ASX tells more junior resource players to retract 'aspirational' statements

The ASX is continuing its crackdown on junior explorers releasing information to the market that they shouldn’t.

King River Copper (ASX:KRC) has been ordered to retract its recent concept study update because the Australian bourse considers it an “aspirational statement” and not fully compliant with the JORC Code reporting requirements.

JORC refers to the mining industry’s official code for reporting exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves, managed by the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee.

The company said in the April 10 update “KRC aims to be a producer of 12,000 tonnes per annum of high purity vanadium pentoxide, 75,000-90,000 tonnes per annum of titanium dioxide and 300,000-400,000 tonnes per annum of iron oxide (hematite) in three-four years”.

But the ASX has told King River that it considers the statement to be a production target as King River has already defined a significant JORC-compliant resource.

Companies are not allowed to issue production targets if the information is based on a historical resource, exploration target or inferred resource.

Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) received a scolding from the ASX in late March for the exact same reason.

The bourse queried resources that Artemis outlined for its Weerianna and Carlow Castle deposits and deemed them to be considered production targets.

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Meanwhile, Crater Gold Mining (ASX:CGN) has been told off for releasing historical resources for its Golden Gate graphite project in three announcements in February, March and April.

The company reported a non-JORC compliant resource estimate of 20 million tonnes at 5.5 per cent graphite, including a zone of 6 million tonnes at 10 per cent graphite.

“This retracted statement relates to a historical non-JORC compliant resource and the company is currently unable to make all the required discloses under Listing Rule 5.12, relating to historical estimates of mineralisation,” Crater Gold told investors.

The company says it hopes to be in a position to disclose all the information required under Listing Rule 5.12 in the future, pending test results.

Crater’s share price slipped 5 per cent to 1.9c on Thursday morning.