Welcome to our roundup of some of the most significant mining investment, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com from the last seven days.
Financing and M&A
In financing news this week, Galileo Mining (ASX: GAL) has received firm commitments from sophisticated and institutional investors for a placement to raise gross proceeds of A$20.4M.
Funds raised will primarily be used for accelerated diamond and RC drill programmes at the Callisto palladium-nickel discovery and target testing along the five-kilometre prospective strike length (Norseman Project); drilling and exploration of highly prospective Mission Sill and Jimberlana palladium-nickel prospects (Norseman Project); and finally, general working capital purposes.
“We are delighted with the strong market support for our placement which puts us in an excellent position to expand the drilling programmes at our recent Callisto palladium-nickel discovery,” said managing director Brad Underwood.
New exploration and development
Arafura Resources (ASX: ARU) has confirmed an announcement made by GE Renewable Energy (GE) in relation to a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) entered into with Arafura.
The MoU relates to collaboration in the establishment of a sustainable supply chain for Neodymium and Praseodymium (NdPr) for the manufacture of offshore wind turbines and energy transition. GE and Arafura have agreed to negotiation of a long-term sale and purchase agreement for GE to purchase NdPr from Arafura’s Nolans project.
“The signing of this MoU to collaborate with a Tier 1 OEM is a terrific outcome,” said Gavin Lockyer, Arafura’s managing director and CEO.
“Long-term Nolans NdPr may be used in magnets critical for power generation from GE’s Haliade-x12MW, one of the most powerful offshore wind turbines on the market.”
We also heard how Galantas Gold (TSXV/AIM: GAL) has commenced drilling as it prepares to commence production at the Omagh Project in Northern Ireland.
Longhole drilling has commenced in the first series of stopes, marking the start of the production process. Installation of the secondary egress from the 1,096 to 1,052 level is in the final stage of completion and is expected to be commissioned in approximately two weeks followed by the blasting of the stopes.
“Thanks to the hard work of our team on the ground, Galantas has now entered the next significant phase of the Company’s growth as we commence underground production. Galantas is uniquely positioned to deliver gold production while we grow our high-grade gold resources and unlock the full potential of a newly emerging high-grade gold district,” said CEO Mario Stifano.
There was also positive news for KEFI Gold and Copper (AIM: KEFI), which has been awarded two additional exploration licenses through the company’s Gold and Minerals Limited (G&M) joint venture in Saudi Arabia. G&M is owned 30% by KEFI and 70% by its partner Abdul Rahman Saad Al Rashid and Sons Ltd (ARTAR).
“Work in Saudi Arabia is gathering pace on many fronts; our Hawiah Project is firmly on track for the delivery of the Preliminary Feasibility Study by year end, we have exciting developments on the Jibal Qutman Gold project and now the granting of these two additional exploration licenses,” said Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, the company’s executive chairman.
“The award of the exploration licences, which contain known high-grade gold occurrences provides an exciting opportunity to make further discoveries at a time where the country is focused on developing its mineral resources.”
Drilling results
This week’s drilling news includes an announcement by Brixton Metals (TSXV: BBB | OTCQB: BBBXF), revealing its first batch of 2022 drill results from its wholly owned Thorn Project located in the Golden Triangle trend of British Columbia. The project is located within the Taku River Tlingit and Tahltan First Nation’s traditional territory.
Vice president of exploration, Christina Anstey, said, “We are delighted that our May start to the 2022 season is paying off and that lab turnaround times are a meaningful improvement over last year.
“We are looking forward to further expanding this exciting new gold discovery at the Trapper Zone both further west, east and at depth. We have many holes yet to drill in this area so we are very excited to see what other discoveries can be made.”
Mako Gold (ASX: MKG) has received positive assay results from the recent shallow reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme from the Komboro Prospect, within the company’s flagship Napié Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Komboro is located on a +23km soil anomaly and coincident 30km‐long Napié Fault and associated splays.
“We are thrilled with the results of our new discovery at the Komboro Prospect as it has confirmed the presence of significant mineralization at a 4th prospect on the Napié Project,” said Mako’s managing director, Peter Ledwidge.
Finally, Tudor Gold (TSXV: TUD | Frankfurt: TUC) has intersected wide zones of mineralization in the first set of drill results for Phase l of the 2022 exploration programme at Treaty Creek, located in the heart of the Golden Triangle of north-western British Columbia.
The programme at the Treaty Creek property includes an aggressive resource expansion and delineation plan on several areas including the Goldstorm Deposit and the Eureka and Calm Before the Storm zones.
“We are extremely pleased with the first set of results of our 2022 Goldstorm resource expansion drill programme. We continue to encounter strong gold, silver and copper mineralization outside the previously defined resource area,” said Ken Konkin, Tudor’s president and CEO.
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