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Proactive weekly mining highlights: Ormonde Mining, Salt Lake Potash. Jubilee Metals...

Published: 19:00 15 Dec 2018 AEDT

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Ormonde Mining Plc (LON:ORM) continues to look forward to a February start-up at its 30% owned Barruecopardo tungsten mine.

The company, in a stock market statement, told investors that development schedule at the Spanish project has progressed in line with previous guidance.

It added, significantly, that the projected construction costs remain within the budget of €53.6mln.

Salt Lake Potash Ltd (ASX:SO4) (LON:SO4) has welcomed a Western Australian State Government initiative that commits to assisting in the development of a potash industry in WA.

The government will initially introduce a new rental rate for potash projects which will reduce the existing rate of mining leases from $18.70 per hectare to $2.32 per hectare in the first five years and to $4.64 per hectare in years following.

The official licence certificate for the Mochetundra project in Russia has now been delivered to Eurasia Mining plc (LON:EUA).

The licence was registered with the state registry of subsoil mining licences in Moscow on Monday, December 10.

Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) is acquiring rights to all the chrome at the PlatCro project in South Africa, where it already controls the platinum group elements.

The operation is already in production and is currently processing 75,000 tonnes of ore per month from a resource base of over 1.8mln tonnes.

It will more than double Jubilee's existing chrome processing capacity

The consideration is £8.6 million.

Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) said all of its prospecting licences have been extended for its copper/silver project in Botswana.

The natural resources investor said all prospecting licences for its joint venture in the country had been granted two-year extensions ahead of their expiry on 31 December, with no reduction in land area.

The company added that a new prospecting licence, PL093/2018, had been issued for 3 years to 30 September 2021 while all licences apart from PL190/2008 had been transferred to the new joint venture exploration firm Tshukudu Exploration.

In a separate announcement, the group said it had intersected wide zones of finely disseminated chalcocite and bornite copper mineralisation from 85 metres to 385 metres downhole a the Tshukudu exploration joint venture in Botswana.

A strongly mineralised vein at 268 metres shows potential for high-grade intersections. Assay results are awaited.

Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd (LON:CGH) has secured “further improved terms” for its acquisition of the Kapan Mining and Processing Company.

The AIM-listed exploration firm said Polymetal International PLC (LON:POLY), the owner of Kapan, had agreed to accept US$10mln of the US$55mln total consideration for Kapan in convertible notes of the Company, rather than US$5mln as previously announced.

Chaarat said the change was conditional upon the acquisition closing no later than 15 January 2019.

Lithium mine developer Kodal Minerals PLC (LON:KOD) said it had made “excellent progress” towards the delivery of its first mining operation at the Bougouni project.

As a pre-revenue company, the emphasis in the company’s interim results for the six months to the end of September was naturally on the progress made operationally rather than on the numbers.

The period saw the company publish its maiden mineral resource, which placed Bougouni in the top 15 lithium projects globally.

Bacanora Lithium Ltd (LON:BCN) thinks its previous forecasts for future lithium demand are increasingly looking overly conservative.

AIM-quoted Bacanora is in the process of securing the financing to start construction at its Sonora lithium project in Mexico, which is expected to produce 35,000 tonnes of the silvery-white metal a year.

It had previously estimated that global demand for lithium would reach 450,000 tonnes per annum by 2025, up from 250,000 tpa today.

Erris Resources PLC (LON:ERIS) sees potential for a small to mid-sized gold producer to drill the Brännberg Project in Sweden after initial partner Centerra Gold elected not to continue drilling due to the mineralised system not demonstrating the size to host a gold deposit of over 1mln ounces.

The project reverts 100% back to the AIM-listed European-focused mineral exploration company, which said it will now undertake follow- up work to determine the resource potential of the project and consider whether it can be advanced on its own or potentially in partnership with a junior gold developer.

Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) (ASX:THR) has announced an upgraded and increased mineral resource estimate containing tungsten, copper and - for the first time - zinc, for the Desert Scheelite deposit at Pilot Mountain in Nevada USA.

The AIM-listed firm said the Desert Scheelite mineral resource estimate now comprises 10.7mln tonnes at 0.26% of WO₃ (tungsten trioxide), 19.38 gram/tonne of Silver (Ag), 0.15% copper (Cu), and 0.38% zinc (Zn).

It said the upgraded mineral resource estimate represents a 6.5% increase in the scheelite inventory for Desert Scheelite, now containing 27,700 tonnes of WO₃,

Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) has announced that ongoing metallurgical test work has successfully produced saleable quartz and feldspar products for use in the ceramics industry from its Portuguese Mina do Barroso Project.

The AIM-listed resource development company - which is focused on becoming Europe's most significant producer of lithium spodumene concentrates  - said the production of quartz and feldspar products will mean that the company will reduce the volumes of non-saleable material that will need to be emplaced on site in contoured and vegetated landforms. 

Landore Resources Limited (LON:LND) has said the planned mineral resource estimate and report on the BAM Gold Deposit, Junior Lake Property, Ontario, in Canada is progressing well and is due to be completed and published in early January 2019.

Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU) saw its shares rise on Wednesday after the miner announced that a 1,000 metre diamond drilling programme is due to commence imminently at its wholly-owned Kizilcukur Gold Project in Turkey.

The company said that drilling to be focused on the planned Zeki Pit area, with the aim of improving the classification of JORC resources to the Measured and Indicated categories.

Horizonte Minerals PLC (LON:HZM) has filed the NI 43-101 feasibility study of its Araguaia ferronickel project in Brazil on SEDAR.

Results from the FS were first announced at the end of October and showed that over a 28-year mine life Araguaia will generate US$1.6bn in cash flows. 

Production during stage 1 is expected to average 14,500 tonnes of nickel per year, but it reckons it can double this with the addition of a second rotary kiln electric furnace process line after three years.

Tertiary Minerals PLC’s (LON:TYM) managing director, Richard Clemmey, has hailed a recovery in the fluorspar market in 2018 in the company’s full year results despite permitting challenges at its Storuman Mine in Sweden.

The fluorspar-focused firm said it had resolved two key issues in an ongoing permitting process for the Storuman project, while it had completed the first phase of scoping study level bench scale metallurgical testwork for its MB Fluorspar project in Nevada, with the second phase of testwork planned for 2019.

Mkango Resources Ltd (LON:MKA, CVE:MKA) told investors that it has secured a licence extension for exploration in the Phalombe.

The government of Malawi has given the company another two years under its current exploration phase, with the latest arrangement now running to January 2021.

Capital Drilling Ltd (LON:CAPD) has extended its contract with Anglo Gold Ashanti for the Geita mine, in Tanzania.

The London listed mining services contractor will continue underground exploration and grade control drilling, under a sub-contract to a five-year master agreement which currently runs to December 2020. It has operated at the Geita mine since 2006.

Europa Metals Ltd (LON:EUZ)(ASX:EUZ) has released results of a scoping study carried out on its Toral lead-zinc-silver project in Spain.

The study considered three conceptual underground mining development and production scenarios for Toral and concluded that a decline access ramp with a high-grade focus would be an optimal path to development.

IronRidge Resources LTD (LON:IRR) has commenced a 3,000-metre reverse circulation drilling programme on its Cape Coast lithium portfolio in Ghana.

The focus will be on the Abonko target and on the Ewoyaa project northern extension zone, where pegmatite mineralisation remains open. On completion of the reverse circulation drilling, a 1,000-metre diamond drilling is planned. 

W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has announced the mechanical completion of the La Parrilla crusher plant.

It paves the way for commissioning of mined ore from the Spanish project during January, the company said in a stock market statement.

Ground-based magnetic surveys conducted by Kavango Resources PLC (LON:KAV) on its Kalahari Suture Zone project in Botswana have confirmed the existence of several potentially mineralised structures.

The surveys followed up on data gained in an earlier airborne survey and complement soil surveys undertaken at the surface.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

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

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