Updates on Cannindah Resources, Red River Resources, Metro Mining, Duke Exploration and more in this week’s exploration, mining and processing briefs.

Piccadilly drilling program underway

Cannindah Resources kicked off drilling at its Piccadilly gold project, 60km north of Charters Towers, over the weekend. The initial program will cover about 23 locations with more than 2500m of RC holes.

Cannindah said recent trenching results at the project had provided excellent targets, which the company intended to pursue in current drilling along with other areas of interest within the project.

Metro Mining ASX trading remains suspended

Trading in Metro Mining shares remains suspended as the company continues negotiations with existing lenders
in relation to a potential bridge finance facility.

Chairman Stephen Everett told the Metro Mining AGM that the company was continuing to contend with serious macro-economic factors as a result of the COVID pandemic and had a cash flow shortfall.

The company, which owns and operates Far North Queensland’s Bauxite Hills mine, initially requested a trading halt on May 25 and suspension on May 27.

It said this week it was hopeful that loan terms could be agreed and finalised during the course of the next week.

Red River to pay up to $20 million royalties

Red River Resources has provided an update on legal proceedings relating to its royalties obligations to Thalanga Copper Mines, which it inherited when it acquired its Thalanga project in 2014.

The company said it had received judgement in the proceedings, and the initial estimated range was about $15-$20 million in total for unpaid and future royalties.

“Prior to these proceedings, the royalties had no cap on the time period or dollar amounts that would have had to be paid by the company from Thalanga,” Red River said in a statement to the ASX.

“Once determined, a final amount for these royalties can crystallise and Red River will have no ongoing royalty obligations to TCM. Red River is reviewing the judgement with its lawyers to assess its options and reserves its rights.”

Red River’s Thalanga base metal operation (pictured below) is located about 55km west of Charters Towers.

Bundarra exploration continues to deliver for Duke

Duke Exploration says preliminary results from exploration drilling at Quorn are roving ‘very exciting and beyond our expectations’.

All planned exploration RC holes drilled at Quorn, part of the flagship Bundarra project in Central Queensland, intersected visible copper mineralisation in stacked mineralised zones with widths up to 53 m

“We can already see from the preliminary exploration drilling that the exploration target listed in our prospectus at Quorn will be met and potentially exceeded as drilling of the new zones of mineralisation discovered in the exploration holes progresses,” managing director Philip Condon said.

Greenvale Mining launches into Georgina Basin exploration

Greenvale Mining is about to commence a multi-pronged, high-impact exploration program at its
Georgina Basin IOCG project, located in the East Tennant region of the Northern Territory.

The company said also its wholly-owned subsidiary, Knox Resources, had been successful in two applications submitted to the NT Government under the Northern Territory Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations Program (Round 14).

“We are pleased to have finalised planning for our 2021 exploration field season at the Georgina IOCG Project, with a
detailed ground gravity survey scheduled to begin within weeks, followed by high-resolution airborne geophysical surveys,” Greenvale managing director Neil Biddle said.

“This is a large and exciting project with the potential to transform both the company and the region in the event of a discovery.”

Government grant backs SER drilling

Strategic Energy Resources (SER) has won $135,000 in Northern Territory Government co-funding to drill two 650m diamond drill holes into a copper-gold target at its East Tennant project.

The funding is provided by the “Resourcing the Territory” initiative designed to increase the intensity of exploration drilling in underexplored areas of the Northern Territory.

SER said it had identified the regionally significant gravity and magnetic feature during reviews of the emerging East Tennant Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) province. After securing the ground, SER undertook a detailed ground gravity survey earlier this year, which included a 400m spaced grid over the gravity high.