralisation.

New assays from the Bollinger deposit continue to confirm significant mineralised intercepts including:

- 14.72 metres at 2.60% Ni and 1.04% Cu from 415.53 metres, including 5.85 metres at 4.89% Ni and 1.82% Cu from 415.53 metres in hole SFRD0306 on line 625N.

- 18.84 metres at 5.15% Ni and 2.24% Cu from 425.02 metres in hole SFRD0297 on line 675N.

- 47.80 metres at 1.41% Ni and 0.64% Cu from 397.20 metres in hole SFRD0316 on line 675N.

- 39.02 metres at 5.15% Ni and 2.20% Cu from 395.67 metres in hole SFRD0321 on line 680N.

- 38.51 metres at 2.06% Ni and 0.75% Cu from 452.36, including 7.20 metres at 5.34% Ni and 1.97% Cu from 483.67 metres in hole SFRD0294 on line 700N.

The new intercepts show the continuous nature of the mineralisation at Bollinger, which comprises a central core of massive sulphide overlain by a more extensive, thick zone of lower grade disseminated sulphide mineralisation.

Reconnaissance drilling

Systematic exploration drilling is ongoing elsewhere within the geological structure known as the Eye. Approximately 50% of the prospective area has now been tested, and drilling will continue to test the remaining 50% over the coming months.

Heritage surveys have been completed at the Yardilla target and drilling is planned to commence once statutory approvals have been received.

July crude off 2% on stimulus tightening concerns

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:50:00 +1000

The energy markets were impacted overnight by suggestions that the Federal Reserve would begin tapering its bond buying program in the near-term, with July crude losing US$1.90, or 2%, to settle at US$94.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, also weighed down.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration also reported Wednesday that crude supplies fell 300,000 barrels for the week that ended May 17.

Analysts polled by Platts expected a 1.2 million-barrel decline. The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday a 532,000-barrel rise in crude supplies.

Yellow Brick Road Holdings launches RetireRight super fund

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:40:00 +1000

Yellow Brick Road Holdings (ASX:YBR) has launched a superannuation fund product, "RetireRight" that is competitively priced in management costs against the top ten super funds in Australia.

The fund is a joint venture with Map Funds Management and OneVue.

Recently, YBR launched a portfolio of home loan solutions that features some of the lowest interest rates in the market.

Gold price rides Bernanke roller-coaster

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:30:00 +1000

There was a wild ride for gold bugs overnight, as the yellow metal reacted to mixed signals about the Federal Reserve's bond buying program.

Gold futures for June delivery fell $10.20, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,370.10 an ounce on Comex.

In the spot market gold has peaked at US$1416 an ounce in the past 24 hours, with the low US$1354 an ounce, which is close to a 5% range. The last traded spot price was US$1370 an ounce.

Gold and U.S. equities initially rallied after Ben Bernanke said in his testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress that any premature tapering of the bond purchasing policies could threaten the economic recovery, but when pressed for more details by officials, he said the easing of the program could occur in the "next few meetings".

This, combined with minutes from the central bank's April 30-May 1 meeting released later in the afternoon that showed some officials were advocating for the tapering of the bond purchasing as early as June, led to a sharp sell-off in gold and equities.

Midwinter Resources looks to make significant asset acquisition

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:20:00 +1000

Midwinter Resources (ASX: MWN) is looking to make a "significant asset acquisition" and has been granted a trading halt by the ASX.

This is expected to last until 27 May.

The company flagged in the recent quarterly that it was continuing to assess projects around the globe.

Previously, Midwinter had been involved in raw materials feed products to the ferrous metals industry, iron ore
and limestone in the Limpopo Province, Republic of South Africa.

The company also has phosphate interests in South Africa and Western Australia.

Bulletin Resources to increase cash position

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:00:00 +1000

Bulletin Resources (ASX: BNR) is preparing to release a capital raising update, with the ASX granting the company a trading halt today - with its shares placed in pre-open.

Earlier in the month Bulletin announced the final results from a 5000 metre reverse circulation drilling program at the wholly-owned Lamboo Gold Project in Western Australia.

Recent highlights from the project include resource expansion drilling at Nicolson’s which delivered: 3.0 metres at 5.0g/t gold; and 2.0 metres at 27.5g/t gold.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Friday 24th May 2013.

Leyshon Resources expects results from Chinese coal seam gas wells next week

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:40:00 +1000

Leyshon Resources (ASX: LRL) is continuing flow testing of two coal seam gas wells in the Ordos Basin, China, with initial results expected next week.

The ZJS5 and ZJS6 wells are part of an initial program designed to explore and test the potential for commercial gas production in a highly prospective and unexplored 380 square kilometre central depression area.

This area appears to demonstrate good continuity with the neighbouring Sanjiaobei discovery operated by fellow Australian Sino Gas & Energy (ASX: SEH).

The testing is part of the previously announced US$20 million accelerated exploration and appraisal program on the Zijinshan Gas Project, located on the eastern fringe of the prolific Ordos Gas Basin in Central China.

ZJS5 and ZJS6 are located within 10 kilometres of a tie-in point on the recently commissioned Lin-Lin pipeline which supplies the growing demand in Shanxi Province.

Discussions with potential off-take partners suggest that there continues to be a shortage of locally sourced gas to feed the pipeline and as a result prices are continuing to rise.

Locally based major industrial users are reportedly paying around U$ 12 per thousand standard cubic feet of gas.

Winmar Resources delivers maiden Indicated Iron Resource at Hamersley

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:20:00 +1000

Winmar Resources (ASX: WFE) infill drilling campaign at the Hamersley iron project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia has delivered a maiden Indicated Resource.

Hamersley is located in the Tom Price Region of the Pilbara, in close proximity to Fortescue Metals’ (ASX: FMG) Solomon project and Rio Tinto’s (ASX: RIO) Marandoo and Brockman mines.

The Indicated Resource is 42.6 million tonnes at 55.2% Fe (57.3% CaFe) and was conducted by RungePincockMinarco, with Inferred 300.6 million tonnes at 54.5% iron (58.0% CaFe) for a total Resource of 343.2 million tonnes at 54.5% iron (57.9% CaFe).

Importantly for Winmar is that the Indicated portion of resource is near surface, which opens up the potential for future DSO production, which brings cash flows. The company will now focus on this part of the resource with Pre-Feasibility Studies and infrastructure discussions underway.

Winmar has also outlined that talks are underway with multiple parties to identify and collaborate on strategic infrastructure solutions in line with the project’s development plan. Both road and rail opportunities are being pursued with associated port opportunities.

Joint Venture

Winmar recently satisfied the expenditure requirements of its Farm-In and Joint Venture with a subsidiary of Cazaly Resource (ASX: CAZ) for Hamersley.

The joint venture between Winmar and Cazaly was subsequently formed on 11 February 2013 with respective participating interests of the parties: Winmar 51% and Cazaly 49%. Winmar continues to manage the project.

TZ Limited locks in first six Australian locations for A.D.A.M. parcel lockers

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:00 +1000

TZ Limited (ASX: TZL) has locked in six locations in eastern Australia for the first stage roll out of its A.D.A.M. Parcel Locker System.

Installation of the lockers will commence towards the end of next week and will go ‘live’ shortly thereafter following brief site testing of parcel drop-off and pick-up workflows with enabling partners.

The lockers will be located at MLC Centre at Martin Place in Sydney, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre in the Melbourne CBD and BP Petrol Station at Church Street, Richmond in Victoria.

The last three sites are located in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and will be identified once leasing and license agreements are finalised.

Expansion of the Parcel Locker Network, including sites in South Australia and Western Australia, will progress in the next stage of deployment which is currently scheduled for September this year.

The company has already identified possible sites for this next stage of development and is already in discussions with prospective partners that will further extend and expand the Parcel Locker Network.

TZL had yesterday reached an agreement with Fastway Couriers to use TZ’s Parcel Locker Network during a 12 month trial.

Taken together with other teaming agreements with Temando and Toll Group, the company believes that the conditions are in place for generating parcel delivery flow to the A.D.A.M. Parcel Locker Network as it is rolled out across Australia, ultimately providing significant benefit to TZL and its network of partners.

These agreements could represent in excess of 60% of the parcel deliveries in Australia.

TZ Limited will be presenting at the Proactive Investors One2One Forum in Sydney on 4 June 2013. Click HERE to register.

Leopard Resources gains exposure to Yandal Greenstone Belt gold quest

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:40:00 +1000

Leopard Resources (ASX: LRR) is moving towards acquiring the Cables and Mission project in the Yandal Greenstone Belt in Western Australia, with the company providing an update that an exploration program has commenced on the project.

Leopard said that Mobile Metal Ion sampling has commenced at the Mission and Cables Gold prospect, with the program also including a 3500 metres of reverse circulation drilling which will target an upgrade to the Resource of 1.2 million tonnes at 2.8g/t gold for 109,900 ounces.

Highlighting the prospectivity of the tenements, they are located in the Mount Margaret Mineral Field, and form part of the Yandal Belt area which has been a major gold producing region for many years.

Deposits in the belt include Jundee/Nimary (historical production of 7.3Moz), Bronzewing (3.6Moz), Darlot (3Moz) and Mt McClure (1.8Moz). The 3Moz Darlot/Centenary Gold Mine (operated by Barrick Gold) is located seven kilometres south of the prospects.

Financing update

Leopard said that it is well advanced in discussions to raise up to $1.5 million to provide the necessary additional funding to complete the next stage of drilling and development at the Mission and Cables gold project.

Funds would also be allocated to the Nacimiento project in Mexico and general working capital.

Silver Lake Resources director increases stake on market

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:20:00 +1000

Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR) non-executive director Brian Kennedy has increased his indirect interest in the company by a further 280,000 shares acquired on-market.

The shares were acquired at an average price of $0.689375 per share for a total consideration of $193,025 by Pauline Kennedy and Briken Nominees as trustees for the Briken Trust.

Kennedy now holds 75 shares directly and 4,555,377 shares indirectly.

Silver Lake has logged further thick, high grade copper and gold intercepts from infill drilling at its Hollandaire deposit within the Eelya Complex, part of the Murchison gold project located 600 kilometres north of Perth.

This could add a copper, gold and silver concentrate revenue stream to the Murchison gold project, thereby reducing all-in-sustaining cash costs at the gold operation.

The nearby gold mill has been constructed with the possible addition of a concentrate circuit in mind. The crusher already has excess capacity and provision has been made for the ready addition of a grinding and flotation circuit.

The Hollandaire inferred resource of 2.8 million tonnes at 1.6% copper, 0.4 g/t gold and 5 g/t silver with the supergene zone averaging 4.7% copper sits below gold mineralisation that extends from the surface down to 50 vertical metres depth.

Lucapa Diamond Company confirms presence of kimberlite at Angolan diamond target

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:00:00 +1000

Lucapa Diamond Company’s (ASX: LOM) drilling at its Lulo Diamond Concession in Angola has confirmed the presence of kimberlite material at the Se251 anomaly.

The five initial core holes also indicate that Se251 is potentially the largest kimberlite identified to date within the 3,000 square kilometre concession with an estimated surface area of 150 hectares.

Its large size and central location adjacent to, and within, the main alluvial workings of the Cacuilo Valley indicate the anomaly could be a potential source of the large alluvial diamonds recovered from the area.

However, Lucapa noted it was still too early to determine whether the anomaly is a single large kimberlite or a series of closely spaced smaller pipes.

Se251 has now being designated the highest priority kimberlite target at Lulo and Lucapa has started a comprehensive drilling and sampling program to evaluate the pipe.

It is now drilling the first large diameter hole at Se251 with samples to be processed through the company’s existing Dense Media Separation plant.

Lucapa has also received preliminary data from the aeromagnetic survey Fugro completed over the north-eastern two-thirds of the Lulo concession.

This shows a number of new targets with magnetic signatures consistent with known kimberlite pipes that are concentrated along the eastern margin of the survey area.

Lucapa will undertake a thorough review and interpretation of the survey results when the final aeromagnetic data becomes available in June 2013.

In addition, the company has started receiving the final containers with the remainder of its 50 tonne per hour DMS plant.

Lucapa hopes to have the new DMS plant commissioned and operational in the next quarter, which will greatly assist the processing of kimberlite and alluvial samples.

Condor Blanco Mines intersects 137 metres of strong sulphide mineralisation in Chile

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:48:00 +1000

Condor Blanco Mines (ASX:CDB) has notched an impressive 137.85 metres of strong sulphide mineralisation in a drill hole from its Carachapampa project in northern Chile.

Interestingly, mineralisation is still open at the end of the hole.

The drill core has been sent to the laboratory with initial assay results expected in early June.

The Carachapampa Project is located in "big discovery territory" in the Maricunga Belt of northern Chile, including large gold-copper porphyry deposits in the Maricunga Belt such as Exeter Resources’ Caspiche Project, Kinross Gold's operating Refugio mine and the Cerro Casale gold-copper deposit.

Condor Blanco managing director Glen Darby said today if the diamond drill hole DDH-CP2B has passed through the high sulphidation epithermal zone into the upper parts of a porphyry copper system, there could be be potential for two mineralised systems at Carachapampa.

Drilling commenced in early January with two diamond drill rigs established on holes DDH-CP1 and DDH-CP2 in the central area of the alteration.

Drilling will recommence in May with DDH-CP1 being deepened to 400 metres from the current depth of 136.65 metres.

One interpretation is that the mineralisation could represent a transition zone from high sulphidation epithermal gold-silver mineralisation to porphyry copper mineralisation.

Adcorp Australia wins three year master media agency contract from Western Australia

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:40:00 +1000

Adcorp Australia (ASX: AAU) has secured a three year contract from the Western Australia Government for the provision of non-campaign master media agency services.

The contract includes a two year extension option and follows on the original contract that Adcorp was awarded in 2008 and extended in 2011.

Adcorp attributed to award to its proprietary online media booking and artwork building system as well as its Perth team’s dedication to customer service.

It also holds the Non-Campaign Master Media Agency contract with the Australian Government; the Media Placement and Typesetting contract with the New South Wales Government and the Interstate and Overseas Media Contract with the Northern Territory Government.

Adcorp is Australasia’s largest locally owned communications group with annual billings in excess of $145 million.

Classic Minerals is Australia's newest public company, Fraser Range exposure

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:20:00 +1000

Classic Minerals (ASX: CLZ) will be Australia's newest listed company after being admitted to the Official List of ASX today, with the company focused on the Fraser Range and Murchison provinces of Western Australia.

Classic will hit the ASX boards at 1.00 pm EST on Friday 24th May 2013, and when the company first trades there will be a little over 67.1 million shares on issue.

The company raised $3,625,700 under the Initial Public Offer by the issue of 18,128,500 fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of $0.20.

Classic’s Fraser Range Project is located in the Fraser- Albany Mobile Belt which further to the north hosts the 6.4 million ounce Havana and Tropicana Gold deposits and 40 kilometres to the south hosts Sirius Resources’ (ASX: SIR) highly prospective Nova nickel-copper sulphide deposit.

Other interests include the Mt Maitland Project which is located 100 kilometres north west of Meekatharra and west of Yeelirrie in the Murchison Mineral Field.

Iluka Resources MD: zircon prices may have stabilised

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:00 +1000

Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) managing director David Robb has painted an improved picture of the zircon market, with a higher level of customer inquiry and a pick-up in orders in all markets, except Europe.

Speaking at the annual general meeting, Robb said indications are that zircon prices may have stabilised, which if sustained, would underpin volume recovery and represents a pre-condition for potential price increases.

Its key zircon markets in China and the US, and even now in Europe, albeit from a very low base, have seen sales exceed last year’s levels.

Robb said sales in China are at a similar level to full year 2012 China sales.

Forecasting demand throughout 2013 and into 2014 remains challenging, due to factors such as the volatility of global and regional economic indicators and subsequent performance trajectories.

Iluka will provide sales volumes in July.

Titan Energy Services drill rig to continue drilling for Australia Pacific LNG

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:40:00 +1000

Titan Energy Services’ (ASX: TTN) coal seam gas rigs continue to be contracted to leading operators with Australia Pacific LNG extending the contract for its Atlas Rig 3 by another six months.

Atlas Rig 3 will now continue drilling wells for the Origin Energy (ASX: ORG), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and Sinopec joint venture through to December 2013.

Titan’s various business continue to perform well as the Queensland coal seam gas to liquefied natural gas projects ramp up operations as they move towards delivery of their first cargoes.

Its Resources Camp Hire business had earlier this month signed two key camp contracts, bringing its total room numbers up 9% to 623.

This and other contracts have contributed to the company’s confidence that it is on track to achieve its Earnings Before Interest and Tax guidance of between $12.5 million and $13.5 million.