Kodal Minerals PLC (LON:KOD) has received some encouraging news relating to the Nielle gold prospect in the Ivory Coast.
An exploration programme that saw 27 drill holes completed confirmed wide zones of gold mineralisation, with areas of high-grade gold up to 13.88 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over two metres (m) returned.
Kodal currently holds a 100% interest in all three licences on the prospect, while Resolute Mining Limited is financing and managing the exploration programme, thereby earning a share of the project, up to a maximum 75% interest. Resolute has been granted, an extension of term for the earn-in period of the joint venture (JV) to February 2021.
Meanwhile, Kibo Energy PLC has confirmed that it has resubmitted the tender qualification document to the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO) with regards to the Mbeya Coal to Power Project (MCPP).
The AIM-listed multi-asset, Africa-focused, energy company announced on November 7 that the African country’s coal power projects tender process has resumed having briefly halted the process five days earlier, which had spooked some investors.
The Tanzanian government wants to add another 600 megawatts of coal power capacity to the country’s electricity grid, and state-owned TANESCO has invited submissions from interested companies.
Elsewhere, Regency Mines PLC (LON:RGM) has secured an option to acquire a 50% interest in a North American vanadium exploration project.
The AIM company is in the process of carrying out due diligence and has 45 days to come back to the seller with an answer.
Regency is paying an option fee of £25,000, which will be settled through the issues of 5mln new shares at 0.5p apiece – a 43% premium to the market price when the deal was agreed.
In other news, Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) has confirmed new copper mineralisation at its Leigh Creek copper project in South Australia.
The mineral producer said it had intersected “significant copper mineralisation” at the Rosmann East pit.Follow up diamond drilling commenced following the results, with the company adding that it had also completed a 250-hole shallow air core programme for all existing heap leach pads and they were awaiting assay results.
The company has also started an EM survey to search for nickel targets to drill at its Hanns Camp project at Laverton, Western Australia.
The ground-based survey follows air core drilling earlier in 2018, which confirmed three valid target areas, Hanns Camp South, Royal North and Royal Central.
Base Resources Limited (LON:BSE) (ASX:BSE) announced that it has been granted a prospecting license (PL) for the Vanga area in Kenya.
The AIM-listed group said the Vanga license is valid for three years and covers an area of 136 square kilometres, extending south-west from the company’s existing Kwale operation towards the Tanzanian border.
It added that the license was applied for following an airborne geophysical and radiometric survey that identified a series of promising exploration targets.
Another positive announcement came from AfriTin Mining Limited (LON:ATM), whcih said the first large-scale blast has taken place at its Uis tin mine in Namibia.
The blast is part of the phase 1 pilot production at the site, with the mining firm saying first ore had been produced from the site and was now being prepared and stockpiled to await completion of the phase 1 processing plant.
Activities at the site also included the running of first ore through the front-end comminution and crushing circuit, with ongoing tandem drilling on schedule to make the historic resource at the site JORC compliant.
Meanwhile, a reverse circulation drilling programme is underway at Oriole Resources PLC’s (LON:ORR) Dalafin prospect in eastern Senegal.
Canadian group IAMGOLD is undertaking the drilling as part of its option to earn a 70% interest through US$8mln of exploration.
The drilling will target three main zones: A 1.5km long, broadly west-northwest-trending anomaly; an artisanal mining site in the northeast of the licence and a gold anomaly extending over 400m.
Bluebird Merchant Ventures (LON:BMV) is happy with initial recovery levels of gold and silver in samples taken from the Kochang Mine in Korea.
Using a simple gravity separation process, recoveries of 80% of the gold and 60% of the silver from a composite sample were recorded.
Grades in the sample were almost 5 g/t gold and 19 g/t silver, which was similar to results obtained underground.
Eurasia Mining plc (LON:EUA) chief executive Christian Schaffalitzky told investors that the company is “thrilled and honoured” to have received final permission to build a mine at the Monchetundra platinum and base metal project.
“This permission and indeed recent milestones achieved by Eurasia with the Monchetundra project are the culmination of many years of hard work and conviction to pursue a PGM project in an emerging PGM district and we are extremely thankful to the cooperation we have received at local and federal level in the jurisdiction we have chosen to operate in,” Schaffalitzky said in a statement.
Shanta Gold Limited (LON:SHG) expects to be producing more than 100,000 ounces of gold every year once its Singida project in Tanzania comes on stream in 2020.
Newly published project economics suggest production will average 26,000 oz per annum for an initial six-year period.
It will cost Shanta US$16mln to get the project up and running, followed by a further US$3mln in working capital. Financing is expecting to be completed at the Singida asset level, with various options being considered.
Every hole in the latest drill campaign at Greatland Gold PLC’s (LON:GGP) Havieron licence in Western Australia has yielded “significant visible mineralisation”.
Most gold is found in such small traces that assays have to be sent to a lab for the presence of any of the precious metal to be confirmed, so to see it in the cores is always a good sign.
Results for the first hole (HAD005) of the drill programme returned a combined 275 metre (m) intercept at 4.77 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 0.61% copper.
ECR Minerals PLC (LON:ECR) said it has submitted four new licence applications to augment its existing gold exploration interests in the Victoria region of Australia and is undertaking further work to identify other strategic exploration opportunities.
The AIM-listed precious metals exploration and development company said the new licence applications have been submitted by ECR’s 100% owned Australian operating vehicle Mercator Gold Australia Pty Limited.
It added that three of the applications have been submitted in the Bailieston/Moormbool gold project area to augment existing licences and secure available ground south and south and south-west of an application submitted by Newmont Exploration Pty Limited in recent weeks.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has delivered the first shipment of tungsten concentrate from its La Parrilla mine in Spain.
Michael Masterman, chairman of the AIM-listed miner, said that the order had been delivered on 30 November with shipment sizes to build through December and the new year as part of a production ramp up.
“W has now commenced the first of a three stage production programme which allows the company to generate revenue and cash flow ahead [of] the move to large scale production in 2019 at a planned run rate of 2,500 tonnes per annum of tungsten concentrate,” Masterman said.
Mkango Resources Ltd (LON:MKA, CVE:MKA) told investors that the final batch of drill results from the 2018 drill programme, at the Songwe Hill rare earths project, has unearthed the highest grades to date.
The company, in a statement, said that the results of the majority of the remaining holes (19 of 21) from the 10,900 metre drill programme saw significant zones of rare earths mineralisation grading above 1% total rare earth oxides (TREO).
Drill hole ‘PX112’ was the highlight with 3.3% TREO across just over 100 metres, including a higher grade 20.5 metre section which measured 4.2% TREO.