pd255-November17 mag-web

Diverse Hexagon pushes ahead

While many graphite hopefuls are
attempting to capture some of the
froth from the battery minerals boom,

Hexagon Resources Ltd is looking to

broaden its potential customer base.

Most of Hexagon’s work to date has fo-

cused on the production of battery-grade

material from its McIntosh graphite pro-

ject in Western Australia, however, the

company is now rejigging its flowsheet

to enable it to supply traditional markets

and the emerging expandables sector as

well.

Diversification of end-product has

been the mandate of Hexagon managing

director Mike Rosenstreich since he was

appointed to the role in March.

“Previously the company was 100%

focused on lithium-ion batteries, so all of

our metallurgical test work was presum- Hexagon’s McIntosh project in WA’s Kimberley region is well placed to feed a

ing that we needed a super flake size South East Asian market hungry for flake graphite concentrate

product,” Rosenstreich told Paydirt.

“It was leveraging off some benign the company was now undertaking. as understanding what it is that people

aspects of our orebody – it’s clean and It is not a complete loss though, with at the end of the supply chain want,” he

gives us the ability to make a high purity, Hexagon still set to pursue production of said.

high-grade concentrate – but in that zeal battery-grade material as one of at least “I’ve come into the space being rela-

we kind of lost sight of what the orebody two processing streams. tively new, having had some industrial

actually does, what it looks like and what Recent test work confirmed that flake minerals experience. But what I am start-

other opportunities there are. concentrate from McIntosh is suitable for ing to have a stronger appreciation of

“Having looked at some of the techni- use in lithium-ion batteries, prior to any now is just how fragmented and imma-

cal data, one of the first things I realised optimisation work. ture the graphite market is and how that

was an endowment of medium to large “The PFS is all about stage one where is creating a lot more opportunities.”

flake. We have about 30% endowment you make your concentrate and so we’ll Rosenstreich expected South East

in various parts of our orebody which have two streams for the secondary Asia to become the premier market for

meet that spec, but we’ve never given it a processing which makes up stage two,” Hexagon, particularly with McIntosh well

chance in our process flowsheet.” Rosenstreich said. located to feed directly into countries

Rosenstreich oversaw “We’ve done some such as China which are “hungry” for

the completion of a PFS battery test work, it’s more graphite.

on McIntosh, about 65km been positive, and we’re “China is the gravity centre of the

north of Halls Creek in now doing another round graphite industry. They’re very price fo-

WA’s Kimberley region, of test work, which in- cused, they have a huge endowment of

in late May. The study cludes utilisation of the battery-style graphite but their industry is

focused on production batteries, it looks at ex- facing real challenges at the moment in

of about 88,000 tpa of pandables and it might terms of environmental issues and con-

flake graphite concen- look at some other uses solidation,” he said.

trate grading 98% TGC, as well. “But that then creates opportunities for

based on a reserve of “It’s about diversifi- a whole range of companies and Aus-

11.9mt @ 4.3% TGC for cation and looking for tralia is right on the doorstep.”

511,000t. those niche opportuni- Hexagon recently concluded an ex-

Key highlights from the ties which are under- tensive exploration programme at McI-

PFS were a pre-tax NPV Mike Rosenstreich pinned by what we re- ntosh which helped verify a previously

of $272 million, IRR of gard as the high purity announced exploration target for the

50% and an average an- aspects of our ore.” project, according to Rosenstreich, with

nual EBITDA of $100 million. The start- A geologist whose background is poly- the next six months of work to focus on

up capex is estimated at $148 million with metallic deposits, Rosenstreich admitted proving up the company’s diversification

operating costs of $1,038/t concentrate he was still learning about the graphite strategy.

sold and $42/t processed, using a prod- sector, especially the commercialisation Discussions around project funding

uct price of $2,087/t. of the emerging industry. and off-take will also likely be opened in

However, Rosenstreich said those “Graphite is a distinct product, it’s not the near future.

findings were “pretty much redundant” a commodity, and so the mining and – Michael Washbourne
given the product diversification strategy resources side of it is not as important

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 51

BATTERY MINERALS

Global Geoscience whets the
appetite in Nevada

There are very few lithium-boron deposits in stable mining jurisdictions such as Rhyolite Ridge in Nevada

In a little over 12 months, Global Geosci- is pretty important because that is what was the main aim.
ence Ltd has taken the Rhyolite Ridge makes this deposit amenable to acid Global appears to be doing enough at
project from a relatively unknown occur- leach and is what allows you to entertain
rence to now hosting North America’s the idea of low-cost production.” Rhyolite Ridge to earn market recogni-
largest lithium-boron resource. tion, with the company boasting a market
Lithium carbonate and boric acid pro- cap of $284 million and a share price of
Global’s success has attracted more duction means there are two possible 24c/share in October when it reported
attention to other potential lithium plays sources of revenue from Rhyolite Ridge, further high-grade mineralisation from
in Nevada and also California to the with a PFS to reveal how close Global intercepts of 21m @ 2,147 ppm lithium
west, however, nothing has surfaced yet is to achieving targeted cash costs of and 1.25% boron within a zone of 62m
to resemble the quality of Rhyolite Ridge. $3,500-4,500/t lithium carbonate, based @ 2,125 ppm lithium and 0.49% boron;
on a conservative sale price of about and 29m @ 1,695 ppm lithium and 1.85%
Having delineated a 393mt @ 0.9% $8,000/t, and cash costs of $400-500/t boron from 139m within a zone of 38m @
lithium carbonate and 2.9% boric acid boric acid, on a sale price of $800/t. 1,769 ppm lithium and 1.41% boron.
(indicated and inferred) resource at Rhy-
olite Ridge, Global has also done its due The initial focus for Global is the Rowe said the market liked the way
diligence scoping out projects to add to high-grade 65mt resource containing Global had progressed and also the cali-
its portfolio. 650,000t @ 1% lithium carbonate and bre of people now on board to steer the
5.9mt @ 9.1% boric acid, with indicated ship through the next phase of develop-
Managing director Bernard Rowe told recoveries of both products in the vicinity ment.
Paydirt that while other companies were of 80%.
active in the area, opportunities like Rhy- Former Rio Tinto Ltd chief executive
olite Ridge would be hard to match. In September, a fully underwritten for energy and industrial minerals Alan
placement of $30 million to fund drilling, Davies joined Global as a non-executive
“There are lithium deposits nearby a PFS, pilot plant and DFS in the com- director alongside former Shell Oil presi-
where you have got lithium in sediments, ing two years was completed, signalling dent John Hofmeister in May, following
but they don’t have any boron or have the strength of Rhyolite Ridge in Global’s James Calaway’s appointment as chair-
an insignificant amount of boron. Then, portfolio. man in April.
there are also boron deposits a bit further
afield, but they don’t have any significant Rowe said the company would con- “Obviously they see the merits of the
lithium,” Rowe said. tinue to pursue other similar projects and project and I think we are well on the
put its expertise to good use, however, way to demonstrating some very robust
“We haven’t found anything the same completing the PFS sometime next year economics around Rhyolite Ridge in the
as this and nor has anyone else. That

PAGE 52 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

PFS,” Rowe said. Metallurgical work has demonstrated how the lithium-boron rich material at Rhyolite Ridge
“It is large, reasonable grade for is amenable to acid leach. Test work has also shown that the acid consumption
to conduct leaching is quite moderate
an open pit-type scenario with a
very long life and we think it can be “We think we are probably a little too “We are little bit different to the spo-
– although this part is yet to be con- early and we just want to keep our op- dumene producers where it is critical
firmed – we think we will come out tions open. We have had some interest they lock in some off-take. As we are
towards the lower end of the cost from Asian groups in what we are doing, going to be producing the end product –
curve, which makes it a pretty rare we have also had interest in US and else- lithium carbonate and boric acid – in my
asset in the USA.” where, so I think we are getting a good view off-take not so critical.”
deal of interest from a cross-section of
Rhyolite Ridge is rooted in Nevada the lithium battery industry. – Mark Andrews
where an arid environment makes
water scarce, which is seen as a risk
for any potential development in the
State.

In September, Global crossed that
bridge by securing a 20-year lease
over water rights plus an option to re-
new the licence for a further 79 years
with a private entity, giving it access
to 1.2GL per annum.

Securing access to water was a
major fillip for Global and the $30
million placement, supported by Citi-
bank, followed this milestone.

Therefore, Global isn’t in any hurry
to nail down off-take deals.

“We have been approached by mul-
tiple parties who are interested in both
our lithium and boron. We’re not in any
urgency to do any off-take agreements.
We don’t need it in terms of assistance
for funding, it is not critical to us,” Rowe
said.

Collerina deadset on alumina

Recent test work by Collerina Co- alumina is because it is has the larg-
balt Ltd has confirmed the New
South Wales Collerina nickel-cobalt est market. Current prices are around
project is capable of producing more
than just battery minerals. $23,000/t. That market is forecast to

CCAL testing, which began in Au- grow considerably. It is used pre-
gust, returned nickel, cobalt and alu-
minium recoveries of 90%, 94% and dominantly in LED products and as
66% respectively, with very low over-
all acid consumption of 734 kg/t. separators in lithium-ion batteries.

Collerina’s main resource is con- While it is a relatively small market,
tained within the Homeville deposit,
40km south of Nyngan, which has a it has been growing year-on-year by
resource of 16.3mt @ 0.93% nickel
and 0.05% cobalt. 15-16%. We see an opportunity to

However, Collerina managing di- become a niche player.”
rector Justin Werner is focused on
the potential to produce high-purity alu- Once Collerina has proven the
mina (HPA).
resource at Homeville is capable of
“The recoveries are consistent and re-
peatable and having been the first time producing 4N HPA, the company
we have done test work on the alumin-
ium, the recoveries look very good as plans to carry out a mini-rig test.
well,” Werner said.
Collerina is vying to produce high-purity alumina “For that we will produce a much
“We have taken the project [towards for a growing market larger quantity of HPA and that will
producing] high-grade cobalt and nickel allow us to [approach potential] off-
streams, and the next step for us, which
is under way, is this high purity alumina.” take partners, so they can see the quality

Werner said the decision to head to- of it,” Werner said.

wards HPA was buoyed by 66% recover- “We can work through a scoping study

ies – well above Collerina’s expectation and PFS, based on the numbers we get

of 50%. from that mini-rig test work.”

“That test work is really aimed at taking Werner said the completion of the HPA

that leach solution and producing what testing will mark the next milestone for

they call a 4N HPA, which is 99.99% pu- Collerina Cobalt.

rity,” Werner said. – Jon Daly
“The reason we went for that grade of

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 53

BATTERY MINERALS

No contradiction to
Paradox potential

For Anson Resources Ltd managing di- Anson’s flagship Paradox lithium brine project was originally drilled for oil
rector Bruce Richardson, the sweep-
ing plains of Utah remain an underrated sign of the pilot plant and then we will go “We are in the right industry and the
mining destination among Australian seeking funding.” right commodity, so everything is point-
companies. ing in the right direction for us at the mo-
Richardson expects the plant will take ment,” he said.
“People don’t know about Utah as 18 months to come online, with the vol-
a mining province, but it is an amazing ume of production to be sent to battery In September, Anson signed three
one,” he said. “People have this idea that manufacturers for testing. MoUs with potential Chinese off-takers,
it is difficult to do work in the US. It is such as Link Data Technologies Ltd, Far
easier in some aspects and more difficult In the meantime, Anson will push for- East First New Energy Ltd and CBAK
in others. ward with its aggressive exploration pro- Power Battery Ltd and has entered into
gramme that began in March and has negotiations on supply from Paradox.
“The infrastructure they have got in the already identified room for expansion.
US is unlike Australia. They have rail, gas “I’ve done trips through China and met
and train lines everywhere. Where we Anson’s initial exploration target of 30- various parties and there is a lot of in-
are there is Intrepid Potash [Inc’s] Cane 40 million barrels of brine grading 500- terest. China will probably be the biggest
Creek operation just down the road and 1,700 ppm of lithium was calculated for consumer of imported lithium in the next
they have a railway set up and high volt- Clastic Zone 31 only. decade, so we are very excited,” Rich-
age power. ardson said.
Additional horizons such as Clastic
“The bureaucracy around applications Zones 7, 9, 13, 21, 25, 27 and 43 are “Added to that is the Tesla Giga-factory
takes some time, but they get there.” known to contain brines, and historically in Nevada, [11 hours from Paradox] and a
having been found to be super-saturated. natural customer for us.”
Anson’s flagship Paradox lithium brine
project sits in the Paradox Basin in Utah’s The additional brine-bearing Clastic The Trump administration’s withdraw-
Grand County and is 15km west of Moab Zones may provide significant additional al from the Paris Climate Agreement in
– the biggest mining area in the US. upside potential to Anson’s initial target.
June cast doubt on the upward tra-
Richardson said the brine horizon at jectory of the electric car industry,
Paradox was initially stumbled upon by a but Richardson is confident that it is
different party drilling for oil. a trend driven by people, not policy.

“As they drilled for oil they went through “The younger generation seem to
our brine horizon and registered Clastic like electric cars and have more so-
Zone 31, which is where lithium has been cial responsibility or concern about
tested before with results of 500 ppm the environment, so it is consumer
from one test work and 1,700 ppm from driven,” he said.
another,” he said.
“[Compare that with] China where
“Our plan is to go back in December it is government policy driven. The
and perforate the casing of the brine ho- [Chinese Government] is giving
rizon and take samples out of that. The them financial incentives, whereas
first sample will go off to the lab for assay in the US it is aspirational to have
to confirm the lithium and other mineral an electric car and to be seen to be
contents.” environmentally responsible.”

The company recently placed Bruce Richardson – Jon Daly
20 million shares with an over-
seas sophisticated investor, raising
$600,000 which will be put towards
further exploration and testing.

Richardson said once the initial
assay had confirmed the lithium
content, a 500L bulk sample would
be sent to a benchtop plant in Fin-
land.

“The process test work will define
a process that will work for our par-
ticular brine,” he said.

“It is the first stage of the metallur-
gical test work. That will be finished
by April next year and from that work
we will determine a pilot plant.

“They will give us a detailed de-

PAGE 54 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

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NORTHERN TERRITORY

Northern Territory
hits the mark

Amid the furore of Western Australia’s proposed gold royalty hike by process in getting them out of the ground
the Government, Northern Star Resources Ltd executive chairman and into the market; that is what we are
Bill Beament said he would look elsewhere to grow the business. trying to do. The sector provides almost
5,000 jobs for NT, plus all the ongoing
“If you actually do the analysis, North- the Territory’s performance, while the contracts in different areas and the off-
ern Territory is now a better location to key to pushing the bar higher in the min- shoots of that. We need to make sure, as
own a gold mine than Western Australia ing sector was working more closely with a small jurisdiction, that we are a highly
if this goes ahead,” Beament said. industry. competitive and a great place to invest
in.”
Beament’s comments come as re- “It is just about doing business and
cord minerals sales of $3.63 billion were streamlining those [approvals] process- Open dialogue with industry is a must
achieved in the Territory for FY2017, a es. We want to maintain this, we have and a mantra Vowles will continue to
19% increase on the previous financial a lot of resources here. We are more or pursue to encourage investment in NT’s
year, with the value of manganese and less ranked in the top 10 for quality and mining sector.
lead-zinc concentrate rising significantly. accessibility of data,” Vowles told Pay-
dirt. Government and industry have con-
NT Minister for Primary Industry and sulted recently, as the State embarks on
Resources Hon Ken Vowles said the “We just need to make sure that if the different royalty schemes, while a policy
overall uplift in commodity prices helped resources are found, there is a simplified decision this year to release mining se-
curities held by the Government in keep-
ing with the pledge to open transparency

PAGE 56 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

On the back of record minerals sales in FY2016/17, there is a buzz in Northern Terri-
tory’s mining sector at the moment.

However, among the good vibes is the situation at the Ranger uranium mine, which is
to be wound down over the next four years.

The lease for mining and processing operations expires in 2021, with Energy Re-
sources Australia failing to win support from its parent entity, Rio Tinto Ltd, to continue
operations.

Upon mine closure, full decommissioning and revegetation of the site is required to
be completed by 2026. Ranger must be rehabilitated to a state whereby it could be
incorporated into the Kakadu National Park.

Meanwhile, the future of Jabiru – the nearby town, which hosts about 1,000 people
– remains a hot topic.

Jabiru has come to rely on the facilities and benefits provided by Ranger and with
the mine in its final stages, what happens next at Jabiru – established on the back of
Ranger in 1982 – is unclear.

As thinking turns to rehabilitation and life beyond the mine gate at Ranger, an agree-
ment between the NT and Australian Government to continue rehabilitation planning at
another former mine – Rum Jungle, near Batchelor – is apace.

The Australian Government has contributed $10 million to the latest stage of the pro-
ject, with the funds to be used to finalise a rehabilitation strategy, maintenance and for
monitoring purposes and further engagement with the traditional Aboriginal owners of
the site, the Kungarakan and Warai people.

and rebuild trust, has been welcomed, However, perhaps the best form of pro- NT Minister for Primary Industry and
according to Vowles. motion for the NT mining sector is seeing Resources Hon Ken Vowles
boots on the ground and developments
“One thing for me is that we don’t want proceed. delegation to India [recently] to see what
to bite the hand that feeds us, simple as we could possibly supply India with,”
that,” he said. A boon in recent times has been the Vowles said.
$154 million expansion of Newmont Min-
“We have competition from other ing Corp’s Tanami gold mine. “We have a lot of enquiries from Asia
states and territories so we need to be into NT and it all comes down to the
aware of that as there are some com- Through the Tanami expansion, New- resources we have. We have the stuff
panies that will put a WA, Queensland mont can pull an additional 80,000 ozpa people want and it also comes back to
or South Australian operation or project gold from the mine, 540km west of Alice streamlining our processes to make it
in front of investing in NT, which we are Springs, which has reserves of 4.5 moz easy for people. If somebody wants to in-
very aware of.” and produced 8 moz since first produc- vest in the NT, we need to make sure we
tion in the 1990s. hold that person’s hand and give them all
Streamlining and eliminating duplica- the information we can and show them
tion in the approvals processes are areas Newmont’s investment demonstrates what’s available.”
of focus for Vowles, while compiling all both its commitment and the gold poten-
geoscience data from 1901 and making tial in NT. – Mark Andrews
it accessible to the public online is an-
other measure taken to showcase NT’s “That is massive,” Vowles said of New-
mineral potential. mont’s Tanami expansion. “I have also
just opened Edna Beryl in Tennant Creek
a couple of months ago; the first gold
mine [opened] there in over a decade.”

A new era of gold mining could be just
the start of a bigger story unfolding in the
State, with 16 of 18 major projects identi-
fied in either the fields of primary indus-
tries or resources.

“Phosphate, manganese, bauxite, rare
earths, vanadium, titanium pig iron, cop-
per, lead, zinc; we have so many miner-
als and so many projects in their early
stages. In 4-6 years’ time when they
come on-line, we will start to really move
again,” Vowles said.

The endowment and variety of com-
modities on offer in NT and its close
proximity to Asia makes China a natural
market to potentially feed.

And, while Vowles spends significant
time in China, there are new markets Ter-
ritorians can potentially tap into.

“We are looking at expanding into new
markets like India. We sent our first ever

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 57

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Steady current pulling Todd

Paul Burton has urged tial for near-surface, high-
investors to be patient
with Todd River Resources grade copper, zinc and lead
Ltd and allow the new com-
pany time to find its feet in mineralisation.
the public realm.
CSA Global Pty Ltd is
Burton’s TNG Ltd divest-
ed its non-core base metals currently finalising a con-
assets into Todd River via a
$6 million IPO in early April. ceptual mining study on
It initially proved a hit with
investors, with the compa- Manbarrum, one of the
ny’s stock peaking at 27c/
share shortly after listing. largest undeveloped zinc-

However, interest in the lead resources in Australia.
Northern Territory-focused
exploration play has since The decision was made to
tailed off to 12.5c/share at
the time of print. review the project econom-

Burton, who is oversee- ics in August on the back of
ing the day-to-day running
of Todd River in conjunc- the zinc price hitting a 10-
tion with his role as man-
aging director of TNG, said year high.
the decision to split the two
companies still remained “We did a huge amount
valid.
of work on the Manbarrum
“It’s worked well for TNG
because we’ve got a nice project in 2007 before we
clean company now for
the project finance [for Mt made the Mt Peake discov-
Peake], so it was necessary
from that perspective,” Bur- ery, so that data is all being
ton told Paydirt.
reviewed at the moment
“Todd River needs to get
a bit more momentum un- and we expect to announce
der its belt, no question.
Some of the projects we’ve those results when we’ve
drilled into this year have been a little bit
disappointing, but there’s an awful lot looked over everything
more to do.
thoroughly and assessed
“You have to remember the company
is only six months old. I know everyone the different options,” Bur-
expects racehorses out of these things,
but it will come. It’s a good company, it’s ton said.
got some good ground and it has some
good prospects.” “Zinc prices are really,

Burton said the company was close really helping that project
to completing an extended search for a
chief executive to assist exploration man- a lot.”
ager Kim Grey through the upcoming NT
wet season. Having operated out of

Todd River recently applied to expand the NT for more than a
its footprint at its McArthur River zinc-
lead project to 584sq km, with the com- decade, Burton said a lack
pany awaiting the official grant of those
tenements at the time of print. of key infrastructure was

“We expanded the footprint for a rea- the only thing holding back
son because we believe we’ve got a re-
ally good patch of ground there,” Burton large investment in the ju-
said.
risdiction’s mining sector.

Drilling is scheduled for Mt Hardy later this month “There’s very, very few

large deposits in the NT

“It’s a big project in its own right. We’ve and there should be more and I think it’s

flown the SkyTEM survey and the results very likely there will be when people get

from that will be out soon. Next year, I a handle on the geology and the cover,”

think we’ll focus on probably just two pro- Burton said.

jects out of the mix and prove up some “If there was a little bit more infrastruc-

really good numbers there.” ture in the NT, that would assist enor-

Those two projects are likely to be mously with the exploration and open up

McArthur River and the Mt Hardy cop- the country. It’s a rather expensive place

per-zinc project where two new strong to work because of the lack of infrastruc-

conductor plate targets were recently ture, otherwise you have to drive or walk

identified from down-hole EM surveying most of the areas which are pretty re-

of earlier drill holes. Drill testing of those mote.

new targets is scheduled for later this “While the Territory remains underex-

month. plored for a number of reasons, as such

Interpretation of down-hole EM sur- it has some great untapped potential and

veys from recent drilling of the Walaban- we have found that it’s a very good place

ba project, immediately west of TNG’s to do business.”

flagship Mt Peake vanadium-titanium- – Michael Washbourne
iron project, was also taking place at the

time of print.

Follow-up work is planned for the

Stokes Yard prospect where recent map-

ping and sampling outlined strong poten-

PAGE 58 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

TNG stores faith in vanadium

Alack of advanced vanadium-rich de- Rising vanadium pentoxide prices have positioned TNG’s Mt Peake project
posits has elevated TNG Ltd to the at the front of the development queue
front of the development queue as inter-
est in the strategic mineral and its role in other resources we are aware of that are “We expect there will be a firming of
battery storage continues to grow. anywhere close to ours; it’s a big project the price and we can also see a strong
and it’s taken us quite a few years to get demand for the type of product we will
Vanadium pentoxide – one of three to where we are,” Burton said. produce because it is iron-free, which is
metal streams TNG plans to produce what the pigment producers like, as we
from its Mt Peake project in the Northern “The train has not yet left the station take all the iron out via the TIVAN pro-
Territory – was trading around $US7/lb for the vanadium electrolytes or vana- cess.”
at the time of print, up more than 100% dium redox batteries. There’s a lot of talk
since June 2016. around them, people have been con- At the time of print, TNG was preparing
structing them and they are being used in to submit its second supplemental EIS to
TNG has flagged the likely production some areas, but it really hasn’t caught on the NT Environment Protection Author-
of vanadium electrolytes from the vana- yet, so when it does I think you will see ity. Once approved, the company will be
dium pentoxide to be extracted from Mt a similar sort of trend to the ones we’re able to apply for the grant of a mining
Peake, 230km north of Alice Springs, for seeing in the cobalt and lithium space. lease, having already executed a mining
the past year. agreement with the traditional owners
“It’s probably not very far off – it could around Mt Peake.
Vanadium electrolytes are an integral happen next year – because we’re in
element of the vanadium redox flow bat- talks with some of the producers of va- An EIS for the proposed TIVAN refin-
teries that have emerged as a preferred nadium redox batteries and if they can ery in Darwin is due to be completed be-
form of grid energy storage in some re- get the right pricing for vanadium pentox- fore the end of the year.
gional areas and developing countries. ide and reduce the vanadium electrolyte
cost, we can do it now.” TNG hosted representatives from Ger-
This is on top of vanadium’s traditional many’s KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH on site
use as an enhancer in steel production. TNG has also been buoyed by pricing during the last quarter, with both par-
upticks for the two other metal streams ties to reconvene for further discussions
“There’s an awful lot of good news – pig iron and titanium dioxide – to be around project finance once the revised
on the vanadium front and we always produced from Mt Peake, with both up Mt Peake financial model is completed
thought there would be because the pric- around 20% since June 2016. by corporate adviser Gresham Partners.
ing was just too low for even the existing
producers to sustain,” TNG managing di- The company has signed binding life- Several expressions of interest have
rector Paul Burton told Paydirt. of-mine agreements for its vanadium and also been received for the equity compo-
iron product suites, with negotiations nent of the project funding.
“With China clamping down [on envi- continuing for the off-take of the titanium
ronmental standards] and this potential pigments which Burton also sees as a Meanwhile, TNG has sold its remain-
demand for vanadium batteries, the out- growth market. ing interest in the Melville Island explo-
look is very good but there aren’t many ration licence application to JV partner
new vanadium mines coming on. “There is a shortage of good titanium Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Ltd for $80,000
dioxide feedstock for the pigment pro- plus a 2% net smelter royalty, as part of
“Most others have either closed down ducers and again there are no new de- its ongoing divestment strategy.
or are uneconomic or have significant posits being found around the world,” he
environmental issues, so there’s going said. – Michael Washbourne
to be a shortage of supply and the price
will probably correct again to reflect that,
which is all great for the economics on
our Mt Peake project.”

Some analysts and commentators
have even suggested vanadium could
be the next non-mainstream mineral to
capture the market’s attention in a similar
vein to lithium and cobalt’s recent price
runs. However, a lack of new vanadium
mines remains a concern.

TSX-listed Largo Resources Ltd’s
Maracás Menchen operation in Brazil
was the last new vanadium mine to be
brought online in 2014. Mt Peake is un-
derstood to be the most advanced unde-
veloped vanadium project globally.

TNG is currently negotiating with po-
tential financers while awaiting various
regulatory approvals, such as a mining
lease, to be able to start construction of
the proposed $970 million mine.

“We anticipate being in production in
the short-to-medium term and there’s no

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 59

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Mt Bundy ‘bigger than Ben-Hur’

Primary Gold is considering reopening the Toms Gully underground, while defining how big Rustlers Roost is

Even after completing a 5,600m drilling Mt Bundy is only 100km from Darwin put to the NT Government late this year
programme, Primary Gold Ltd man- and is connected to the sealed Arnhem or early next year, for approval of the
aging director Gary Mills says the com- Highway, as well as water and power in- Toms Gully underground mine.
pany has barely scratched the surface of frastructure.
its Mt Bundy gold project in the Northern “We’ll continue to grow Rustlers Roost
Territory. “[The rest of Mt Bundy] has flown un- during that period. We are thinking of go-
der the radar for a long time,” Mills said. ing back and reopening the Toms Gully
The programme, which began in June, underground at this stage, while we find
focused on the Rustlers Roost and Quest “For many past players, the focus was out how big this Rustlers Roost beast re-
29 prospects that have not been mined always on getting Toms Gully up and run- ally is,” he said.
since the mid-1990s and 2003 respec- ning. Everything else got put to the side.
tively. With this gold price we brought every- “The PFS is [currently] being undertak-
thing back to the surface and had a look en by GR Engineering [Services Ltd] on
Drilling uncovered broad and continu- and it is quite robust.” the Mt Bundy area, and that is due early
ous mineralisation zones at both Rus- next year as well.
tlers Roost and Quest 29, which has the Late last year, a reconnaissance run
potential to expand an already impres- identified 60 potential drill targets across “At this stage, it may not include the
sive resource base of 26.9mt @ 1.5 g/t the 1,500sq km tenement package. new drilling, but the new drilling will po-
for 1.24moz gold. tentially expand it.”
“It’s bigger than Ben-Hur,” Mills said.
Mills told Paydirt that a previous scop- “From east to west there is about 50km Mills said he was expecting a resource
ing study had indicated an initial nine- of our lease with multiple ridges right upgrade by the end of the year.
year mine life, even without factoring in across that area. We’ve already identi-
the recent drilling. fied 60 prospective targets and I have Under the previous Country Liberal
only spoken about three of them. There Government, NT was a difficult jurisdic-
Primary Gold has previously focused is a lot of work to do yet.” tion to work in, according to Mills.
on the area around the historic Toms Robust results from the recent drilling
Gully mine, which has 315,000oz of gold include 43m @ 1 g/t gold and 22m @ 1 “[The new Labor Government] pro-
contained in a 300m wide, shallow dip- g/t gold at Rustlers Roost, and 14m @ 1 fesses to be open for business now and
ping quartz gold reef. Just 10 holes have g/t gold, 7m @ 1.9 g/t gold and 5m @ 2.1 they’re certainly working very closely
been drilled over the tenements outside g/t gold. with us at this stage,” Mills said.
of Toms Gully in the last 20 years. Mills said the company was currently
putting together a supplementary EIS to “We’ve just got to go through the pro-
Despite being relatively virgin territory, cess. They are saying the right things.”

– Jon Daly

PAGE 60 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Nolans a rare opportunity

Successful development of Arafura Re- Arafura’s Nolans rare earths project is attracting attention on the back of rising
sources Ltd’s Nolans rare earths pro- prices for the neodymium-praseodymium magnet metals
ject will attract investment to the North-
ern Territory across multiple industries, make sure that the equipment we buy is it has some ambitious growth targets for
according to managing director Gavin fit for purpose,” he said. electrification of motor vehicle fleets.
Lockyer.
“We always knew the chemistry would “Many industry analysts are even fore-
Arafura is seeking to produce key work, but some of the recoveries to date casting China to become a net importer
magnet metals neodymium and praseo- have been really pleasing and we’re very of neodymium-praseodymium by 2020,
dymium from Nolans, 135km north-west pleased with the way the equipment which is the timeframe we’re looking to
of Alice Springs, with the company last we’ve been selecting has been perform- be in production.”
month hitting the halfway point of an ex- ing. That augers well for de-risking the
tensive flowsheet piloting programme. project when we need to go for project Previous feasibility studies on Nolans
finance at the end of next year.” have indicated the project could produce
Rare earths stories have been gath- 14,000 tpa of total rare earth oxide, in-
ering momentum over the past year as Arafura hopes to complete the full pi- cluding 3,600 tpa neodymium-praseo-
interest in electric vehicles takes off. loting programme by the middle of next dymium oxide, over at least a 30-year
Neodymium and praseodymium are vital year, with the company to soon under- mine life, based on a resource of 56mt
components of most functioning motors take some early detailed design and en- @ 2.6% total rare earth oxide contain-
found in electric and hybrid cars as well gineering work for input into a DFS. ing 3,600t neodymium-praseodymium
as generators for wind turbines. oxide.
Positive movement in the neodymium-
“In terms of regional economic growth, praseodymium oxide prices earlier in the “Nolans is quite a unique deposit,
there’s a few mining operations that op- year encouraged Arafura to rattle the there’s nothing at all like it,” Lockyer said.
erate in and around Alice Springs, but we tin for the first time since 2010, with the
represent a whole new industry for the company raising just over $6 million via a “Other [rare earths] projects out there
Territory,” Lockyer told Paydirt. placement and SPP. have 20-plus year life of mine, but there’s
many others that don’t. This is just a
“Where we’re different and where this While neodymium-praseodymium ox- unique, world-class asset sitting in a very
is an absolute bonus for the Territory is ide prices tapered about 14% last month, good jurisdiction in terms of mining infra-
we’re actually taking things further down- long-term forecasts suggest demand for structure, mining regulatory environment
stream from a minerals processing per- the magnet metals will grow at 8% per and a good part of the world.”
spective. In certain instances, we’re ac- annum over the next eight years.
tually producing almost pharmaceutical Arafura also recently extended an
grade product. “What we’re seeing now is prices are existing MoU with Korean multinational
changing in response to the actual struc- chemical manufacturer OCI Company
“This is by far much more advanced tural change in supply that’s been imple- Ltd out to December 2018, giving both
than just the mining industry and opens mented and is now taking effect within parties more time to executive definitive
up a whole new sector not just for the China,” Lockyer said. agreements regarding the development
Territory but for Australia as well as this of a rare earths separation plant in South
hasn’t been undertaken before in Aus- “China has been talking since 2015 Korea.
tralia in rare earths.” about consolidating and cleaning up its
rare earths industry and I think we’re now Lockyer said representatives from OCI
At the time of print, the first stage of the seeing that have an effect in the underly- would soon visit Australia to see the pilot-
acid bake trials for the flowsheet piloting ing price of neodymium. And the positive ing programme in action.
programme had been successfully com- story out of this for non-Chinese produc-
pleted, with the company reporting opti- ers like us is that China is becoming a – Michael Washbourne
mal hydrometallurgical performance had growing user of rare earth magnets and
been achieved using a low temperature
bake less than 300C.

Arafura is using a Gouda paddle dryer
to complete these trials, contrasting with
the kiln-based equipment used by other
rare earths projects for their high tem-
perature acid bake processes.

The acid bake trials are the fourth leg
of a seven-phase piloting programme
which Lockyer said was more about se-
lecting the right equipment than proving
up the chemical flowsheet.

“We’ve been very careful to de-risk
this by bringing equipment manufactur-
ers out to Perth to bring their pieces of
equipment, to observe how our materials
are handled through the process, so they
can understand what we’re looking for
when the time comes to scale up, and to

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 61

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Emmerson hails JV success

Emmerson Resources Ltd manag- Emmerson staff and directors were joined by members of the Tennant Creek
ing director Rob Bills has hailed his community for the official opening of the Edna Beryl tribute mine in early September
company’s JV with Evolution Mining Ltd
in Tennant Creek a success, even if the agreement with a private mining contrac- study on a central processing facility in
prolific gold producer walks away from tor. Tennant Creek, with a decision due in
the partnership at year’s end. early 2018.
Ore will initially be processed via the
A drilling programme at the Goanna- State Battery in Tennant Creek, with the Meanwhile, Emmerson has raised $2
Gecko targets will see Evolution meet its tribute miner to use funds from the first million to fund exploration work across
$15 million spend to earn 65% of Emm- gold sales to buy a portable mill. its suite of projects in NSW. Led by Ar-
erson’s tenements in the Tennant Creek gonaut Securities Pty Ltd, the placement
mineral field. “We haven’t factored any of that cash to institutional and sophisticated inves-
from those small mines into our balance tors was completed at a 2.3% premium
While exploration has returned some sheet as of yet, simply because a lot to the junior’s closing price of 8.8c/share
promising finds, the lack of a break- of that stuff is not JORC-compliant re- on October 4.
through discovery may prompt Evolution source and it’s very difficult to compute
to withdraw its funding when the earn-in what contribution it’s going to make,” Bills It was only the second time Emmerson
deal expires next month. said. has tapped the market for funds since
listing in 2007.
Evolution is yet to indicate whether it “They mined maybe 1,200t at plus-35
will continue to support the JV beyond g/t from that first development drive, so “We really had terrific support,” Bills
the upcoming milestone. we’re projected to get $1-1.5 million of said. “The idea behind it was to try and
that. It’s small biscuits, but keep in mind get a cornerstone investor from North
Bills said his company’s understand- that is only a very small part of Edna America or someone with sticky money
ing of its 2,800sq km ground package in Beryl.” who is prepared to stay there for the long
Tennant Creek had only been enhanced term. As we all know, systematic explora-
through Evolution’s technical assistance Developing the Edna Beryl under- tion takes a while, so you want more of
and funding commitment. ground mine has allowed Emmerson to that patient money. That’s what we went
look at the deeper gold potential of the after and that’s what we ended up get-
“We’ve learnt a lot; we’ve learnt what area, with drilling completed earlier this ting.
things work and what things don’t work, year returning several promising hits, in-
and a lot of that stuff we’re now directing cluding 0.65m @ 6.53 g/t gold, as well as “We’ve got a pretty solid shareholder
into our projects in New South Wales,” visible sulphides in some core. base now which understands Emmer-
Bills told Paydirt. son’s longer term strategy in NSW. We’re
“When you go underground, you actu- just putting together plans to ramp up
“Even if Goanna-Gecko doesn’t work ally learn a hell of a lot about the geology, that work in NSW, now that we’ve got this
out to be of interest to Evolution and they the distribution of gold, the metallurgy, extra cash.”
do decide not to continue on, it’s still a the plant, all those things that you need,”
great story for Emmerson because the Bills said. Emmerson acquired five NSW pro-
scale of deposits there like Edna Beryl, jects, including Kadungle, in early 2016
for example, where we haven’t crunched “It’s actually a pretty good model and after forming a strategic alliance with
a resource yet, all indications are that it is is one of the templates we hope to take New Zealand-based data specialists
a sizeable, very high-grade gold deposit to the rest of the mines. I’m sure once Kenex Ltd, having previously joined forc-
which has a value to small companies we go underground at Chariot, the exact es in Tennant Creek.
like us. same thing will happen.”
– Michael Washbourne
“This drilling will take them to their Following a recommendation from Em-
65%, but we don’t really know what is go- merson, the Northern Territory Govern-
ing to happen after that. We’ve had some ment is reviewing tenders for a feasibility
preliminary discussions, but at this stage
it’s still unclear if they will continue.”

The current work at Goanna-Gecko
will be only the second drilling pro-
gramme over the area which Emmerson
discovered just prior to partnering with
Evolution in mid-2014.

Goanna-Gecko was not of particular
interest to Evolution back then as it was
seen as a copper-gold prospect rather
than a pure gold play. However, the com-
pany is now reviewing that opportunity in
light of its newfound exposure to copper
via its Cowal and Ernest Henry gold-cop-
per mines.

Emmerson will soon receive first rev-
enue from the newly opened Edna Beryl
mine on its ground, with the small yet
high-grade deposit subject to a tribute

PAGE 62 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Commodity switch in
Alligator Rivers

Afamed Northern Territory uranium While some of the uranium holes
province could be given a new
lease on life thanks to a switch to base were assayed for base metals, gold
and precious metals exploration.
has been ignored almost completely
Uranium Equities Ltd is set to re-
badge itself DevEx Resources Ltd to but there is historical evidence of
reflect a change in commodity focus on
its NT exploration ground. The compa- gold mineralisation in the Alligator
ny has spent the last 12 years under the
Uranium Equities banner with its sole River uranium field.
focus on exploration for yellowcake in
the renowned Alligator Rivers uranium “When we looked at the earliest
field, but following a review instigated
by newly appointed managing director historical records, there was good
Brendan Bradley, it is now turning its
attention to precious and base metals. gold mineralisation reported and we

In early October the company an- are starting to get a lot more excited
nounced results of the review, includ-
ing the identification of historical drill- about what we have got there,” Brad-
ing intercepts from the U40 prospect
of 12.3m @ 2.03% copper and 1.77 g/t ley said. Early literature points to
gold, 6.3m @ 1.9% copper and 0.66 g/t
gold and 5m @ 1.09% copper and 0.4 gold mineralisation at Jabiluka Gold
g/t gold.
(378,000oz @ 10.7 g/t) and Corona-
Bradley told Paydirt the results had
confirmed his initial belief that the re- tion Hill Gold (758,000oz @ 4.31 g/t
gion’s base and precious metals poten-
tial had been neglected. gold-plus-PGMs) as well as other

“When I joined the company, I noticed targets in the Alligator Rivers field.
everyone had been focused on one com-
modity and when a project has that fea- Mapping has also brought encour-
ture you often find everyone becomes
very blinkered and continues to look at agement with several breccia faults
only that commodity,” Bradley said. “That
had happened with this project, especial- already identified.
ly as all the ground around it had been
tied up by uranium majors as well.” “There has been an absolute lack

It is not uncommon for explorers to of gold exploration even though the
unearth previously neglected assay re-
sults but Bradley believes the nature of alteration structures are there.”
uranium exploration means much of the
historical drilling was probably not as- Bradley said the company hoped
sayed at all.
Uranium Equities will change its name to DevEx to expand its footprint in the region
“Drilling has been assayed for other
commodities but only from a uranium Resources as it switches from uranium to base and at a time when uranium exploration
perspective,” he said. “When you are
exploring for uranium, the first thing you precious metals exploration has stalled due to tough market con-
do is run the scintillometer over the core
or chips and wait for a response. Even if ditions.
there is a nice bit of sulphide in the core,
they wouldn’t assay it unless the scin- “The style of geology there means it “Our hope is to grow our ground hold-
tillometer sings.”
is prospective for other commodities,” ing but that will depend on our ability to
A switch in mentality means Uranium
Equities can relook at old targets with a Bradley said. “At U40 for instance, they do deals,” he said.
view to reading the geology at prospects
such as U40 rather than just the radio- had assayed for copper and other miner- Uranium Equities has not been im-
activity.
als but no one had even identified and mune to market disillusionment with ura-

logged that there was chalcopyrite in the nium stories – its shares have traded at

hole, that there was PGMs or that there sub-5c for the last six years – and Brad-

was gold; the focus was always on the ley admitted sentiment was partly re-

uranium. sponsible for the shift in focus.

“It gives us a great opportunity.” “It is about taking a broader view,” he

Bradley said the intersections at U40 said. “We are not walking away from all

gave the company “a clear and present the uranium work we have done but giv-

target” to begin testing. en the state of the uranium market and

“That is an exploration target we can the nature of the geology of the ground,

test with IP, which no one has done here broadening our horizons is the right thing

because it doesn’t aid uranium explora- to do.”

tion,” he said. “Whether there is some- The market responded well to the

thing big or not we can’t be sure yet but news of the new focus, lifting the compa-

it is certainly the recipe for making a dis- ny’s share price by 20% on the day of the

covery.” announcement and with only $146,000 in

The company plans to run ground IP the bank at the end of the June quarter,

over U40 to confirm it can be applied to shareholders will be hoping the company

the sulphide prospects along the Quarry can take advantage of the improvement.

fault zone. “We don’t have a lot of money in the

“It could just be a pod or it could be bank but we are working on a strategy

something larger; but at 12m it has to be now which will likely involve a capital

something,” Bradley said. raising,” Bradley said.

Following the IP survey, the company – Dominic Piper
is likely to begin drill-testing targets.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 63

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Europe braces for Aussie influx

Europe’s prospectivity for in-demand “It’s a social, environmental, political ing cash flow of $US61 million per an-
minerals lithium and cobalt, as well as and economic imperative to the Europe- num, based on a long-term lithium car-

its feast of hungry battery plants and car ans that they actually generate their own bonate price of $US10,000/t.

manufacturers, could see a plethora of internal production. Plymouth is now moving straight into

Australian companies swarm to the conti- “There are a handful of projects in Eu- feasibility study mode, with the company

nent over the coming years. rope which could potentially make an having up to two years to revise the pro-

Companies such as MRG Metals Ltd economic input into the lithium space ject economics, according to the terms

(Sweden), Auroch Minerals Ltd (Portu- over the next 10 years. We are one of of its earn-in agreement with JV partner

gal/Czech Republic) and European Co- them and we are one of the largest in Valoriza Mineria.

balt Ltd (Slovakia/Finland) have recently Europe.” “It’s [scoping study] an extensive piece

set foot on the continent as interest in Plymouth ticked off a number of key of information and it’s given us great in-

battery minerals continues to captivate milestones last month, including the re- sights and advantages, but we now need

the investment community. lease of a robust scoping study on San to conduct a feasibility study to a banka-

Reverberating noise from the elec- Jose and lifting its stake in the project to ble standard to earn 75% of the San Jose

tric vehicle industry also bodes well for 50%, just eight months after first access- project,” Byass said.
“long-time European residents such as ing the historical asset data.
“This is a very exciting time for us as

Spanish-focused Plymouth a small company. To go

Minerals Ltd. There are a handful of projects in from no interest with ef-
Having first entered the fectively an option on the

country in 2013 as an early Europe which could potentially project, to now being an
stage tungsten play, Plym- make an economic input into the lithium equal project owner with
outh is now rapidly advanc- a clear pathway to be-

ing the San Jose lithium-tin space over the next 10 years. coming project manager
project it entered an agree- and majority owner in a

ment to acquire last year. fairly short period of time

For Plymouth managing by doing work which is

director Adrian Byass, the opportunity The scoping study flagged a base case our bread and butter, is very exciting. It

in front of his junior company is unpar- pre-tax NPV of $US401 million, IRR of also means we have a very low-risk situ-

alleled to others looking to tap into the 28% and payback within 2.7 years of first ation going forward.”

emerging battery mineral space. production, based on average produc- Perhaps the most important news from

“Europe consumes one-third of the tion of 15,000 tpa of battery-grade lithi- Plymouth last month was the partnership

world’s lithium, but it only produces 2% um carbonate over an initial 24.1 years of it struck with Shandong Ruifu Lithium

of the world’s lithium,” Byass told Pay- mine life at San Jose. Company to have the Chinese lithium

dirt. “And, it is going to be consuming a Key economics from the study includ- producer assist with the completion of

greater percentage of that in the future ed a pre-production capex of $US273 the San Jose feasibility study, as well

because they are leaders in the adoption million, C1 costs of $US5,004/t (without as the marketing of its lithium carbonate

of off-grid storage as well as EVs. credits) and average life-of-mine operat- end-product.

PAGE 64 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

EUROPE

Shandong is currently expanding its Plymouth recently acquired 50% of the San Jose lithium project in Spain
own annual production from 5,000 tpa
of lithium carbonate to 20,000 tpa. The Morille tungsten project, having shelved 30km to the south Los Santos is already
company is also progressing develop- all activities associated with the asset in production – and has been for several
ment of a 10,000 tpa lithium hydroxide in 2015 when tungsten prices slipped to years – we feel that asset, for very little
plant. $US180/mtu. expenditure, will generate a return from it
being processed as satellite feed by one
Byass said Shandong would fill a key “We’ve actually applied for a mining of the groups around us.”
void missing from his company’s broad licence on that given the tungsten price
skillset in the mining sector. has increased to $US330/mtu this past Byass said his company was seeking
calendar year,” Byass said. to divest its Gabon potash projects – ac-
“The European lithium industry is quired in late 2015 – either through a sale
fledgling and it will grow, but if we were “We believe we can get it to a stage or potential spin-out.
to look at anyone in the world where the where we can transact on something.
industry is strongest it is China,” he said. We’re not going to put it into production – Michael Washbourne
ourselves, but given there is a quite a
“We’ve got a great skillset which has large tungsten mine [Barruecopardo]
been proven for identifying projects, under construction 70km away and then
funding their developments and econom-
ic studies, permitting, off-take and debt.
What we don’t have internal to our com-
pany’s great skillset is the ability to build
and operate a chemical plant.

“So, to work with a group which has
done that and is a strong company in that
field is just so important. We think it will
greatly enhance our ability to deal with
the off-take consumers in Europe be-
cause it’s going to provide the best con-
fidence to people investing in the com-
pany and also looking to off-take from the
company that we will be able to deliver.”

Drilling to increase the size and con-
fidence of the existing 92.3mt @ 0.6%
lithium oxide resource at San Jose will
be one the first cabs off the rank for
Plymouth in its upcoming feasibility study
work programme.

Plymouth is also looking to revive ex-
ploration and development work at its

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 65

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Czech mate for Cinovec

Lithium hopeful European Met- European Metals will complete a DFS on Cinovec over the next 12 months
als Holdings Ltd will work with
the Czech Government to maximise next year – with tenders out for the vari- European Metals released a PFS ear-
downstream processing opportunities ous study contracts. Some programmes, lier this year which identified Cinovec as
for its Cinovec project. including drilling, were being finalised at potentially the world’s lowest-cost lithium
the time of print. carbonate mine, with an estimated net
European Metals signed a MoU operating cost of $US3,483/t, excluding
with the Ministry of Industry and Cinovec, about 100km north-west of by-product credits.
Trade of the Czech Republic early Prague, is proximal to a plethora of re-
last month, with the agreement out- nowned car manufacturers, including The PFS found the project, which
lining a “mutual willingness” from Skoda in the Czech Republic and BMW, hosts Europe’s largest known lithium re-
both parties to explore potential loca- Daimler and Volkswagen in neighbouring source, could be developed for $US393
tions for production of battery-grade Germany, all of which have committed to million and would return a pre-tax NPV
material in country. production of EVs. of $US540 million from production of
20,800 tpa battery-grade lithium carbon-
Development of a downstream Lithium-ion battery makers A123 Sys- ate, based on the current 21-year mine
plant in the Czech Republic would tems and HE3DA also have plants in the life.
position Cinovec as a major feeder Czech Republic.
to the burgeoning European electric European Metals acquired and initially
vehicle market. Coughlan said it remained unclear developed the project for its tin potential,
where and how those end-users would but lithium’s emergence over the past
“It’s always been our intention to go source their materials, particularly over two years meant what was set to be pro-
the whole way with this project and the longer term. duced as a by-product has now taken
that is not to try and produce a con- centre stage.
centrate and then ship that off some- “Europe as a whole is going to build a
where,” European Metals managing hell of a lot of EVs, but as yet they don’t “There’s no doubt we’ve been greatly
director Keith Coughlan said. really have a full end-to-end solution as helped by the tailwind for what we do,”
to how that’s all going to unfold,” he said. Coughlan said.
“We want to produce battery-grade
material and that is very much what the “All the spodumene concentrate that’s “When we first acquired it we thought
Czech Government would like to see going into China from Western Australia it was a good, strong and viable project
happen as well. They want to see the stays there and is turned into battery- and the lithium would be a very interest-
benefit of that streaming, the jobs it will grade material in China and consumed ing add-on to the tin production. But ob-
create and the industry it will help stimu- in China, so none of that is going find its viously since then the lithium part of our
late. Our interests are very much aligned way into what we think is going to be- story has gone through the roof and it’s
with theirs in regards to that.” come a very big European market. really now all about the lithium.

Speaking to Paydirt a week after “The European end-users are start- “The tin is still very important to us as
completing the MoU, Coughlan said the ing to work out that they need to actually a by-product credit and it’s very valuable
agreement would provide clarity on the consider where their lithium is going to to us in terms of the economics, but the
likely timelines for project permitting and come from, where their cobalt is going to world is screaming for the lithium, partic-
other regulatory obligations. He added come from, where their graphite is going ularly from our backyard in Europe.”
that while a MoU was not a prerequisite to come from, and so on, to be able to
for project development, it sent a mes- make these batteries. They’re also work- – Michael Washbourne
sage of confidence to the Czech popula- ing out that it’s dangerous to rely on Asia
tion that his company was serious about in general for those materials.”
bringing Cinovec online.

“You’ve got a situation in the Czech
Republic where there hasn’t been a his-
tory of mining development from external
countries,” he said. “Most of the mining
that’s been done there since the Berlin
Wall came down has been state or semi-
state run, with a couple of notable coal
mines run by private enterprise and that
sort of thing, but certainly nothing along
the lines of what we’re proposing to do.

“This is an important project from a
European point of view because there
are no battery-grade lithium products
currently being produced in Europe. This
basically underpins to the Czech people
that we’re serious about developing this
project and it is going to go forward.”

European Metals is undertaking a DFS
on Cinovec – due towards the end of

PAGE 66 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

EUROPE

Scale brings joy to Auroch

Auroch Minerals Ltd chief execu- Auroch chief executive Andrew Tunks in front of an adit into the historic Tisová
tive Andrew Tunks continues to be underground mine in the Czech Republic
amazed by the potential industrial scale
of his company’s Tisová cobalt-copper drive cobalt demand for a long time.” didn’t see a bloody thing, so at least now
project in the Czech Republic. Tisová is part of a three-pronged bat- we’re out somewhere where there is a bit
of alteration and some copper minerali-
Having acquired the tenements which tery mineral development strategy for sation.
host the historic Tisová underground Auroch, with the company having also
mine in July, Auroch immediately com- acquired the Alcoutim copper-zinc pro- “We’re learning an enormous amount
missioned a 3D geology model to be de- ject in Portugal and the Karibib lithium from this programme and we’re getting
veloped from a database which included project in Namibia in the past year. better each time. Hole one hit nothing,
over 30km of old workings. hole two hit the right rocks but really
Auroch recently reported it had inter- nothing, but in hole three we’ve had our
While assay results from an initial four- sected sulphide mineralisation in the third first sniff.
hole diamond drilling programme were hole of an ongoing drilling programme at
being processed at the time of print, Alcoutim, following preliminary interpre- “We’ll have a little pause now and re-
Tunks is already frothing at the opportu- tation of a down-hole EM survey. do some geophysics, just to make sure
nity in front of his company. we’ve got this right.”
Tunks said it was a case of “third time
“This is the only deposit in Europe smarter” after the first two holes failed to Alcoutim is hosted in the same region
I’ve seen that actually has an industrial hit anything of note. which bore the original Rio Tinto, with the
scale,” Tunks told Paydirt. project also along strike of the famed Ne-
“We’re in the right spot now, we be- ves Corvo zinc-copper mine.
“This has the potential to be tens of lieve,” he said. “In the first two holes we
millions of tonnes. It’s an orebody that “It’s the best VMS district
is 1km long, tens of metres thick, maybe in the world, no doubt about
even 100m thick, we just don’t know yet it,” Tunks said. “I think 11 of
how much of that is cobalt. the best and biggest VMS de-
posits in the world come from
“There’s a few cobalt things run- this very belt. I’ve been calling
ning around Europe at the moment, but it ‘the land of the giants’ be-
they’re all narrow – 1m, 2m, even 4-5m cause there are so many great
– and they’re selectively sampled from deposits here, and it’s not hard
underground so you just don’t know how to see why.”
real the grades are either.
Auroch is awaiting the award
“People forget cobalt is not a precious of a full licence from Namibian
metal, it’s an industrial mineral, so mining authorities to be able to ex-
it on a 1m seam is pointless. It’s neither plore at Karibib.
here nor there.”
– Michael Washbourne
A follow-up drilling programme is cur-
rently being planned – Auroch is ap- A piece of massive sulphide ore from Tisová
proved to drill up to 16 holes in this cam-
paign – with each hole to be carefully
plotted from the results of the 3D model.

The Tisová mine was placed on care-
and-maintenance in 1973 after churning
out 560,000t of copper grading
about 0.68%, with previous explo-
ration focused on the copper-rich
VMS rather than sporadic cobalt
sampling.

Auroch’s best sampling result to
date is 0.69% cobalt, 17.1% cop-
per, 3.7 ppm gold and 178 ppm
silver.

“We’re seeing chalcopyrite, pyr-
rhotite and pyrite in the samples,”
Tunks said.

“If the cobalt grades come up
here, then this is a really signifi-
cant re-discovery. And don’t forget
we’re in the heartland of Europe.
There are nine battery factories
around us and they all need cobalt.
The explosion of electric vehicles,
particularly in Europe, is going to

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 67

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Winmar waits on Lomero

The Lomero mine has historically produced 2.6mt of massive sulphides grading 5 g/t gold and 1.2% copper

Winmar Resources Ltd hopes to get a There are things we would like to do on market has not remained convincing
clear run at the multi-element Lom- the project, the property and the conces- enough for Winmar to consider develop-
ero project in the near future. sion. We have built up local knowledge ment opportunities.
and contacts and we know how to do
Having fulfilled its first year expenditure things there. We would like to be making The mining lease has been maintained
commitment of €400,000 to earn an ini- better of the time we have invested.” and Winmar is keeping a close eye on
tial 10% interest in Lomero – Andalucia, developments and opportunities in the
Spain – things went awry for project ti- A six-hole diamond drilling programme region.
tleholder Kimberley Diamonds Ltd (KDL). targeting the most prospective positions
below the mine workings was completed Meanwhile, a capital raising of
KDL entered voluntary administration, by Winmar in FY2017, with massive sul- $492,000 proposed last month will afford
leading JV partner Winmar to pull back phide intercepts of 2.2m @ 11.2 g/t gold Winmar the opportunity to be more com-
on significant expenditure on the gold- and 7.4% zinc and 2.8m, including 0.55m petitive when bidding for projects. It has
rich Lomero project. Further expenditure @ 2.05 g/t and 3.77% zinc. been close to picking up cobalt projects
of €500,000 on Lomero in years two and in recent times, however, it has been
three of the earn-in would give Winmar a Given the opportunity, Winmar is con- trumped by superior offers.
70% interest in the project, however, the fident it can upgrade and improve confi-
company is in a “wait and see” position dence in the Lomero resource with more Sainty said opportunities in the tradi-
until KDL’s future is resolved. drilling. tional spheres of gold, copper and zinc
were preferred as well as in new energy
Winmar managing director Rod Sainty An independent resource estimation metals such as cobalt and lithium.
hopes for resolution in the near future so of Lomero compiled in 2015 established
the company can build on the time and indicated and inferred resources of 8.1mt “We are looking for a project with some
money already invested in the project. @ 2.31 g/t gold for 600,000oz. sort of mineralisation that we believe we
can bring value to,” Sainty said.
“They know we are interested and it is While waiting for confirmation on the
a wonderful neighbourhood to be in. We go-ahead at Lomero, Winmar has an “We are looking at a range of things
are waiting for the process to be com- office shift in Sydney keeping it busy in and we are going to Plan B because we
pleted to get on with work on the project,” conjunction with project acquisition as- know we have to bring a project to inves-
Sainty told Paydirt. sessments. tors. We have been looking everywhere
– Australia, Europe, etc – in a range of
“Not everything we are doing translates The company does have the Hamers- commodities.”
into an announcement at the moment, ley iron ore project in Western Australia
but we are working hard to position the but even with iron ore prices on the im- – Mark Andrews
company for growth and to go forward. prove in the earlier part of the year, the

PAGE 68 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

EUROPE

New Age for tin and tungsten

There have been few bet- more attractive. Certainly
ter times to be drilling
a tin-tungsten project than the Redmoor project does
now.
on the back of tin prices as
Tungsten is up around
65% to $US310/mtu this well,” he said.
year, while at $US21,000/t,
tin prices have remained “I think it is a grade issue,
sound since last year’s run.
though. The higher grade
On the back of 12-year
lows in tin supply on the projects are certainly go-
LME, sector specialists ITRI
are forecasting prices to ing to start looking attrac-
jump to $US30,000/t in the
next two years. tive and being developed

“That is quite exciting and at that price. Lower grade
it is because of the [tin] short-
fall, which is effectively driv- prices will probably need
ing prices,” New Age Explo-
ration Ltd managing director some more improvement on
Gary Fietz told Paydirt.
price beyond that. We are
“Tungsten is not back at the peak lev-
els of four or five years ago when it was fortunate Redmoor is a mix
at $US40,000/t. While we are still a way
off previous highs, $US30,000/t is a pret- of tin, tungsten and copper
ty good number and at the current prices
for tin and tungsten the Redmoor project with about 40% of the metal
is looking very positive.”
value tungsten, 50% tin and
The Redmoor tin-tungsten project is
in south-east Cornwall, Britain and flies 10% copper.”
under the Cornwall Resources Ltd ban-
ner – a 50:50 JV between New Age and New Age is hitting 1% tin equivalent levels in the sheeted Tin and tungsten are bou-
AIM-listed Strategic Minerals plc. vein system at Redmoor tique commodities and a
lack of appetite for them has
Drilling at Redmoor started in March
and results released so far had exceed- there which are tin-tungsten, but lower stymied investment in new projects at a
ed expectations, Fietz said.
grade than we are and they may not be time when existing supply is diminishing
A selection of sheeted vein system
high-grade tin equivalent intercepts at a point where it is economic [to de- quickly.
has been particularly pleasing. In-
cluded among the results were hits of: velop].” Wolf Minerals Ltd’s Drakelands, also in
14.8m @ 1% tin from 245.7m (including
2.5m @ 3.39% from 257.9m); 17.5m @ Phase two drilling targeting further the UK, is one of the newest tin-tungsten
0.68% from 265.9m (including 3.1m @
1.97% from 280.3m); 28.2m @ 0.81% definition of high-grade zones within the mines in play has suffered from a slow
from 298.8m (including 7m @ 1.89%
from 317.5m); and, 11.1m @ 0.57% from sheeted vein system at Redmoor started start to proceedings for a variety of rea-
113.3m (including 3.1m @ 1.19% from
121.3m). in September and was expected to be sons. However, Fietz said Redmoor was

“We are targeting about 1% tin equiva- completed by the end of this month. a different story.
lent levels. That is certainly what we are
getting in our sheeted vein system in the Results from all 20 holes completed “Our project is 4-5 times higher grade
high-grade intercepts at Redmoor and
we are getting broad intercepts at those during the two drilling phases are ex- than Hemerdon [Drakelands]. We are
grades,” Fietz said.
pected in Q4. targeting a potential underground opera-
“Those grades potentially position
Redmoor as being in the top half dozen Fietz said a resource update at Red- tion so it needs to be high grade, where-
highest grade tin projects globally, which
I think is a pretty exciting place to be. moor was expected to be announced as Hemerdon is open pit. We hope to hit
Certainly, the current tin price is support-
ive of Redmoor at those grades. There early in the New Year. A high-grade fresh rock from the start and we are po-
are probably a lot of other projects out
resource supporting a potential under- sitioning ourselves in the top half of all tin

ground operation is the aim. projects in the world,” he said.

“Subject to an [sufficient] indicated – Mark Andrews
resource, following the resource update

we’d like to start a scop-

ing study,” Fietz said.

The JV’s next steps

will be dependent on the

outcome of drilling but

marketing of the com-

pany would also step up

to capture the upside that

comes with good prices

for tin and tungsten.

Fietz said tin and tung-

sten prices were reaching

the point where compa-

nies would start to reac-

tivate activities in projects

which have remained dor-

mant during a depressed

market.

“At $US310/mtu, a lot

more tungsten projects Drilling results from phases one and two at

are going to start looking Redmoor are expected in coming months

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 69

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Volt charges towards
expanding graphite market

Much of the talk within the graphite Matthews said the uptick in pricing
market is focused on the growth
of battery minerals, but the rise of elec- could be partly attributed to a number
tric cars is not the only industry set to
line the pockets of successful graphite of mine closures in China – a long-
developers.
term, major graphite producer.
“You have two growing markets,
not just with increasing demand for “On the supply side mines are be-
battery anodes, but also demand for
the flame retardant building material ing closed in China, and it is not just
applications as well,” Volt Resources
Ltd chief executive Trevor Matthews graphite mines. There are mines in
told Paydirt. The building insulation
market is set to rise 3.7% each year and around the Hebei and Shandong
until 2020, according to independent
market research. provinces that have been closed for

“That is really topical with the Grenfel environmental and pollution reasons,”
Tower fire and the Australian Senate in-
quiry into flammable building materials. he said. “On the demand side you
Around the world there is a lot of regu-
lation coming in about flame retardant have got flake graphite being used in
building materials,” he said. “They are
not saying ‘use graphite’, but graphite battery anode materials.
seems to be the product of choice for that
application.” “For graphite developers, develop-

Recent sample testing by Volt’s po- Trevor Matthews ing a project into an improving price
tential Chinese offtake partner China
National Building Materials General Ma- environment is always a lot easier
chinery (CNBMGM) has confirmed that
Volt’s Bunyu project in Tanzania is ca- flake graphite production globally each than trying to do it in the bottom part of
pable of supplying the quality of graphite
the growing market is chasing. year and maybe half of that expands.” the cycle. This is really positive from that

“The total flame retardant building ma- Volt’s Bunyu project has an impressive point of view.”
terials market in China is about 18 mtpa
and there are estimates that graphite flake distribution of up to 81.3% of super But the elephant in the room is Bunyu’s
would account for 10-50% of that mate-
rial by weight if it was used across the jumbo, jumbo and large flake sizes within location in Tanzania, a country which
board,” Matthews said. “Even at 10%,
that equates to 1.8mt of expandable flake its JORC-compliant resource of 461mt @ has recently seen political movements
graphite.
4.9% TGC. against its mining industry.
“It is only certain types of flake graphite
which expand. There is only 600,000t of “We’re already the biggest resource in Matthews said the company was trying

Hon Angellah Kairuki was sworn in as Tanzania and probably in the top three of to minimise sovereign risk by opting for a
Tanzania’s new Minister of Minerals last
month. all of our peer developers globally,” Mat- scalable project.

Kaikuri, 41, is a lawyer who previously thews said. “One of the key things at our project is
served as Minister of State in the Presi-
dent’s Office responsible for public ser- “About 70% of our graphite production that it is very large; there are 461mt of
vice management and good governance.
will be in the expandable category. That resources and we’ve only explored about
At the swearing in ceremony for Tan-
zania’s new ministers on October 9, Kai- is a natural market for us to move to, in 6% of the tenement area. We can easily
kuri said her top priority was to win back
investor support in the wake of several terms of how we would look at our mar- expand and make that a bigger number if
resources companies recently threaten-
ing to exit the country if the controversial keting strategy.” we wanted to keep drilling,” he said.
new mining laws were adopted.
In June, Volt entered into a non-binding “We have adopted the approach of

cooperation agreement with CNBMGM, building a smaller, roughly 20,000 tpa

which could see one of the world’s big- project, which has got a smaller capex

gest building materials producers, cus- and you need less offtake agreements to

tomers and sellers take 10,000-15,000 sell all the product. We can then scale

tpa of graphite concentrate from Bunyu’s up as soon as we get stage one up and

initial production. operating.”

Volt also secured a binding offtake The size of that expansion will be de-

agreement with Nano Graphene Inc termined by the market, according to

(NGI) in March for a minimum of 5,000t Matthews.

of concentrate over five years. The North “We’re currently in the process of com-

American-based customer has recent- pleting our DFS over the rest of this year

ly commissioned a graphene plant in for stage one of our development. We

Brooklyn, New York. are also working on our approvals in-

Initial test work by NGI confirmed Bu- country,” he said.

nyu’s graphite to be of the highest quality “We lodged our environmental and

it had tested to date, according to Volt. social impact assessment process with

Matthews said it was the right re- Tanzania’s Minister of Environment, and

source, industry and time for the ambi- that is to get our environmental certifi-

tious graphite developer, with graphite cate. That is a precursor to getting your

prices at two-year highs. Industry ana- mining approval in place.”

lyst Benchmark Minerals’ flake graphite Meanwhile discussions around the fi-

index climbed 16% during August, on the nancing of stage one are under way.

back of a series of monthly price rises – Jon Daly
since May.

PAGE 70 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA

A new Force in DRC lithium

Klaus Eckhof’s success with AVZ depth and strike extensions.
Minerals Ltd at the Manono “It’s really difficult to appreciate

lithium project in the DRC has en- just how big an opportunity this

ticed two other Australian juniors to is, how extensive the pegmatites

chase pegmatites in the country. are and how best to prove up that

AVZ has captured the market’s initial resource,” Brewer said.

attention in recent months with a “I don’t think you’ll find a better

series of wide, high-grade hits at appointment than James Sulli-

Manono, including 235m @ 1.66% van to do that. He’s worked in the

lithium, with the company’s stock DRC, he’s worked for AVZ and

up almost 400% since July. he was really the only competent

Led by former Moto Gold Mines person who could review the pro-

boss and renowned geologist jects on our behalf and make rec-

Eckhof, AVZ raised $15 million in ommendations as to the project’s

August on the back of its explora- viability and its prospectivity for

tion success at Manono and has additional discoveries of large-

already attracted strong interest scale lithium deposits along this

from major Chinese players in the regional trend.”

lithium space. Force is not a first mover on

Now AVZ has two major com- lithium in the DRC and Brewer

petitors in the region with Force said the company would attempt

Commodities Ltd and Taruga Gold to leverage off AVZ’s early suc-

Ltd recently pegging ground on the cess on the neighbouring permits

Katanga belt. at Manono.

Subject to due diligence, Taruga Force Commodities has acquired the Kitotolo lithium project, “On the back of what AVZ have

is set to acquire up to 65% of a per- near AVZ’s Manono project, in the DRC achieved over a very short pe-

mit about 80km from AVZ’s project. riod of time, they have already
Further mapping of the 380sq km li- started to attract significant attention
Force (formerly Sovereign Gold) has
already completed technical due dili- cence is likely to be first on the agenda from Chinese investors and that creates
gence over the Kitotolo lithium project, for the company in a bid to delineate the a substantial opportunity for us,” he said.
40km from Manono, and has moved true extent of the exposed pegmatites “There’s going to be some significant in-
swiftly to formalise a JV with local com- which are understood to extend for sev- vestment put into infrastructure, so that
eral kilometres.
pany Cominiere SA. area around Manono-Kitotolo is going to
Sampling and trenching work will fol- offer a lot of opportunities.
With experienced African mining ex-
ecutive Jason Brewer now leading a new low before the first rigs are expected on
board of directors, Force is chasing an site in the second half of 2018. “Whilst a number of Western compa-

nies have been deterred from investing
Assay results of up to 2.15% lithium in the cobalt space in the DRC – because
opportunity never previously exploited in from a limited reconnaissance chan- as we know the DRC accounts for a ma-

east-central DRC.
“None of the licences were previously nel test pit and rock chip sampling pro- jority of the world’s cobalt production –
mined for lithium, it was all cassiterite gramme were reported in the technical Chinese groups have not been afraid to
due diligence, with shallow pegmatites invest very heavily both in the mines and
and coltan,” Brewer told Paydirt.
“The due diligence report came back and lithium mineralisation also confirmed associated infrastructure.
very positive, highlighting visible spo- in artisanal workings still to be tested for
“The DRC is going to be integral to the

dumene and widespread pegmatites world’s supply of cobalt going forward

across that Kitotolo licence, with some for a long, long time, and now you can

very shallow pegmatites. see the potential for lithium as well on the

“Historically the Manono mine was un- back of the size of the operations AVZ

dercover and it’s only been through tin are alerting us to.”

mining that these large pegmatites have Brewer said Force would seek to divest

been exposed. Our geos have gone the Mt Adrah gold-zinc project in New

there over a four-week period and basi- South Wales which until recently was the

cally come back with a very positive rec- company’s flagship asset.

ommendation that allowed us to commit “We think at the moment every dollar

to the project.” put into the DRC is going to be worth

James Sullivan, who consulted to $10,” he said. “You’re just not going to

AVZ during that company’s own due dili- see anywhere near that sort of return for

gence, was last month appointed Force’s the Australian assets.”

head of exploration. At the time of print, – Michael Washbourne
Sullivan was finalising a schedule and

budget for the next 12 months of explora- Assays grading up to 2.15% lithium were

tion work at Kitotolo. reported during due diligence on Kitotolo

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 71

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Valor strengthens Berenguela

Recent drilling has increased the resource at Valor’s Berenguela copper-silver project in southern Peru

Copper-silver assets in the ilk of Be- At the time of print, MOD was work- back of its 70% share of T3, however, in-
renguela are a rare breed on the ing on a resource update and had just vestors such as Blue Ocean are just as
ASX, according to Valor Resources Ltd beefed up proposed annual production enamoured with MOD’s address in the
chairman Mark Sumner. from T3 by 25% to 2.5 mtpa, with poten- copper-rich Kalahari belt.
tial for further expansion.
“Frankly, the only other asset that I With seven rigs operating at the time
am particularly aware of on the ASX is A PFS on T3 is expected in Q4 and of print, the Julian Hanna-led outfit will
MOD Resources [Ltd’s] project in Bot- while the market will keep an eye out for continue to be a hot stock to watch. Sum-
swana, which is high-grade copper, a lit- the study, copper intercepts of 50m @ ner is hoping Valor – market cap cur-
tle bit lower grade silver than we have, 2% copper have generated excitement rently $45 million – can make up some
but the combination is fairly unique from within the investment community that ground on its peer via further success at
a geological perspective,” Sumner told MOD has another T3 in the making. the drill bit with results having triggered
Paydirt. some support for the Berenguela project
Blue Ocean Equities recently rated already.
MOD is receiving due recognition for MOD as its top pick in the ASX copper
the quality and rate at which it has devel- space, with the “district-scale poten- A recent capital raising of more than
oped the 28mt @ 1.24% copper, 15 g/t tial” within its 11,500sq km land holding $3 million to sophisticated and institu-
silver (including 8.5mt @ 2.16% copper cause for excitement. tional investors was oversubscribed and
and 31 g/t silver) T3 deposit since dis- Valor continues to ramp up exploration
covery in March 2016. So far, MOD has managed to build a and PFS work at Berenguela.
market cap of $120 million, largely on the
An independent scoping study re-
For a modest spend of $2.3 million, Valor announced a significant increase in size leased mid-year outlined the potential for
and grade of the resource at Berenguela. a 1.6 mtpa operation over 11 years from
resources of 21.6mt @ 0.87% copper
As Paydirt went to print, Valor updated the indicated and inferred resource at Beren- and 126.4 g/t silver (50 g/t cut-off). The
guela to 25.53mt @ 112.97 g/t silver, 1% copper, 9.56% manganese, 0.35% zinc and resource comprised 15.6mt @ 0.92%
1.72% copper equivalent. copper and 132 g/t silver of indicated
material and 6mt @ 0.74% copper and
“We have added over 7mt to the indicated resources, while increasing copper grades 111.7 g/t silver in the inferred category.
to an average of over 1% copper and copper equivalent grades in excess of 1.7%,”
Valor chairman Mark Sumner said. Drilling has continued at Berenguela
– southern Peru – since the release of
“Along with the increases in the inferred category, we have added over 149 mlb of the scoping study and Valor has one
contained copper to the project’s total resources. Berenguela’s silver resources are resource update already in the pipeline
also approaching 100 moz, making Berenguela a very significant and exceptionally with another to follow in February.
high grade silver project in its own right. The addition of over 197 mlb in the maiden zinc
resource also lends significant value to the deposit. Collectively, each of the upgrades The programme – 66 holes for 9,570m
in tonnage, as well as grades, represents a substantial increase in the project’s value.”

PAGE 72 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

LATIN AMERICA

targeting depths of 100-200m – has In excess of 5,000 g/t silver has been intercepted at Berenguela by previous explorers, with
focused primarily on the Berenguela one mineralised section reportedly extending 150m to about 30m depth averaging 430 g/t
central deposit outside of the current in-
ferred resource. “I can’t say that grades will increase while water, power and rail facilities con-
but the consistent grades that we are necting to a major commercial port on
Results received up to the time of print putting up in this drill programme are Peru’s south coast are established.
continued to please, with copper inter- obviously much better than the average
cepts averaging over 2% copper, includ- grade which is now 0.87%. We are see- A project like Berenguela also has the
ing multiple intervals over 3% and 4%. ing much better grades than that, so I potential to be an important contributor to
don’t know where that is going to end up the national strategy of increasing cop-
Meanwhile, thick high-grade silver re- but we are certainly encouraged by the per production.
sults – 7m @ 328.26 g/t silver, 15m @ results so far,” he said.
254.59 g/t and 16m @ 204.8 g/t – have Copper production from Peru in 2016
provided further confirmation of the sil- Given the resource is already 21mt, was 2 mtpa and the Government is tar-
ver potential at Berenguela. Berenguela is a good sized poly-metallic geting 3 mtpa by 2021.
deposit.
Sumner said he expected an increase If Berenguela is to play a part in that
in the current 87 moz silver resource at Further economic studies need to be strategy, defining a resource and the ex-
an average grade of 120 g/t in the com- conducted before production scenarios tent of mineralisation need to be estab-
ing updates. can be considered, however, there are lished first.
various things supporting a potentially
“If you look at it as a silver project, it is quick turn into production at Berenguela. “I’m not sure if a near-term producer is
almost a project by itself,” he said. “We the right term to use for Berenguela be-
actually see it as a copper project with a The project is close to the province of cause that can be interpreted in different
silver credit, but that might actually un- Juliaca and can be accessed year-round, ways,” Sumner said.
derstate the importance of the silver be-
cause it is such high grade.” “I certainly think, given all the positive
characteristics, that it is a contender.
Sumner said average silver grades in Mineralisation sits very close to surface
the range of 250-300 g/t over large inter- and in some areas it is very near surface,
vals made Berenguela “pretty special”. and we are also finding deeper minerali-
sation at 50m, 60m, 75m below surface.
“It is certainly unique for the project There is a lot of material sitting at or near
and we think we have grown this high- surface which makes the initial mine plan
grade silver zone,” he said. quite a simple, open cut one.

Though the silver component is im- “This drill programme has answered
pressive, Sumner believed Valor was a lot of questions for us, obviously posi-
being valued as a copper company and tively, but it has also created a number
despite some outstanding results in re- of new targets that we considered to be
cent times the market’s response to the high priority given the thickness of the in-
company has been a “little subdued”. tercepts and the high grades. There are
a lot of targets to follow up on and it will
“We had 25m at almost 2% and 20m take a little bit of time to see how far this
@ 1.5% copper, so we had pretty great thing goes and how big this deposit gets.”
copper grades. I don’t know of a lot of
listed copper companies that are con-
sistently putting out copper intercepts as
high grade as ours,” Sumner said.

“I’m sure they are out there, but I think
it is fairly unique in this market. At this
stage we have got a little over 400 mlb
of copper across indicated and inferred
resources.

– Mark Andrews

Berenguela has been likened to MOD Resources’ T3 copper-silver project in Botswana

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 73

REGIONAL ROUNDUP LATIN AMERICA

Scoping study sets scene for
Plomosas rebirth

Consolidated Zinc Ltd will use an immi-
nent scoping study to decide whether
the next 18 months will see construction

start or exploration work continue on its

high-grade Plomosas base metals pro-

ject in Mexico.

Consolidated delineated a resource

of 968,000t @ 15.9% zinc-plus-lead for

Plomosas in September and was last

month putting together the final touches

to a scoping study on restarting opera-

tions at a mine which has been closed

for 40 years.

Managing director Will Dix told Paydirt

that zinc’s current price run – the LME

price hit 10-year highs in October – made

an early start-up all the more tempting.

“This is a project which will require

zero ramp-up because there is immedi-

ate access to ore and we are factoring a

six-month refurbishment to our timeline,” Consolidated Zinc delineated a resource of 968,000t @ 15.9% zinc-plus-lead

Dix said. “Hopefully, we can take advan- for Plomosas in September

tage of strong zinc prices and get cash

flow from 2018. We are probably another as “fantastic” with plus-90% recoveries is 40% of the equity in place straight

12-18 months away from doubling the and high quality concentrate, particularly away. We have also started early stage

resource but if we wait that time, are we from the Tres Amigos orebody. discussions around debt. This is not with

risking missing out on this zinc boom, “It is a very clean concentrate. Dis- the traditional banks but private equity

particularly as we one of only a few zinc cussions with traders have been very groups out of London and New York; all

juniors in a position to take advantage of positive; all of them are at the table. They of them have been to site and done their

it?” are actually hanging on, waiting for us basic due diligence.”

The circumstances around Plomo- to show what we can deliver. It is a nice Dix admitted an early start-up wouldn’t

sas allow Consolidated to consider both position to be in; not trying to convince “set the world on fire” but the company
“pathways. The mine was run by Grou- people to buy our product.”
was keen to exploit the advantages of

pon Mexico for 20 years but both a zinc bull market and the

has seen no activity since We are probably another opportunity to become a self-
its closure in the late 1970s. funded explorer. That decision

However, underground and 12-18 months away from could prove more important if
surface infrastructure is still in doubling the resource but if we wait the company steps up its re-
place, meaning a restart could gional exploration plans.

be completed for a relatively that time, are we risking missing out “We have slowed the un-
small capital outlay. on this zinc boom, particularly as derground drilling because
we are trying to get started on
“Depending on how we

go about the refurbishment, we one of only a few zinc juniors in the regional exploration,” he
capex could be $10-12 mil- a position to take advantage of it? said. “All the drilling we have
lion,” Dix said. done has been underground
or at surface into the exist-
Given the current zinc bull

market, that places Consoli- ing resource. Some 3.5km

dated in an enviable position. north-west there is limestone

“If you compare us to our peers, we have If early production is confirmed by the outcrop with 3-4% zinc-plus-lead in sam-

an established underground mine with scoping study, the company is likely to pling and there is also a parallel lime-

infrastructure and a plant that needs focus on high-grade areas of the ore- stone unit 1km to the north which has

some work but not a lot. The challenge body to accelerate repayment of project 4-5% lead-plus-zinc, and another imme-

with the plant is how much of the exist- finance. diately north of the mine. We would like

ing equipment we can use but there is “Financing will probably be a 50/50 to put some holes into those this year

also good opportunity to pick up a lot of split between debt and equity,” Dix said. and the priority is to get surface drilling

second-hand gear.” “We have four or five major sharehold- going.”

Dix described Plomosas’ metallurgy ers who will flow with the money so that – Dominic Piper

PAGE 74 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

LATIN

AMERICA

16-17 May 2018

Perth,Western Australia

LADU offers unrivalled access, information, opportunity and

discussion on mining in this dynamic region.

• An untapped region full of potential

• Establish new networks and build relationships with key stakeholders
• Gain unique access to Latin American ministerial delegations

• Exchange ideas
• Discover more about best practice in Latin America – government relations, law, infrastructure,

finance, security, sustainability and social responsibility

“The DFAT meeting room worked “It was a good conference and nice
really well and it was great to meet to have the positive sentiment
the delegations. Our meetings with the returning to the marketplace, Paydirt
Vice Ministers/Directors were definitely again playing a critical role in that
productive.” – First Quantum Minerals facilitation.” – 5th Level Consulting

www.latinamericadownunder.com

To present, exhibit or attend as a delegate please contact
Mel Fogarty on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]

MINERAL SERVICES

Capital roots tap into
deep reserves

Capital has forged its global reputation on the back of 12 years’ operating in remote African locales

Fleet-of-foot and nimble are two ad- “We strive to have 90% mechani- Geita mine. Growth in Egypt has fol-
jectives frequently applied to drilling cal availability so while somebody else lowed a similar pattern after Capital won
companies but one of Australia’s most might be 25-30% cheaper but when the work from Centamin plc in 2005 and the
successful firms believes its deeper roots rig spends half its time broken down, how company has since replicated the model
make it more agile than smaller competi- is that cheaper?” in Botswana, Chile, Papua New Guinea
tors. and Pakistan.
The issue is particularly pertinent in
Capital has forged its global reputation emerging jurisdictions in Africa, Latin Such has been the success of Capital’s
on the back of 12 years’ operating in re- America and Asia where infrastructure migration from exploration-only work,
mote African locales. The company has isn’t as readily available. production drilling services account for
seen smaller competitors come and go 85% of company revenues. However,
during that time and as the exploration “You are not talking about being 20km with a move into new areas of West Af-
sector begins to heat up again, managing out the back of Kalgoorlie where, if the rica, Rudd believes those numbers will
director Brian Rudd is prepared for the rig breaks down, you can ring up the ser- begin to reverse once again.
process to repeat itself again. However, vice centre in town and be back up-and-
for all the agility of smaller drillers, Capi- running,” Rudd said. “These are remote Rudd said the move towards total drill-
tal can boast capabilities which deliver locations, often with little infrastructure.” ing service offerings came in response to
unmatched advantages. companies’ needs.
Capital’s strategy for overcoming lo-
“You can buy a rig on finance from gistical and infrastructure challenges is “The big gold companies – Acacia
a manufacturer, start quickly and of- to lay roots in individual countries. The [Mining plc], Centamin, Newmont [Min-
fer cheaper rates but it is impossible to company established itself in the Tanza- ing Corp], Kinross [Gold Inc] and others
offer the same capabilities,” Rudd told nian town of Mwanza in 2005 and quickly – have told us that’s what they need,”
Paydirt. “Smaller companies don’t have carved a niche for itself in the East Afri- he said. “Other companies want to put
the network of support, they don’t have can country during a period of rapid ex- each area out to tender in order to get
the maintenance crews or the safety sys- pansion in the gold sector. the best price but if you have one con-
tems in place. So, when rigs break down, tract encompassing all drilling services,
they don’t have the depth of support or It developed from exploration-only to the provider can build the infrastructure
capital to turnaround quickly. grade control services in 2007 and now on site and build its capacity. That is very
has a five-year comprehensive drill- difficult to do on the back of a 2,000m
ing contract at AngloGold Ashanti Ltd’s

PAGE 76 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

drilling programme contract.”

Capacity building is a hot topic

among African miners, govern-

ments and communities. Rudd

argues companies – whether

miners or service providers – can

only meet their capacity building

obligations and aspirations if they

are fully established in the com-

munity.

“By winning those longer term

contracts, we can establish op-

erations and provide long-term,

genuine career paths for local

employees. The benefits for cli-

ents, local communities and the

industry in general are numerous,

including higher quality drilling,

flexibility and support of shorter Production drilling services account for 85% of Capital’s revenues

term exploration projects via es-

tablished infrastructure, lower cost struc- tion of the workforce, and rightly so. Cap- but not one part was related to safety or

tures, improved community standards, ital has put in a lot of effort – particularly training. We are not interested in working

local government support and higher in Tanzania and Egypt – and the rewards for a company which is just about price.”

safety standards.” are there to be seen,” Rudd said. West Africa is the next region on Capi-

Capital has well-established train- “Of course, there are advantages to tal’s radar – it is already working with

ing programmes in Tanzania and Egypt the business but it is also about being a Kinross at the Tasiast mine in Mauritania

which have created a loyalty among em- good visitor in these communities and we – but to ensure it can apply the same lev-

ployees that smaller operators would find want to be in front; putting the right pro- els of infrastructure – both physical and

difficult to match. grammes in place before legislation tells social – it needs a few foundation cus-

Experience in training and local em- us to do it. tomers.

ployment is increasingly integral to min- Rudd is wary of the promises some “We have been in 19 countries so far

ing services providers in Africa as host miners make to host communities and so we are pretty good at setting up and

governments and communities put pres- governments and said Capital chose are getting more efficient at it but you

sure on miners to provide greater oppor- carefully who it was prepared to work really want that cornerstone customer,”

tunity. with. Rudd said.

“There’s been a lot of talk about train- “Clients do ask about our employment Having long-term relationships in-

ing and it is true that some African coun- and training strategies but some only pay country also allows for the application of

tries have lagged in this regard but there lip service,” he said. “We recently had new technology.

is a move across Africa for nationalisa- a global miner which asked for tenders Rudd said Capital was working closely

with industry and academic innovators to

bring a new generation of applications

into the field.

“I like to think we are pushing hard for

innovation, particularly around rod han-

dling safety,” he said.

Other innovations include the instal-

lation of HDD cameras on rigs, allowing

safety and training to be conducted re-

motely.

“Having the camera means a trainee

driller can review any mistakes and rec-

tify them straight away.”

It also means exploration managers

can monitor drill rig performance on re-

mote gold prospects in West Africa from

their head offices.

“Having the cameras or the lab-at-rig

technology currently being developed by

CSIRO will allow miners to make quicker

and better informed decisions,” Rudd

said. “If you have a 20-hole programme,

you can make informed decisions after

five holes rather than finding out a month

later that you were in the wrong spot.”

Capital’s strategy for overcoming logistical and infrastructure challenges is – Dominic Piper
to lay roots in individual countries

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 77

Njamal a perfect fit
for Pilgangoora

Njamal Services has once Njamal Services in partnership with Pilbara Resource Group has won a second key
again partnered with Pilbara development works contract worth $15 million at the Pilgangoora lithium project
Resource Group to win a second
key development works contract at definitely taken this in a new direction,” ble, with mine sites proving to be valu-
Pilbara Minerals Ltd’s Pilgangoora Dryland said. able training for many Njamal people.
lithium project.
“We’ve built comprehensive capability “Jukawalyi Transport is a great exam-
Valued at $15 million, the con- via our strategic management and tech- ple of the model in action with the newly
tract will see NPJV work along- nical professionals who deliver the quali- established Njamal family business se-
side RCR Tomlinson (Resources) fications and skillsets necessary for the curing a 12-month contract with NRW to
on the construction and installa- business to take on larger scale projects. provide transport and logistics from Port
tion of offices, crib rooms and ab- Headland to the Pilbara Minerals and
lutions at the upcoming mine site. “NPJV then breaks down the projects Altura [Mining Ltd] mine sites,” he said.
into manageable pieces which are sub-
NPJV was awarded a construc- contracted directly to Njamal family busi- “LC Cranes has also secured ongoing
tion works contract earlier this nesses, or we create roles which provide work with the two mines providing crane
year for the expansion of the ex- gainful employment for Njamal people.” and rigging services to clients including
isting camp and the upgrade of RCR Resources, Whittens Group, Air-
site access roads. Dryland said technical and operational Comms and NRW.”
expertise would continue to be invested
Following the early site estab- into the local communities where possi-
lishment works, five Njamal peo-
ple will be employed full-time for
the duration of the processing
plant build, providing services
such as dust suppression, servic-
ing, refuelling, bussing and clean-
ing.

There are 15 NPJV employees cur-
rently working across multiple projects
for leading civil and mining contractor,
NRW Holdings Ltd.

NPJV general manager Scott Dryland
said the Pilgangoora contracts were a
huge win for the Njamal people, who are
the traditional owners of the land stretch-
ing east of South Hedland, past Marble
Bar and out to Wandanya on the Great
Sandy Desert.

“There’s nothing new about commer-
cial ventures being established to de-
velop opportunities for traditional own-
ers in specific areas, but the NPJV has

PAGE 78 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Gekko goes in on
golden breakthrough

Gekko Systems has partnered with there was a considerable amount of in- posed to getting an assay result once a
CSIRO to commercialise a new tech- dustry interest towards OLGA. day, you can see there is real benefit in
that,” he said.
nology that allows gold processing plant “We are excited at how enthusiastic the
“OLGA provides results every 10 min-
operators to determine the gold content gold producers are about this technol- utes. That allows people to then tune
processes and have real insight into
in mineral processing slurries in real time. ogy. Looking at it from their perspective, what is going on with their process. So
if there are any process excursions they
The OnLine Gold Analyser (OLGA) is if you get an update on what is happen- can pick them up immediately and not 20
hours later.”
based on X-ray fluorescence techniques ing in your plant every 10 minutes as op-
Gekko is in the process of setting up
developed by CSIRO, and is capable of onsite field trials with Australian gold pro-
ducers.
detecting ultra-low levels of gold and oth-
“We have proposals out to three com-
er elements from a continuous process panies and have been in discus-
sions with a fourth,” Goldberg
stream. said.
“It has undergone lab testing at
This new technology will give metallur- CSIRO and a lot of that has been
with samples from plants. Now
gists and operators the ability to monitor we really want to get it out in the
field and prove it to be field-wor-
and adjust processing operations in real thy. We are looking for a couple
of companies in Australia who
time, increasing recovery and minimis- are willing to work closely with
Gekko and CSIRO.
ing gold loses from process excursions. “Once we have done [testing]
at a few sites and have confi-
Nick Cutmore, research director for dence in its ability we will look to
expand it.”
CSIRO’s Sensing and Sorting Initial field trials are
being planned for late
program, said OLGA was a break- 2017 and early 2018.

through in on-line XRF analysis for – Jon Daly

mineral processing operations.

“The OnLine Gold Analyser will

allow accurate measurement of

gold down to tailings grades, well

beyond the detection limit of any

previously available online XRF

analyser,” he said.

“It is an exciting opportu-

nity to team up with an innova-

tive Australian METS company to

bring this breakthrough technology to

market.”

While the technology has

been extensively tested in OLGA is

CSIRO laboratories, Gekko will based on X-ray

take it into the field to prove the fluorescence tech-

value of its onsite application. niques and is capable of

Gekko’s group manager of detecting ultra-low levels of

innovation and collaboration, gold and other elements from a

Richard Goldberg, told Paydirt continuous process stream

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 79

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Heron Resources Ltd pany operated the Century financial officer. Hill most Eadie is currently the com-
founder Ian Buchhorn zinc mine. Beach was most recently held the same role pany’s financial controller.
has taken on a full-time ex- recently general manager of at Millennium Minerals Ltd
ecutive role with spin-off Ar- human resources for New- and was previously general Myanmar Metals Ltd has
dea Resources Ltd. Buchhorn crest Mining Ltd. manager, finance at Adamus appointed John Lamb as
has been appointed technical Resources and commercial executive chairman and chief
director of Ardea as the com- Saracen Mineral Holdings manager for Newmont Asia executive. Lamb joined the
pany looks to commercialise Ltd has appointed Simon Pacific. company’s board as a non-
the KNP Cobalt Zone. Jessop as chief operating of- executive in June following
ficer. Jessop previously held Darren Townsend stints as general manager of
Gregory Starr has been a number of senior roles both the Century and Rose-
appointed a non-execu- at Evolution Mining Ltd, in- Darren Townsend has re- bery zinc mines.
tive director of Diatreme Re- cluding general manager, signed as managing di-
sources Ltd. Starr has served Kalgoorlie region and under- rector of Peak Resources Ltd Stephen Kelly has replaced
as managing director of many ground operations manager to take on the role of chief de- Elizabeth Hunt as com-
ASX-listed companies, in- at the Pajingo and Cracow velopment officer at Neomet- pany secretary for Pursuit
cluding Crater Gold Mining mines. als Ltd. Townsend, who joined Minerals Ltd.
Ltd. Peak in early 2014, will re-
Marcus Flis has joined Cer- main on the company’s board David Tucker will step down
Jacques McMullen and vantes Corporation Ltd as a non-executive director. as a non-executive direc-
Michele Muscillo have as a non-executive director. Chief operating officer Rocky tor of Bannerman Resources
replaced outgoing directors Previously managing director Smith has been appointed in- Ltd this month after almost a
Mark Connelly and Simon of Royal Resources, Flis will terim chief executive. Mean- decade with the company.
Jackson on the board of Car- help the company with the ac- while, technical director Dave
dinal Resources Ltd. McMul- quisition of the Payne’s Find Hammond has also resigned Robert Crossman has been
len spent the last 17 years gold project and the explora- from the company. appointed non-executive
of his professional career in tion of its other projects. chairman of Capital Mining
various senior roles at Barrick Mayur Resources Ltd Ltd. Crossman is managing
Gold Corp, while Muscillo is a Blackstone Minerals Ltd has appointed Shawn director of corporate advisory
partner with HopgoodGanim has appointed Scott Wil- Thompson as project director. firm Corpac Partners Pty Ltd
Lawyers. liamson as managing director. Thompson will be responsible and was previously a director
Williamson was most recently for managing the company’s and head of investment bank-
Vanessa Guthrie investor relations manager at suite of development projects ing at stockbroking firm Hart-
Resolute Mining Ltd following in Papua New Guinea. ley Poynton Ltd. Raymond
Vanessa Guthrie has a stint as a resources analyst Muskett has also joined the
joined the board of Vimy for Hartleys Ltd. Caeneus Minerals Ltd has company as general manager
Resources Ltd as a non-ex- appointed Peter Christie of exploration.
ecutive director. The former Ian Gordon as a non-executive director to
managing director of fellow replace the outgoing Michael Russell Clark
uranium hopeful Toro Energy Ian Gordon has been pro- Nottas.
Ltd is the nominated repre- moted to the managing di- Former Wolf Minerals Ltd
sentative of Vimy’s largest rector’s chair at Monax Min- Magnum Mining & Explo- managing director Rus-
shareholder, Resource Capi- ing Ltd. Gordon joined the ration Ltd has appointed sell Clark has been appointed
tal Fund. company as a non-executive Scott Robinson as a non- chief executive of Morocco-
director in June to conduct executive director, filling the focused tin hopeful Kasbah
New Century Resources due diligence on a number of vacancy on the company’s Resources Ltd. Clark also
Ltd has appointed Bill acquisition opportunities. He board following the retirement previously served at the helm
Wise and Simon Beach to the was previously managing di- of chairman Darryl Lynton- of Grange Resources Ltd for
respective roles of marketing rector of Ramelius Resources Brown. Current director How- almost five years.
consultant and general man- Ltd for seven years and Flin- ard Dawson has since as-
ager of human resources. ders Mines Ltd for two years. sumed the chairmanship.
Wise was previously general
manager of global metal and Egan Street Resources Ltd Ryan Eadie has been ap-
concentrate marketing sales has appointed Richard Hill pointed company sec-
for Zinifex when the com- as the company’s new chief retary for RTG Mining Inc.

PAGE 80 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

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LEFTFIELD

Rox goes digital

Nickel explorer Rox Resources Ltd has Rox managing director Ian Mulholland shows delegates how to use the company’s
launched a mobile app to keep share- mobile app at the Australian Nickel Conference
holders informed of the latest project and
corporate information from the company.

Features of the app include easy ac-
cess to end-of-day share price data
and charting and push button ASX an-
nouncement notifications, as well as past
financial reports, independent research
reports and company presentations.

Rox managing director Ian Mulholland
said his company decided to develop an
app after watching other junior resources
companies successfully deploy the mo-
bile technology over recent months.

“We’re always looking at our phones
these days, so we thought it would be a
great idea to give our shareholders in-
stant access to company updates,” Mul-
holland said.

“It’s very easy to use, even for an old
boy like me.”

The Rox app can be downloaded from
the Apple store or Google Play.

INDEX

Acacia 76 Emmerson 62 Mayur 80 Roy Hill 17
European Cobalt 64 Metals X 39 RTG 80
Alphamin 11 European Metals 24, 66 Millennium 80
Evolution 9, 12, 62, 80 Mincor 38, 40
Altura 24, 78 MMG 40
MOD 72-73
AngloGold 10, 76 MRG 64 Saracen 10, 80
Monax 80 Segue 40
Anson 54 Myanmar 80 Shandong Ruifu
Sibanye 64-65
Arafura 61 Flinders 80 SQM 11
Force 71 Solgold
Ardea 36, 80 Solid Energy 5, 24-25
St George 13-14
Auroch 64, 67 Strategic Minerals 12
Syrah 32
Australian Mines 48 Galaxy 24 69
Glencore 37, 48 21, 35
AVZ 71 Global Geoscience 52-53
GME 27, 37
Bannerman 80 Gold Fields Neometals 80
Grange 7 New Age 12, 69
Barra 23 80 New Century
New Talisman 80
Barrick 80 Newcrest 12
Newmont 6-7, 12, 14, 80
Bathurst 12 Norilsk 58, 76, 80 Talison 23-24
Northern Star 33 Taruga 71
BHP 4, 23, 25, 26-27, 28, 29 Harmony 11 6-7, 56 Tawana 50
Heron 36, 80 TNG
Blackstone 80 Hexagon Todd River 58, 59
51 Toro Energy 58
Breaker 9 80

Caeneus 80 Independence 23, 25, 30, OceanaGold 12 Uranium Equities 63
Capital 80 Intrepid Potash 33, 39, 40 Oklo 14
Cardinal 14, 35, 80 Oz 39
Cassini 39 54
Centamin 76
Cervantes 80 Kalium Lakes 16 Panoramic 41 Vale 48
Clean Teq 48 Valor 72-73
Codelco 14 Kasbah 80 Peak 80 Valoriza
Collerina 53 Vimy 64
Conico 23 Kibaran 21, 22, 25 Perseus 50 Volt 80
Consolidated Zinc 74 70
Crater 80 Kidman 5, 24-25 Petra 11

Kimberley Diamonds 68 Pilbara 22-24, 78

Kinross 76-77 Plymouth 64-65

Kirkland Lake 43, 44 Primary Gold 60 Western Areas 22-25, 26-27,
31, 32, 40
Pursuit 80 Winmar 68
Wolf 69, 80
Diatreme 80 Laneway 12 Ramelius 80
Doray 9 Largo 59 Resolute 80
Legend 40 Rio Tinto 14, 52, 57, 59, 67
Riversgold
Rox 9 Xanadu 13-14
40
Egan Street 80 Magnum 80
Emerald 9 Matsa 10

PAGE 82 NOVEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



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