Besieged Brazilian junior finds itself in ASX’s firing line

The Australian Securities Exchange is cracking down on the mining sector over compliance with rules and codes.

Embattled minnow BBX Minerals is the latest to receive a “please explain” over some “spectacular” results from its Brazilian projects.

The ASX questioned BBX (ASX:BBX) over its methods in preliminary metallurgical testing work conducted at its Ema project. The query related to this announcement from earlier in the month.

The ASX noted BBX conducted metallurgical test work without the release of quality-testing (or “assay”) results and asked for a reason.

In response, BBX said:

“Despite extensive development work conducted in laboratories in Brazil, Australia and Canada, BBX has been unable to produce consistent, reproducible analytical results from the mineralised rock located on its Apui projects.

“The company is therefore focusing on extracting the precious metals from bulk samples of this complex mineralisation in order to provide a reliable estimate of the recoverable precious metal content.

“BBX continues to work on developing an analytical method that can reliably reproduce the levels of precious metals currently being extracted from bulk samples.”

BBX also answered questions regarding location of grab samples, details of grab sample methodology and details of logging of the samples.

A grab sample is a single sample or measurement taken at a specific time.

In another twist, BBX has voluntarily suspended its shares from trading to respond to further ASX queries over the results. The company expects to update the market by Friday on the latest queries.

BBX recently raised $1.4 million to fund exploration work across its projects.

Its key asset is the Juma East gold project in the Apui region of Amazonas State in Brazil’s west.

The company owns 58.1 sq km of exploration tenements within the Collider Group, a prospective geological environment for epithermal gold and copper-gold porphyry deposits.

According to BBX, the region is under-explored and has potential to provide the company with a pipeline of high-growth, greenfield gold discoveries.

BBX’s shares were trading at 20c prior to going into suspension, valuing the company at around $72 million.