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Mining
Klaus Eckhof’s Amani Gold has billions of shares on issue and at an opening price of just 0.1c this morning, tends to be pretty volatile.
It has just had to respond to its second speeding ticket from the ASX in one month as its shares jumped an incredible 250% to 0.35c with almost 1.5 billion shares changing hands.
A speeding ticket, if you were not aware, is a price query, when ASX compliance officers get in touch to find out if there’s any info that hasn’t been made available to the broader market to explain why a stock with nothing to report has gone from 0-60.
Amani’s response today amounted to ‘nothing to see here, officer’.
Amani Gold recently raised $7 million at 0.1c to fund exploration and development activities at is 4.4Moz Giro deposit in the DRC, around 35km away from Barrick and AngloGold’s 16Moz Kibali gold mine.
That received a few questions about disclosures from the ASX as well, although Amani responded by saying it called a trading halt as soon as the raising was locked in.
Around 1.75 billion shares were picked up in that placement by non-executive director Maohuai (Simon) Cong, whose share issue remains subject to the approval of shareholders.
Eagle-eyed Twitter observers also noted a sustained jump above 0.03c would be good news for Amani chairman Eckhof, who became acting managing director in February this year.
Part of his remuneration consists of 1 billion performance rights, which are set to vest if the Amani share price holds above 0.01c, 0.02c and 0.03c for 20 days each.
$ANL klaus gets massive additional 333m bonus if SP stays above 0.3 for at least 20 consecutive days! That tells me a big pump is coming sooner or later. Then a director took $1.75m in last placement, that tells me a massive pump is coming on/after this placement. Read the signs https://t.co/emKawbswOi pic.twitter.com/fAmeS5FIDI
— Treasurehunter (@ASXTreasurehunt) October 1, 2021
Uranium stocks have been on a tear lately as prices have exited the doldrums on the back of heavy buying from the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust.
How many new miners will actually get off the ground as the price rises (as opposed to restarts) is up for debate.
Vimy Resources, which owns the ~$490 million Mulga Rock uranium project in the WA’s remote Goldfields, is up around 400% over the past 12 months as sentiment for the nuclear fuel has rebounded.
It opened up more than 7% today (before a sharp pullback) as it announced the approval of its mining proposal and mine closure plan by the WA Mines Department.
That will enable Vimy to start early works at the site, where a 2018 DFS put a $492 million price tag on the development, an 8-10 week program of works that will enable it to hit a ‘substantial commencement’ milestone ahead of December 16 this year.
“Securing the approvals needed to commence ground disturbing activities at the Mulga Rock Project is a significant milestone for the Company. It allows Vimy to further de-risk the project by achieving “substantial commencement” and continue on the path towards first production by 2025,” interim CEO Steven Michael said.
What is ‘substantial commencement’ and why is it an important step? It all goes back to the complex politics of uranium mining in WA.
When it came to power in 2008 in WA, among the first actions of Colin Barnett’s Liberal-National Government was to allow uranium mining in the state, which seemed a realistic proposition at a time of soaring prices.
But the approval process for uranium mines was too slow to keep up with the dip in the market, and by the time these projects hit the study phase it became clear the McGowan Government, which is opposed to uranium mining, would win the 2017 election.
Not wanting to expose the state to ‘sovereign risk’ and trying to keep on the good side of the mining industry, McGowan and mines minister Bill Johnston pledged any mine approved during the Barnett Government’s reign would be allowed to continue.
Mulga Rock was one of those that did receive environment approval alongside Toro Energy’s (ASX:TOE) Wiluna project and Cameco’s Yeelirrie and Kintyre projects.
That approval contains an important clause however, that the project must reach ‘substantial commencement’ within five years, something Vimy appears set to achieve before that mark hits on December 16 this year.
Brightstar controls a 445,000oz bounty of JORC gold resources at its Laverton gold project, located in a rich gold district surrounded by majors like Regis’ Duketon operations and Gold Fields’ Granny Smith gold mine.
Unlike most juniors, it already owns a processing plant in the Brightstar mill, which a report by Como Engineers earlier this year said would cost about $5.5 million to bring back into production.
It emerged from a trading halt today armed with $2.3 million from an oversubscribed placement at 2.7c (a 7% discount to its previous closing price) to fund drilling at the Cork Tree Well deposit.
Around 3000m of the 12,000m RC drilling program has already been completed, with samples from Brightstar’s first 15 holes sent to labs for assaying.
‘The current drilling program at Cork Tree Well represents the first drill holes completed there since 2012, and we are excited to follow up significant high-grade hits both at depth and along strike to continue to grow the current JORC Resource across the Laverton Gold Project of 445,000oz,” Brightstar managing director Bill Hobba said.
“The Placement places Brightstar in a strong position to enable us to continue to develop our exciting prospects, with the current RC drilling program at Cork Tree Well expected to increase the size and confidence of the current JORC Resource.”
(Up on no news)
Once focused on WA, Orminex announced the ‘transformational acquisition’ of the high grade Rocmec and Denain gold projects in Quebec, Canada, last month.
Rocmec contains an historic NI43-101 resource of 2.1Mt at 7.1g/t for 479,000oz of gold, including 570,000t at 6.52g/t for 120,000oz in the measured and indicated categories.
Exploration is expected to commence in the December quarter, following an $8 million placement and $1.5m SPP to fund the acquisition and drilling.
“Over the past 6 months, Orminex has worked hard to introduce these gold assets to our portfolio to complement the existing joint ventures at Comet Vale and Penny’s Find,” Orminex non-executive chairman Dean Hely said at the time.
“Securing the purchase of Rocmec and Denain aligns with our strategy of acquiring assets in Tier-1 jurisdictions that allow us to use the proven skillset of our current team in unlocking previously unrealised value from high-grade gold projects.”
West Cobar Metals was up on its first day on the ASX, listing after the successful completion of a $5.5 million IPO with plans to hunt for copper, gold and the like.
It plans to start drilling at its project’s in NSW’s rich Cobar mining district this month, with approvals already delivered for its Bulla Park and Mount Jack projects.
“After the successful listing of the Company on the ASX, West Cobar is hitting the ground running with a major diamond drill program commencing during October that will test the Bulla Park, Mountain and Mount Jack prospects,” West Cobar CEO David Pascoe said.
“We believe we are well placed for early success with that campaign, while the granting of ELs 9260, 9278 and 9281 adds significantly to our prospective landholding around Bulla Park and the Cawkers Well Project.”
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