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You beauty! Bellevue funded through to 2021

Pictured: Bellevue Gold managing director Steve Parsons

With many companies battling to see the light that marks a new day, Bellevue Gold Ltd has moved to consolidated its development aspirations by aiming to raise $26.5 million.

The company has received firm commitments for the proposed share placement at 30c – 7.7% discount to the last trading day price of 32c/share – as it prepares to release a maiden indicated resource estimate this quarter from its namesake project in Western Australia.

An inferred resource at Bellevue of 6.1mt @ 11.3 g/t gold for 2.2 moz has already excited the market and the company aims to maintain the momentum it has generated in the past 2-3 years.

Infill drilling that will now take place is designed to add to the indicated resource and overall inventory through step-out and exploration campaigns at the two highly promising conductors at the Deacon lode, among other priority targets.

“To complete a raising such as this in any environment is an excellent achievement but to do it in the current market circumstances is exceptional. Under the current budget, we are funded through to mid calendar year 2021” Bellevue managing director Steve Parsons said.

Australia’s Paydirt and Gold Mining Journal have followed the Bellevue Gold story closely and will continue to do so in our upcoming April edition of Paydirt.

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Paydirt now open across 13 locations in Perth

A whirlwind week it has certainly been and we are starting to settle in at home.

Such is access to technology these days we at Paydirt are all still available to be contacted via mobile phone and email.

Call us for a chat and keep an eye on our website and social media streams.

No apologies for the shorts and singlet (or bathrobes) approach to working from our living rooms.

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Mining industry workforces included in WA exemptions

Pictured: AMEC Cheif Executive Officer, Warren Pearce.

Australia-wide border controls are set to come into full force as each state and territory moves to flatten the curve of the coronavirus.

Yesterday, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said the State would implement strict border control measures as of 1:30pm (WST) tomorrow. Therefore, all arrivals into WA – unless specifically exempt – will need to self-isolate for the mandatory 14 days.

Exemptions will apply to essential services and workers, including health and emergency workers, defence and policing, flight crews and freight of essential goods, via ports and trucks – with strict guidelines put in place for monitoring and management.

Furthermore, mining industry workforces have been included in the exemptions, with FIFO charter flights all clear to continue operating under strict new guidelines now being developed.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy will work alongside the WA Government to deliver a framework for the continuation of FIFO charter flights.

AMEC has also provided input into the framework.

Meanwhile, a $50 million Vital Resources Fund has been offered by BHP Ltd to help support regional Australian communities in its areas of operations.

BHP aims to deliver $100 million into small, local and Indigenous businesses by accelerating payments and reducing payment terms to seven days (from 30 days), and to employ a further 1,500 people to support its Australian operations.

South Australian Resources and Energy Investment Conference Postponment

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister about the restrictions that now apply for non-essential events (attended by over 100 people), the South Australian Resources and Energy Conference (SAREIC) has been postponed to a later date. We have been overwhelmed by the positive messages from the majority of companies and organisations that were committed to participate at the conference. We look forward to delivering a great outcome for all when SAREIC is held later this year.

View the Media Release for further information

Media Release SAREIC

FYI: Throwback Thursday

Pictured: FYI Resources Ltd Managing Director Roly Hill

It was 12 months ago that Paydirt was first introduced to the FYI Resources Ltd HPA story unfolding 200km east of Perth.

At that stage, FYI had completed a PFS on the project and was working on higher studies.

A DFS on an integrated Cadoux kaolin and Kwinana HPA project in Western Australia was delivered last week and while Paydirt was slow to the story initially, the magazine was quick to sit down with FYI managing director Roly Hill to see how the company will go about funding the $US189 million project.

FYI will feature in the April edition of Australia’s Paydirt along with extensive insights and company stories emerging in the battery minerals sector, gold space and in Queensland

Delivering certainty

Pictured: The Paydirt Family ready for banter

Walking into the office can be a chore when all around the world there is gloom, but being surrounded by family makes things that much better.

In the midst of sadness – not just events of past couple of weeks which have escalated – but at other times, the Paydirt Family bands together and runs the race together, which will happen again in the current environment.

We may be limited for various reasons in doing what we love to do – connecting and interacting with people and enjoying a laugh – our spirits are up and motivation levels high.

While meet and greets will remain infrequent, our phones are on to take calls and keyboards fired up for email replies, mainly for BANTER.

Reach out to us for a chat, we’d love nothing else that’s for CERTAIN!

089321 0355

repard@paydirt.com.au

dominic@paydirt.com.au

giovanny@paydirt.com.au

kale@paydirt.com.au

christine@paydirt.com.au

mitchelle@paydirt.com.au

michaelw@paydirt.com.au

mark@paydirt.com.au

BHP Nickel West revs up

Pictured: Gary Frampton, Head of Business Development & Technical Projects, BHP Nickel West and Minister of Industry, Science and Technology Hon Karen Andrews

In just 2.5 years, BHP Nickel West has seen a stunning turnaround in demand for its commodity.

“As of today, 75% of the nickel we produce in our refinery is sold to the battery materials industries. It has been an enormous turnaround and I think if we can extend our thinking and vision of what it could mean for the whole supply chain then going further downstream to precursors…there are enormous opportunities for Australia,” Gary Frampton, Head of Business Development & Technical Projects, BHP Nickel West said.

Frampton was speaking at the official opening of the Future Battery Industries CRC, whereby the cathode precursor pilot plant at CSIRO’s headquarters at Curtin University is the flagship research project.

About $5 million has been invested in plant and trials so far, with an estimated $13.2 million to be spent over four years.

“This particular plant we believe the Future Batteries CRC can effectively be repurposed for the next stage of going downstream so that is conversion of metal sulphates into precursor materials, which is a combination of the metal sulphates to produce hydroxide materials for precursors,” Frampton said.

Full story to appear in April’s Australia’s Paydirt magazine

Luck of the Irish helps gold get going

For those that dare to look at the ASX, it is noticeable that Australia’s leading gold equities have experienced a momentary bounce back to start St Patrick’s Day.

We dare not look at the stock market again today in fear that the rise will be met with another Tweet that will trigger another plunge.

Nevertheless, in compiling our latest edition of GMJ we have managed to find a group of upbeat companies getting on with the job of exploring, mining and producing gold.

While face-to-face interactions are being limited right now, we will endeavour to deliver the people behind the stories to you through our long-standing GMJ and Australia’s Paydirt publications.

Our April editions are in the making, stay tuned https://www.paydirt.com.au/magazines/subscriptions/

De Grey rides high on new discovery

A new, potentially high-grade discovery has seen De Grey Mining Ltd shares run from 4c to 24c since early February.

The price spike comes on the back of a new high-grade gold discovery on the company’s Pilbara project, the Hemi prospect. De Grey has several drill rigs turning at Hemi as it scopes out the size of two parallel zones, Aquila and Brolga.

Drilling to date has confirmed Aquila as being at least 30m wide, 170m deep and 750m long which Brolga is bigger again with drilling continuing despite it already proving to be 200m wide, 170m deep and 160m long.

The company has redoubled its drilling efforts in the hope of producing an inferred resource for Hemi by June.

GMJ editor Dominic Piper spoke with De Grey technical director Andrew Beckwith about the discovery and its likely impact on the company’s wider development plans on Paydirt TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gypjwRdEHLw

For more on De Grey, Hemi and the entire Australian gold exploration sector, look out for the April edition of GMJ.

WAF gets the balls rolling in Bukina

Pictured: West African Resources, Executive Chairman Richard Hyde

A new ASX gold producer is on the horizon, with Burkina Faso-focused West African Resources Ltd (WAF) processing first ore from Sanbrado.

First gold is expected within four weeks.

“This is a major milestone for West African Resources and testament to the quality of our team and contractors. Commissioning activities will continue over the next four weeks with the first gold pour on track for early Q2 2020,” WAF executive chairman Richard Hyde said.

There is currently 360,000t of open pit oxide ore at 1.5 g/t stockpiled at Sanbrado, with first development ore from the underground expected in late March and first stoping ore on track for Q3.

WAF is aiming to produce 300,000oz gold in the first year of operations and an average of 217,000 ozpa in the first five years.

Given the security situation in Burkina Faso, this is a significant milestone for both company and country.

We look forward to getting a full update on Sanbrado from WAF at this year’s Africa Down Under Conference September 2-4 at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Perth

www.africadownunder.com #africadownunder #adu2020

Orion receives environmental tick

Pictured: Orion Minerals Ltd Managing Director, Errol Smart and Minerals Council South Africa and Minister for Mineral Resources & Energy Gwede Mantashe Speaking at Mining Indaba in Cape Town in February

ASX-listed South African developer Orion Minerals Ltd is a step closer to project development after receiving environmental authorisation for mining of the Vardocube resource on its Prieska copper-zinc project.

The authorisation is the final step towards granting of the full Mining Right for Vardocube, a south-eastern extension of the main Prieska deposit.

The rest of the Prieska project received its Mining Right in August 2019. Orion managing director Errol Smart said the granting was another “significant milestone” towards Prieska’s development.
“The award of this important authorisation is testament both to the commitment of the Orion leadership team to deliver this project and to the support of the South African authorities in facilitating new investment in a modernised mining sector,” Smart said.

Orion is at the forefront of a new era of junior development in South Africa’s mining scene which has been dominated by the major mining houses for generations. Smart has taken on a leadership role in the sector, working with the Minerals Council South Africa and Minister for Mineral Resources & Energy Gwede Mantashe to devise policies which will promote junior developments.

Speaking at Mining Indaba in Cape Town in February, Minister Mantashe said his Government wanted to grow junior participation and exploration expenditure to build a new generation of mining projects.

For more on Mantashe’s Mining Indaba address and coverage of the entire week-long conference, subscribe to the March edition of Australia’s Paydirt.

West African Aussies hit exploration gold

Pictured: Tietto Executive Director Mark Strizek celebrates his company’s win in the Investment Battlefield final after receiving the tropgy from Eurasian Resource Group’s Jonathan Cordero.

Fresh from their visits to Cape Town last month for the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba, a host of ASX-listed West African explorers have released exploration results.

Mako Gold Ltd, Exore Resources Ltd and African Gold Ltd have all reported high-grade intercepts in the last two weeks as explorers look to follow in the footsteps of miners Perseus Mining and Resolute Mining and developers such as West African Resources and Cardinal Resources.

Leading the charge have been Oklo Resources Ltd and Tietto Minerals Ltd. Oklo raised $12.5 million on Monday to fund ongoing exploration of its Dandoko project in western Mali.

In late February, Oklo announced results from 21 RC and two diamond holes at Dandoko’s SK1 prospect, including hits of 34m @ 4.07 g/t, 22m @ 3.94 g/t and 11m @ 8.55 g/t.

Tietto has been travelling just as well with a hit of 13m @ 3.1 g/t reported from its AG South project in Cote d’Ivoire on February 20.

That intercept followed on from a successful week in Cape Town where Tietto took out the Investment Battlefield award at the Mining Indaba.

In a hotly contested final round decided by a panel of expert judges, West African gold explorer Tietto emerged victorious from the investment “boxing ring” which has become of one of the conference’s signature events.

“It was a lot of fun and has actually been quite useful in getting some recognition and just generally increasing the profile of the company,” Strizek told Paydirt.

“There have been a number of follow-up emails and so on that have resulted out of it, so we’re really quite chuffed.”

For more on Tietto and the rest of the West African gold sector, subscribe to the April edition of GMJ.

For more on the Mining Indaba, subscribe to the March edition of Australia’s Paydirt.

Code: Red 5

There are few companies the size of Red 5 Ltd doing what the wannabe multi-asset, mid-tier gold producer is doing.

With production from Darlot in hand and tipped to reach 110,000-120,000oz in FY2020 at $1,350-1,500/oz, Red 5 has set an ambitious programme of drilling totalling 152,300m during the same period.

The company has budgeted $27 million for its expansive drilling campaign, which will focus on underground resource development and grade control plus regional resource development at Darlot.

Meanwhile, two underground rigs have been dedicated to King of the Hills for resource development and grade control, with RC drilling ongoing at regional targets.

Red 5 believes that King of the Hills has the potential to be Australia’s next premier gold mine and Paydirt Media is on site today to see how the final feasibility study on the project is progressing.

The feasibility study is scheduled for completion in the September quarter.

Red 5 will be just one of the feature stories appearing in the April-June 2020 edition of GMJ.

For more on Red 5 and everything happening in the gold sector visit https://www.paydirt.com.au/magazines/subscriptions/

IGO and Encounter buddy up

Pictured: IGO managing director Peter Bradford with Encounter managing director Will Robinson

The March edition of Australia’s Paydirt includes coverage on Deloitte’s Tracking the Trends report, which highlights the top 10 trends that will potentially shape the mining sector in 2020.

According to Deloitte, one of the trends of 2020 will be the continuation of JVs.

In recent times cash strapped juniors have been hamstrung in kicking on with meaningful exploration programmes and execute the role of pathfinders to the next genuine Tier 1 discovery, while majors have focused on production and strong balance sheets to appease shareholders.

However, the penny appears to have dropped and companies with cash have demonstrated a willingness to partner with juniors with good prospects, but little cash to deploy to meaty exploration programmes.

“The sector is likely to see more JVs going forward, making this an important competency area firms will likely need to build,” Deloitte Australia Mining & Metals leader Ian Sanders tells Paydirt in the March edition.

One cashed-up company – IGO Ltd – has shown a penchant to explore base metals fields with juniors and today it has fully committed to Encounter Resources Ltd and the Yeneena copper cobalt project in the Paterson Province, Western Australia.

IGO will fund $15 million to earn 70% of Yeneena.

“The partnership with IGO is just what Yeneena needed. Deploying a suite of new exploration methodologies in 2019 has provided a whole new perspective on the mineral potential at Yeneena,” Encounter managing director Will Robinson said.

Exploration activity at Yeneena is expected to resume in April/May, with additional ground geophysics and geochemistry programmes planned, followed by aircore, RC and/or diamond drilling.

Visit https://www.paydirt.com.au/magazines/ for more coverage.

South Australia's Exploration sector on the rise

South Australia has longed for the next Olympic Dam or Carrapateena and that world-class discovery could be in the making right now.

ExploreSA: The Gawler Challenge – a partnership between the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining and Unearthed Solutions – was launched yesterday to encourage global thinkers and innovators to interrogate South Australia’s open-file data and generate new exploration models and ideas for targeting.

The competition will run until July 31, with findings assessed by a panel of astute judges to determine winners in multiple categories.

All targets produced will be made available to the public, to incentivise exploration across the Gawler.

ABS mineral exploration figures for the December 2019 quarter indicate that exploration in general across South Australia, with expenditure for the quarter up 36.4% from the previous quarter.

Expenditure on exploration in South Australia rose the highest out of any state in Australia for the December 2019 quarter.

Total exploration expenditure in Australia for the December 2019 quarter was $760.5 million, which was 30% higher than the December 2018 quarter.

South Australian Resources Energy & Investment Conference will be hosted at the Hilton Adelaide April 1-2

Battery powered jobs in WA

Pic caption: Hon. Bill Johnston has been a big supporter of the increasingly popular Africa Down Under Cup which will once again feature during Africa Down Under Conference September 2-4 2020.

Western Australia’s future battery industry recorded a 21% increase in employment in 2018-19, bringing the total number of operational jobs to 14,150 in the State, according to a new report. An additional 2,349 new regional jobs were also created.

The WA Government has been developing its future battery strategy since 2018, with export revenue from the State’s battery minerals contributing $6 billion in export revenue in 2018-19. During that period, rare earths featured heavily and exports were value at in excess of $355 million, while nickel represented 7% of total global share.

WA Mines Minister Hon. Bill Johnston said findings from the new report was evidence that the State’s Future Battery Industry Strategy is working.

“The strategy provides consistent and co-ordinated actions to ensure the WA Government is leading the nation’s growth in the uptake of opportunities across the whole global battery value chain, including mining, downstream processing and manufacturing,” Johnston said. “While the industry has recently faced challenges, the changing nature of technology and the decisions made by international car manufacturers indicate the long-term importance of the industry.”

As at December, almost $3 billion has been committed in regional investment in battery industry projects across the State and a further $22 billion in proposed regional projects.

Meanwhile, earlier this week Johnston expressed his enthusiasm to retain the portfolio of Mines and Petroleum amid speculation that he was one of the frontrunners to be WA’s next Treasurer should government win another term.

WA Treasurer Hon. Ben Wyatt will not contest the next election.

Tanzania sinks to bottom of Fraser table

The task in front of the Tanzanian Government to win back investor interest in its mining sector has been laid bare, with the East African country finishing at the bottom of the Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies.

The annual survey asks miners and explorers to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors such as taxation and regulatory uncertainty affect exploration investment. This year’s survey ranked Tanzania as the least attractive investment destination, replacing Venezuela at the bottom of the 76 jurisdictions ranked.

The news will come as a blow to the Tanzanian Government which is working to rebuild a reputation damaged by the introduction of strict new mining investment laws and a three-year stoush with the country’s largest foreign gold miner.

In February, the Government announced it had struck a deal with Barrick Gold Corp on a shared economic benefit agreement over the Canadian miner’s three gold mines in the country.

Speaking at the Mining Indaba in February, Tanzanian deputy minister of minerals, Stanslaus Nyongo said the legal reforms introduced by President John Magafuli in 2017 were designed to improve both the mining sector’s contribution to the Tanzanian economy and the investment environment.

There are more than a dozen ASX-listed explorers and developers active in Tanzania and all have welcomed the finalisation of the Barrick/Government deal.

“This is about breaking the deadlock. Both sides have called it an historical landmark agreement and I think that did resonate at Mining Indaba,” EcoGraf managing director Andrew Spinks told Paydirt.

For more on the Tanzanian situation and all the coverage from this year’s Mining Indaba, subscribe now to Australia’s Paydirt.

Positive outlook for Lycopodium

Leading stockbroking firm Hartleys Ltd has forecast a positive outlook for Lycopodium Ltd. In a research note, Hartleys recommended Lycopodium as a BUY on the back of $9 million net profits (after tax) for the first half of 2020. Hartleys 12-month price target for Lycopodium is $6.57/share up from the $5.72/share at the time the note was released. Despite project financing remaining challenging for companies with development aspirations, EPC contracts like the one it has at Yaoure for Perseus Mining Ltd in Cote d’Ivoire plus feasibility studies for Sandfire Resources NL (Botswana), Base Resources Ltd (Madagascar) and Orezone Gold Corp (Burkina Faso) will keep Lycopodium busy amid an active period in the tendering space. Once again, Lycopodium will be a key sponsor of this years Africa Down Under Conference, Perth, September 2-4 2020

Coronavirus fears lead to Battery Minerals Conference postponement

Growing uncertainty over the global spread of the coronavirus and its affect on international travel has resulted in Paydirt Media postponing the Battery Minerals Conference, due to be held in Perth on March 4-5. The conference has steadily grown over its five-year history, incorporating presentations and panel debates on a range of topics in the battery and critical minerals space from the EV revolution, to supply/demand dynamics, supply chain security and new energy generation and storage solutions.

The importance of the conference was highlighted by the large international contingent scheduled to participate in Perth this year with delegations from the EU, the UK and Asia confirmed to attend.

However, as concerns over the spread of the coronavirus extended outside of China, these international delegations have been forced to postpone their travel plans.

The organisers felt it appropriate to postpone the Battery Minerals Conference to allow these and other stakeholders the opportunity to fully participate. Paydirt Media is monitoring the coronavirus situation closely and once there is clarity on the containment of the virus, it will consult with stakeholders on finding an appropriate date to host the conference.

You beauty! Bellevue funded through to 2021

Paydirt now open across 13 locations in Perth

Mining industry workforces included in WA exemptions