Quick fire – industry news briefs

News updates in brief on Duke Exploration, Genex Power, Zenith Minerals, Blue Energy and more … All required Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approvals have been received for Duke Exploration's proposed acquisition of True North Copper. And Duke shareholders who own or control 35.03 per cent of Duke shares on issue have confirmed their intentions to vote in favour of the acquisition at the general meeting on May 26. Related: Duke raising $35m-plus in True North merger move True North holds a package of North-West Queensland assets including its Cloncurry project – which takes in the Great Australia tenements and processing facility – and agreements to acquire a complementary tenement package via CopperCorp and the Mount Oxide project from Perilya. Duke reported his week that the conditions and consent required for Perilya’s sale of the Mount Oxide Project to True North had also been secured. View this week's Duke Exploration presentation on the transaction HERE. Zenith Minerals has kicked off a deep diamond drill program at its Red Mountain gold project, located between the Cracow and Mount Rawdon gold mines in Central Queensland. The program of four holes for about 2300m is following up previous shallow high-grade gold intersections at Red Mountain including 13m at 8.0 g/t gold from surface (including 6m at 16.7 g/t gold from surface). Executive chair David Ledger said: "We’re planning to test the deeper portions of what we hope will be a classic vertically zoned, gold enriched, intrusion-related gold system in Central Queensland, below our already spectacular shallow gold intersections.” Genex Power chief financial officer Craig Francis will be taking over as the company’s new chief executive officer from September 1. He will succeed James Harding who will retire from the role on August 31 after five years as CEO. Mr Harding said: “As Genex approaches energisation of our Bouldercombe Battery Project this quarter and our Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project next year, it is entering the next phase of maturity and growth. We have a strong team in place across all parts of the business, so the time is right for me to take a step back. I’ve truly enjoyed leading Genex and working with a team of professionals who are passionate about Australia’s clean energy transition." Blue Energy has provided an update on the operations at its Sapphire pilot well production testing project in the northern Bowen Basin. The Sapphire pilot gas flow rate has steadily increased to 140,000 cfd (cubic feet per day). The company said the dewatering process continued to be cautiously managed to ensure minimal damage to the coals from coal fine migration as the pressure drawdown phase continued. The combined water rate at Sapphire from all of the pilot wells remains about 200-250 barrels of water per day with water quality within specification for use by stock and for domestic use. Former plant operator Nigel Gould has received the R U OK? Community Award at the 2023 Barbara Hocking Memorial Awards. The judging panel was impressed by Mr Gould’s contribution to suicide prevention efforts and his work to encourage meaningful conversations for many. Across a decade of operational mining in Far North Queensland, western New South Wales and remote North-Western Australia, Mr Gould has also worked as a peer support officer to lend a listening ear to colleagues facing life’s challenges. R U OK? Community Ambassador Mostapha Kourouche announced the winner of the Community award during a virtual ceremony. “Nigel has dedicated his life to mental health awareness, particularly within the FIFO (fly in, fly out) community that sees workers living away from home for weeks on end. Congratulations Nigel and thank you for championing the R U OK? message," Mr Kourouche said. Katter’s Australian Party MP Bob Katter showcased his latest fashion statement at the Burton coal complex opening last week. Mr Katter has designed a vest which reads “No CO2, no tree,” on one side, and on the other it states: “No tree, no me,” with a picture of koala hanging in a tree. Mr Katter said the light-hearted reminder came as the country’s leaders continued to gamble with the nation’s economic prosperity and reliable energy sources by cancelling coal in Australia. “We’ve got over 8000MW in coal-fired power stations coming off the grid over the next five years,” Mr Katter said. “And the one major base-load replacement we had coming online – Snowy Hydro 2.0 – is looking more likely than not to be delayed another two years. Meanwhile, every month, there seems to be a warning from the AEMO of future electricity shortages and the urgent need to invest in back-up power supplies. “So, we are starting a grassroots campaign to expose anyone who claims to be ‘green’ and using no coal. We’re going to remind them, they’re buying their electricity – in the form of intermittent power – solar panels and wind turbines – from China, who is manufacturing these components using its rapidly expanding coal-fired power network. First on his anti-coal exposure hitlist are beer company Victoria Bitter and supermarket giant Coles. Mr Katter said while the campaign made fun of having no trees if there was no carbon dioxide, he was “all for a pullback of emissions". He said he had been pleading for years to increase the uptake of ethanol and to invest in HELE power stations paired with algae ponds – which absorb CO2. European company OX2 has completed the acquisition of ESCO Pacific, a renewable developer in Australia behind Queensland solar farms including Ross River, Moura, Childers and Susan River operations. The purchase price amounts to $126 million, with a contingent consideration of up to $17 million to ESCO founder Steve Rademaker based on sales and margins from the acquired project development portfolio in 2025-2027. "The Australian renewable market offers significant growth opportunities and OX2 has identified considerable potential for value creation in ESCO Pacific through extension of the product offering to turnkey solutions, scale up of operations through acquisitions and expansion to onshore wind," OX2 stated.

Quick fire – industry news briefs

Industry Queensland

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