Origin Energy Limited (ORG) said the exploration well Redback South 1 in the North Perth Basin reached a total depth of 3,955 mMD prior to being cased and suspended. The company said rig operations ceased and the rig was released on 28 September this year. It was reported in the drilling release of 22 September 2009 that wireline log and pressure data had indicated the presence of gas in the uppermost Wagina Sandstone. Origin expects the well to be completed and tested to determine flow deliverability during the December quarter.
Montezuma Mining Company Ltd (MZM) said that gravity processing of mill site material at its 100% owned Peak Hill Project had yielded the first gold from the project since mining ceased in the mid 1990’s. The company had extracted 63oz of gold from around 800 tonnes of material for a recovered grade of approximately 2.5 g/t.
Polaris Metals NL (POL) said it was aware that a third party may be considering a potential competing bid to takeover Polaris. The company said it was not aware of the terms of the potential offer and whether it was superior to the offer made by Mineral Resources Limited (MIN). Mineral Resources announced that it has acquired a relevant interest of 22.3% in Polaris under its offer, while in the absence of a superior proposal the directors of Polaris said they intend to accept Mineral Resource’s offer by 5 October 2009.
PanAust Limited (PNA) said the discovery of high–grade gold–silver mineralised zones in the southwest of the Ban Houayxai gold–silver deposit in Laos has identified the potential for extensions to the deposit through an area that has previously been subject to only a limited amount of drilling. PanAust said these intercepts indicated the potential for gold–silver mineralisation within the host sequence of volcanic rocks which extend a further 200 metres west of the current resource drilling grid.
Macquarie Harbour Mining Limited (MHM) shares soared Friday after the company confirmed that it was continuing to hold incomplete, confidential discussions with a number of parties expressing interest for silica off take, including Wacker Chemie AG. The company was responding to reports in the media referring to its involvement with a rumoured silicon smelter proposal in Tasmania by chemical company Wacker. MHM said the articles referred to a proposed “$500 million infrastructure investment” in the largest silicon refinery in Australia and that Wacker would be supplied with silica by MHM. The company added that it has supplied samples to Wacker as well as other parties for trial smelting. MHM said no formal contracts have been executed.
