Quick fire – industry news briefs

News updates from Blue Energy, Santos, Bonza, Maronan Metals, the Rookwood Weir project and more .... Blue Energy has announced upgraded estimates for gas resources at its Lancewood and Central blocks, located on ATP 814 in the Northern Bowen Basin. The work by independent reserve and resource certifier Netherland Sewell and Associates saw a 32 per cent increase in 3C contingent resource to 573 PJ at Lancewood and a 53 per cent increase to 469 PJ at Central. NSAI is still assessing the reserves and resource estimates for the Sapphire Block of ATP 814, following the drilling of the Sapphire 5 and 6 pilot wells in 2022. Cairns, Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Whitsunday Coast are among the destinations to be served from budget airline Bonza's new Gold Coast Airport base. Bonza's Gold Coast route map, subject to regulatory approval. Bonza announced today that it would be operating two aircraft from the Gold Coast to 11 existing Bonza destinations. Flights will be on sale soon, through the airline’s app, with starting fares to range from $49 to $79 per person one way. “Today’s announcement is about creating more depth in our network by connecting existing Bonza destinations with the Gold Coast and also the gateway from there to Northern NSW," Bonza chief executive officer Tim Jordan said. "It is a huge boost for the economy and allows people in our existing destinations the opportunity to book an affordable flight to Gold Coast Airport and take a much-deserved holiday or long-awaited visit to friends and family. New routes from the Gold Coast also mean locals from South Brisbane down to Northern NSW regions, like Ballina and Byron Bay, have the chance to explore their own backyard with low-cost flights to regional locations like Mildura, Bundy and Townsville to name a few.” Alliance Airlines has executed an extension of its contract with Santos for a new five-year term, meaning it will continue to run services to the company's gas and oil operations in the Cooper Basin. Services will continue to operate from Adelaide to Moomba and from Brisbane to Ballera and Moomba with a total of 22 scheduled flights per week. Alliance has been providing services to Santos in Queensland since 2006 and in South Australia since 2016. The $367.2 million Rookwood Weir project remains on schedule to be completed by the end of the year, with construction now complete on its left bank cut-off wall and seven of the weir’s 13 monoliths. A project update this week stated that the focus over the next few months would be on completing the remaining six monoliths, erosion protection slabs on the left bank and stilling basins. The project is under construction on the Fitzroy River, 66km south-west of Rockhampton. Civil, Mining and Construction was recently awarded a tender to upgrade Foleyvale Crossing - 65km upstream from the weir site - in a related $17 million project jointly funded by the Rookwood Weir project and the Department of Transport and Main Roads. Latest assays from the Maronan project in North-West Queensland include 3m at 5.2 per cent lead, 113/t silver (259g/t silver equivalent); and 13m at 4.3 per cent lead, 174g/t silver (297g/t silver equivalent), including 3m at 6.9 per cent lead, 285g/t silver (469g/t silver equivalent). Maronan Metals said the drilling was continuing to demonstrate the strong geological and grade continuity of the separate eastern and western horizons and copper-gold lenses within the site's shallow starter zone. This re-enforced its resource and near-term development potential. “The economic importance of the continuous horizons of strong grade and widths in the near-surface starter zone cannot be underestimated," Maronan Metals managing director Richard Carlton said. "Strong results like those in MRN23007 continue to build confidence in the integrity of the geological model.”

Quick fire – industry news briefs

Industry Queensland

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