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ASX Resources Quarterlies: Antipa says Minyari Dome could be a robust gold mining operation
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It’s quarterlies season again as the ASX market announcements page becomes increasingly flooded with earnings lodgements.
To save you the trouble of trudging through it all, we’ve wrapped up the highlights from some of the resources reports that caught our eye.
This quarter Antipa released the scoping study for its Minyari Dome project in WA, confirming a “robust potential stand-alone gold mining and processing operation.”
Highlights included an initial combined open pit and underground mine schedule of 21.4Mt at 1.6g/t gold (1.1 Moz), 7+ years initial processing life at a 3Mtpa throughput and a simple, non-refractory metallurgy which allows standard CIL process plant with 90% gold recovery.
Looking at the economics of the project, the forecast average All-In-Sustaining-Cost (AISC) was $1,475/oz (US$1,062/oz), the Pre-tax NPV7 was $392M and the IRR was 34% (at US$1,750/oz gold and 0.72 A$/US$).
Plus, the company says there’s latent potential to boost project economics with resource upside and by-product opportunities.
The PFS has commences and is scheduled for completion in Q4 FY23.
As at quarter end, the company held cash of $11.7 million.
During the September quarter, Danakali executed the term sheet in Asmara for the sale of its 50% interest in the flagship Colluli potash project in Eritrea for $US166m ($258m) pre-tax.
The company expects to rake in ~$US121m ($188.5m) net, of which 90% will be distributed back to shareholders.
DNK says it will use the remaining cash — ~$US12m — “to identify new projects and potential new alternative growth opportunities”.
The ‘Colluli’ potash project has the world’s largest JORC compliant reserve at 1.1Bt, but the downside is the location in Eritrea – which is governed by one of the most oppressive regimes in the world.
The company had consolidated cash on hand was A$16.2M as at 30 September 2022.
BRIGHTSTAR RESOURCES (ASX:BTR)
The company delivered the MRE update for the Cork Tree Well (CTW) Project in WA during the quarter, which increased to 252,100oz and improved BTR’s confidence in the quality of the deposit.
They also identified a “substantial opportunity” for potential bulk underground mining along a section of the mineralisation that is both thick (between 15-30m) and consistently mineralised.
The company flagged high-grade gold hits from its Alpha Project, about 15kms from the Brightstar processing facility in the Laverton Gold Belt of WA, of up to 5m at 9.8 g/t gold from 98m and 2m at 11.3 g/t gold from 88m, as well as 1m at 21.4 g/t gold from 88m.
AMERICAN RARE EARTHS (ASX:ARR)
The biggest news of the quarter for ARR was increasing the Halleck Creek exploration target by 328% to a globally significant 1.01-1.27 billion tonnes of rare earth mineralised rocks. Plus, assay results from the newly staked Bluegrass area show further significant upside for the Wyoming project.
Metallurgical test work from ARR’s other key project, La Paz in Arizona, showed the ore responds well to conventional processing technology, which will lead to savings in operating and capital costs, the company says.
They also added another R&D organisation to its collaborations list in the Critical Minerals Institute, and wholly owned US subsidiary, Western Rare Earths (WRE), joined a research consortium that includes Virginia Tech University.
The team was awarded by the US Department of Energy with US$500,000 in R&D funding, completed a A$14m institutional placement and ended the quarter with a cash position of A$17,417,000.
White Rock had a solid quarter, successfully recommissioning the gold processing plant at the Morning Star Gold Mine in August on low-grade material, with three campaigns completed treating existing low-grade gold stockpiles.
The company announced a feed grade of 10.7 g/t from 445 tonnes achieved from the its first weekly processing campaign of recently mined material at the mine.
“On a feed-grade basis, this places the mine in the top five of high-grade gold mines in Australia,” WRM said.
Metallurgical test work undertaken during the quarter resulted in gold recoveries averaging over 98%.
AZY, DNK, BTR, ARR and WRM share prices today:
The company says mining at processing operations at its Savannah nickel project continue to ramp up safely following restart, with ore mined increasing 29% QoQ to 151,045t and ore milled rising by 22% to 154,196t.
Concentrate production was up 28% to 18,010t with contained nickel production up 32% to 1,331t nickel, contained copper production up 49% to 817t copper and contained cobalt production up 22% to 87t cobalt.
Two shipments of nickel-copper-cobalt concentrate completed during the quarter and the company says their production and cost guidance for FY23 is 6,600 – 7,100t of nickel, 4,100 – 4,500t copper and 400 – 500t cobalt in concentrate at a C1 cost of $7.30 – $8.30/t of payable nickel production (including by-products) remains unchanged.
On the exploration side, Panoramic increased the ore reserve at Savannah North with contained nickel increasing by 4%, contained copper increasing by 7% and contained cobalt increasing by 6% after mining depletion in FY22.
Cash at the end of the quarter of A$25.1M, up from A$22.0M at the end of the previous quarter.
VULCAN ENERGY RESOURCES (ASX:VUL)
The company progressed with preliminary EIA approvals for its Zero Carbon Lithium project and kicked off works at its Sorption Demonstration Plant (Sorption Demo Plant) in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany during the quarter.
They were also granted a new exploration license, designated Ried, increasing the company’s license area in the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field (URVBF) by 277km2 to a total of 1,440km2.
A binding agreement was signed with Enel Green Power to explore and develop geothermal lithium in Italy, and Vulcan also confirmed its Climate Active re-certification of the Australian organisation and successful certification for the German operations under the South Pole label as carbon neutral for 2021.
The company remains in a strong financial position with €158.2 million cash on hand at the end of the September Quarter.
Sierra Rutile successfully demerged from Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) during the period, and says rutile production was down 22% on Q2 2022, at 28kt – due to unusually heavy wet season rainfall in August and September.
Rutile sales, however, exceeded production at 33kt, drawing on prior quarter inventory build at a realised rutile price of $1,535/t FOB.
The company also commenced the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for its Sembehun Project, targeting completion during Q3 2023 ahead of final investment decision late 2023.
Net cash at 30 September was $36.3m, up $26.9m compared to the $9.4m of pro-forma cash disclosed in the Demerger Booklet.
SVL is waiting on its final development approvals for the Bowdens open pit project in NSW, which is Australia’s largest undeveloped silver deposit and one of the largest in the world.
But the project also has solid underground potential, with intercepts during the quarter including 32.6 metres at 1.37 g/t gold, 31g/t silver and 0.38% zinc (2.09 g/t gold equivalent) from 92.4 metres, and 4.6 metres at 460 g/t silver equivalent (388 g/t silver, 0.72% zinc and 0.96% lead) from 411 metres.
The Maiden Mineral Resource is 42.9 million ounces silver equivalent, with already 56% of tonnes in the Measured and Indicated categories, and the estimate lies directly underneath the open cut ore reserve of 97 million ounces silver equivalent.
The Underground Mineral Resource Estimate will be used as part of a Scoping Study for potential underground mining scenarios.
Drilling is continuing with two diamond rigs at Bowdens and one at the nearby Barabolar Project’s copper/gold porphyry target.
During the September quarter, the company expanded its sub-Saharan presence, entering an ‘earn in’ agreement for the acquisition of the highly prospective Omaruru Lithium Project in Namibia.
And first pass drilling at the Step Aside Lithium Project in Zimbabwe generated multiple intersections of high-grade spodumene mineralisation – with a follow-up drilling program currently being planned.
Prospect also fully completed the close-out of the Arcadia sale during the quarter and finished with a closing cash balance of $32.4M.
PAN, VUL, SRX, SVL and PSC share prices today:
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Antipa Minerals, Prospect Resources, American Rare Earths, Silver Mines, Danakali, Vulcan Energy Resources and Brightstar Resource are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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