Welcome to a roundup of some of our financing, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com over the last week. To keep up to date with all the latest headlines, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Financing and M&A
This week, St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has secured a strategic placement from Shanghai Jayson New Energy Materials Co., Ltd, a globally significant supplier to the clean energy sector and becomes St George’s largest shareholder with a holding of 11.73%.
Jayson is the world’s leading producer of cathode precursor materials for lithium‐ion batteries and has established a diversified vertical supply chain for energy materials that extends from upstream mining to downstream precursor manufacturing.
Jayson and St George have entered into a subscription agreement whereby Jayson (through its controlled subsidiary Hong Kong Jayson Holding Co., Limited) will acquire nearly 79M fully paid shares in St George at an issue price A$0.038 each to raise A$3M.
Intrepid Metals Corp. (TSXV: INTR | OTCQB: IMTCF) has announced a non-brokered private placement consisting of a minimum of 12.5M and a maximum of 15.6M units, with each unit consisting of one share and half of one share purchase warrant at C$0.20 each for gross proceeds of C$2.5M-C$3.12M.
Each full warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one additional share at C$0.30 for 18 months from the closing date. The net proceeds will be used for exploration expenditures on the company’s mineral properties and general working capital.
The offering is being made to purchasers’ resident in all provinces of Canada, except Quebec. Pursuant to the limitations of the listed issuer financing exemption, the units offered under the listed issuer financing exemption will not be subject to resale restrictions pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws.
New exploration and development
Also, Iceni Gold Limited (ASX: ICL) has provided an exploration update on the commencement of drilling at highly prospective targets within the 14 Mile Well Project in Western Australia.
Iceni Gold is a Perth based exploration company that operates the 14 Mile Well Gold Project in the Laverton Greenstone Belt. Iceni is searching for the three styles of gold mineralization that are known to exist within the Laverton-Leonora District, as well as nickel and lithium.
“Preparations have been underway in recent weeks for the upcoming (reverse circulation) RC drilling programme and include heritage surveys, establishing site access and drill pads,” commented general manager exploration David Nixon.
“The drilling rig will mobilize to site this week and commence the drilling programme, testing targets in the Claypan, Breakaway, and Monument target areas. The geological team are excited to commence drilling and test the anomalous targets.”
Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX: IXR) continues to progress the construction of the technical facility and demonstration plant at the Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda, through the local Ugandan operating entity Rwenzori Rare Metals Limited (RRM).
The company expects that it will produce its first mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) from the Makuutu demonstration plant early in Q1 2024, which will be a major milestone in the development of the project.
Further, the Makuutu demonstration plant technical facility will aim to further optimize metallurgical test work outputs and provide technical validation for the detailed review of the Stage One DFS being undertaken by DRA Global. Process commissioning is expected to start later this year once construction has been completed and equipment, in transit from Australia, has been delivered and installed at the facility.
Drilling results
Meanwhile, Millennial Potash Corp. (TSXV: MLP | OTCQB: MLPNF | FSE: X0D) has reported analytical results from the extension of historic drillhole BA-002.
The company has extended Hole BA-002 to a depth of 552.50m and has intersected additional intervals of potash mineralization beyond the previous drilling depth. Potash Cycle IV returned 17.1% KCl over 4.16m, and potash Cycle III returned 18.7% KCl over 4.76m, extending the number of potash cycles intersected in BA-002 to six, and increasing the cumulative thickness of potash mineralization.
In addition, the presence of Cycles IV and III enhances the tonnage potential for the project and given the strong correlation of geology and potash cycles between the upper parts of holes BA-002 and BA-003, the potential for the presence of Cycles IV and III throughout the basin in this area is considered very high. Data from extended hole BA002 and hole BA-003, including re-sampling data, form the basis for a potential initial mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the North Target which is currently in preparation.
Other company news
Itrepid Metals Corp. (TSXV: INTR | OTCQB: IMTCF) has announced that Ken Engquist has been appointed to its board of directors, effective 8 November 2023.
“We are very fortunate to have Ken join our team, adding his extensive experience and unique expertise to our board,” commented Intrepid chair Mark Morabito. “His technical and executive experience with Western Copper and Gold, First Mining Gold, Nevsun, Rio Tinto, and several others will be invaluable as we move our projects forward.”
Engquist brings 30 years of leadership and development experience overseeing the de-risking and advancement of numerous mining projects from early-stage exploration through start-up and operations of surface and underground mines located in various jurisdictions all over the world.
