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Mining
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Tuesday July 25.
SRN has produced high grade 4N (99.99%) high purity alumina (HPA) from the Victory Bore vanadium project — “a significant value addition” for any future development.
4N HPA, which is currently selling for anywhere between US$25,000-US$40,000/t, is used in lithium-ion batteries, LED production and synthetic sapphire production.
Victory Bore contains “exceptionally high” aluminium oxide (Al2O3) in the rock surrounding the 321Mt @ 0.4% vanadium resource.
When mined and the magnetite extracted, this 38Mt @ 23.3%-and-growing resource would effectively be waste rock from which HPA could be commercially extracted, the company says.
“This successful test work result adds significant value to the company’s Victory Bore deposit,” SRN managing director Paul Burton says.
“HPA from such a host rock raises important possibilities for the company’s future development strategy.
“We will now consider the feasibility of HPA production in the development plans for the Victory Bore vanadium project.”
An update on the PFS – a detailed look at the economics of building a project – is in progress.
The $30m capped stock is up 100% year-to-date. It had $2.6m in the bank at the end of March.
(Up on no news)
The rare earths standout has surged to its highest point since listing on the ASX mid last year.
VTM’s main game is the North Stanmore project near Cue in WA, where the company has defined a high grade, large scale and low radioactive element ionic clay deposit. All good things.
The large ionic component is paticularly important; it means the REEs can be easily, quickly and cheaply desorbed from the clay with a salt solution.
A maiden JORC estimate is on track for release late this month, the company says. More drilling is also due to kick off in the current quarter.
The $30m capped stock is up 85% in 2023. It had just over $3m in the bank at the end of June.
A US$300m facility is locked in, fully funding the development of BEZ’s ~3Moz Bau project in Malaysia’s Sarawak region.
The facility with Quantum Metal Recovery Inc will be paid over 30 months against 3Moz of future gold production.
“Besra believes that the facility is one of the largest deals of its kind signed by an ASX listed junior and importantly the facility is not debt and is interest free,” the company says.
“The facility, which is to deliver up to US$10,000,000 per month, is expected to remove the need for dilutive equity financing and project/corporate debt that would encumber Besra with hedging requirements and/or onerous covenants.”
BEZ is required to produce gold concentrate in a pilot plant on or before 31 December 2023. If it doesn’t, the legally binding Gold Purchase Agreement (GPA) may be terminated by Quantum Metal Recovery.
“In essence, there is a requirement that Besra demonstrates proof of concept – being able, by the end of the year, to physically produce a concentrate from Bau that contains gold,” it said in May.
“The pilot plant is expected to have a capacity of up to 200 tpd, which is not a commercial scale operation and is not intended to produce gold per se, merely concentrate.
“Based on studies undertaken to date by ZJH Minerals Company Ltd of China (as reported in the company’s Quarterly Activities Reports since 2 May 2022), the board of Besra considers the requirement to produce the concentrate is highly achievable.”
The company is now updating an old feasibility study completed back in 2013, with initial results due in the second half of 2023.
$130m capped BEZ is up 630% year-to-date.
(Up on no news)
This recently listed WA gold explorer is right in the thick of it with its Crawford and Gambier Lass North projects near Leonora, home to a bunch of mid-tier M&A action.
CVR’s ground includes the 117,800oz Crawford deposit which the explorer wants to get into production sooner rather than later.
It is now investigating a heap leach operation with met test work and mining studies now underway.
‘Heap leaching’ involves piling ore on a pad then irrigating it with chemicals to dissolve the metal into a solution.
It is also on the hunt for more gold via recently completed drilling between Crawford and the nearby Miranda target, which hit a highlight 11m at 2.85g/t from 71m, including 2m at 5.12g/t from 71m.
Meanwhile, early-stage soil sampling has returned three lithium targets at Ella’s Rock, south of Wesfarmers’ Mt Holland lithium hydroxide project.
The $5m capped stock is flat year-to-date. It had $2.4m in the bank at the end of March.
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