Century Iron says new estimate boosts total resources by 89% at Duncan Lake iron project

Century Iron Mines Corp. (TSE:FER) late Monday revealed an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate for its Duncan Lake iron project in Quebec that increased its total resources by 89 per cent.

The company noted that the updated estimate also increased the average grade for measured, indicated and inferred resources.

Century and Augyva Mining Resources Inc. (CVE:AUV) are joint venture partners on the Duncan Lake project, and since the last resource estimate in 2010, Century has drilled an additional 44,007 metres of core in 125 drill holes. 

At a 16-per-cent iron cutoff, the updated independent mineral resource estimate now includes a defined 1.05 billion tonnes of measured and indicated at a grade of 24.4 per cent iron, compared to a previously reported 31.3 million tonnes at a grade of 23.7 per cent iron in 2010. 

Additionally, inferred resources are now estimated at 563 million tonnes grading 24.7 per cent iron, compared to a previously reported 821 million tonnes at a grade of 24.6 per cent iron.

“We are extremely pleased with this new resource estimate update for Duncan Lake, which has in excess of one billion tonnes in the measured and indicated categories, representing over 30 times more than the resource estimate of same categories in the last NI43-101 report,” said Century president and CEO Sandy Chim.

“There is also a substantial resource tonnage of over half a billion in the inferred category. The completion of each successive drill program has resulted in this very substantial improvement and increase in the mineral resource estimate, while continuing to confirm consistent grades.”

Century said that the updated estimate adds “solid fundamentals” that underline the potential and value of the Duncan Lake project. 

“The new mineral resources will form a sound basis for the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) being prepared by Met-Chem, which is targeting an annual production of 12 million pellet tonnes at better than 67 per cent iron grade and with all other elements within commercial specification,” said Chim, adding that the PEA is targeted for about year-end.

Century noted that the mineral resource estimate for Duncan Lake was based on 9,178 assays collected from 54,467 metres of drilling in 177 drill holes. 

The company said that chemical analysis established that, on average, the iron formation at Duncan Lake contains very low levels of deleterious elements, in particular 0.02m per cent phosphorus, 0.03 per cent manganese and 0.23 per cent magnesium.

The Duncan Lake property is located around 570 kilometres north of Matagami, Québec. Century said the property has recently been expanded to 534 exploration claims covering 25,605 hectares. 

Earlier this month, the company released the final report from phase II drilling at the property. In total, 176 holes were drilled for 54,306 metres.

Among the highlights in the most recent assays, drill hole DUN 11-237B intersected 24.64 per cent total iron over 142.9 metres and drill hole DUN 11- 352 returned 25.55 per cent total iron over 321.25 metres.

Duncan Lake is subject to a joint venture agreement between Century, which holds a 51-per-cent interest, and Augyva, which holds a 49-per-cent interest.

Century has the option to increase its interest in the property to 65 per cent, by spending $14 million by 2014.

Century Iron is Canada's largest holder of iron ore land claims, with interests in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Along with the Duncan Lake project, the company currently has the option to acquire up to a 60-per-cent interest in the Attikamagen project under an option and joint venture agreement with Champion Minerals Inc. (TSE:CHM).

Century also wholly owns the Sunny Lake project and the Astray, Grenville, Menihek and Schefferville projects recently acquired fromAltius Minerals Corp. (TSE:ALS).

Salman Partners notes “excellent value” creation in Curis Resources’ shares

Salman Partners’ senior mining analyst Ray Goldie said that hitches and delays regarding Curis Resources’ (TSE:CUV) Florence copper project in Arizona have made the market skittish, but created “excellent value” in the miner’s shares. 

Curis plans to use in-situ recovery methods to extract copper from its deposit at Florence, which requires no movement of rock or overburden and substantially less mechanical energy in the form of trucks and explosives.

But Goldie, who has a "buy" recommendation on the company, said in his research note that in January 2011, the company reported that the Town of Florence had supported “a resolution put forward by the town staff to urge agencies to deny permit applications for the Florence Copper Project.” 

“However, about half of Curis’ project’s resources lie beneath lands administered by the State, and its project could likely operate economically – at least initially - under only the State lands,” the note said.

“So Curis is able to be patient about permitting the portion – approximately half - of its deposit that is under municipal lands.”

Earlier this month, the company released its quarterly financial statement, and said it continued to work toward permitting for phase 1 of the copper project, while progressing with “feasibility-level” optimization and design studies for the full production scenario. 

Curis recently reported the results of an independent survey of residents in the town, which showed “a majority” supported the project and “three series of polling by Curis’ independent consultants ... has further confirmed this support.”

The company's CEO, Michael McPhie, says two primary operating permits are required for phase 1.  BHP Copper, the previous owner, secured full commercial operating permits for the project back in the late 1990s, and since that time Curis has been working to amend and update these for current operations.

The junior miner has already secured critical air, land and water permits for the project and the remaining state and federal permits for phase 1 are expected in the near term.

Once the updated state Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) and the federal Underground Injection Control (UIC)   permits are approved – expected in the coming months - Curis can develop a 24 well injection and copper recovery system and a "state of the art solvent extraction electro-winning plant" - otherwise known as phase 1 operations. This production test facility (PTF) phase is expected to last 18 months.

Phase 1 development is scheduled to begin construction in the third quarter of this year, once the permits are received. The phase 1 facility will produce London Metal Exchange grade pure copper cathode, Salman noted. 

“In parallel with Phase 1 operations, Curis will advance the completion of the amended Phase 2 commercial operating permits,” Goldie wrote. 

Rather than focusing on expanding the size of the resource, which is already quite large, Curis is taking the approach of focusing on metallurgy and getting more copper from what is already there.

The company’s CEO McPhie says there is room for improvement in the commercial scale production forecast, with copper recovery for its Florence project in the PEA assumed at 49 per cent, which is "very conservative" compared to the previous work done by BHP that predicted this would be the minimum recovery possible.

If recoveries can be improved, the same amount of effort will be put in, but the miner will be able to get more copper out of the ground at a quicker pace.

Up until February of this year, 4 of 16 laboratory scale metallurgical tests had been completed with copper extraction ranging from 45 to 81 per cent as compared to a recovery of 49 per cent reported in the PEA. 

The remaining 12 metallurgical tests are ongoing with completion now expected in the third quarter, Salman’s note said, adding that the tests were initially anticipated in the second quarter. 

“The test materials all had grades considerably higher than that assumed by us. And, usually, the higher the grade, the higher the metallurgical recovery rate,” Salman’s Goldie asserted. 

The test results from February suggested an average rate of recovery of 58.4 per cent, which is much higher than Salman’s assumption of 49 per cent. Salman also noted that 58.4 per cent is recovered in only 6.4 months, whereas the 49 per cent takes six years.

“On balance, we found the results to be supportive of the view that our assumptions in modelling the Florence project are conservative assumptions,” the report said. 

“However, as the completion dates given by Curis demonstrate, completion of this metallurgical program is behind schedule.”

And turning to community relations, Curis “may have to be patient”, said Goldie, as Arizona’s Southeast Valley Register says that at its regular meeting on August 6, the Florence town council passed an ordinance banning in-situ mining and other operations that use large amount of sulfuric acid. The argument is that the chemical poses a danger to residents. 

In response, Curis said: “Curis has been the subject of a well-funded campaign opposing the development of the project by a group of out of state neighboring landowners and a local water utility company (Johnson Utilities). 

“This campaign has resulted in a real harm to the company’s reputation and ultimately to its share price. Curis …will continue to investigate any and all means available by which to address these matters.” 

Salman noted that Curis has hired “good help” in its community relations efforts, with Rita Maguire joining the company as senior legal and government affairs adviser. She served as director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources from 1993 to 2001 and oversaw the operation of the  Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the State Land Department as deputy chief of staff for Gov. Fife Symington.

“We believe that Curis’ share price has been weak both because of opposition, in Florence, to Curis’ proposed project and because the market has recognized that there has been a delay in reporting expected metallurgical results,” Goldie concluded. 

“We believe that an appropriate valuation for Curis’ shares is 100% of NAV. Accordingly, our current 12-month target price for Curis’ shares is Cdn$6.40, down from our previous target of $7.00 per share.”

The Florence asset is close to a railway, has an "abundance" of water, and is referred to as a well-understood deposit with more than 500,000 feet of drilling. The project rests just 70 miles north-northwest of Tucson, and 65 miles southeast of Phoenix.

According to the latest timeline, the company could begin full commercial production by early 2015, after which it expects to produce between 55 and 84 million pounds of copper per year.

The project, which has an estimated after-tax net present value of $360 million at a 7.5 per cent discount rate and a $2.50 per pound copper price, hosts a measured and indicated oxide copper resource of 429 million tonnes grading 0.33 percent copper at a cut-off of 0.05 percent. 

Kincora Copper hires new VP of corporate development

Kincora Copper Ltd. (CVE:KCC) Monday has heralded the appointment of senior mining analyst Jonathan Spring as vice president of corporate development.

Spring, whose role is effective immediately, has over 10 years of financial services experiences across many disciplines within Goldman Sachs and Ocean Equities. 

Aside from that, he has five years experience as a metals and mining research analyst covering and providing advisory services to the junior and mid-cap sector.                

In mid 2011, he was involved in the formation and funding of Kincora. Spring has a commerce degree from the University of Melbourne and is a chartered accountant. 

Spring is just the second senior appointment since chief executive John Rickus took helm of the company on August 1. Rickus has over 40 years worth of experience in the mining sector, of which 24 years was spent with Rio Tinto. 

Earlier this month, Kincora disclosed partial assay results from the West Kasulu zone at Bronze Fox as well as Tourmaline Hills in southwest Mongolia.

The Bronze Fox project is located on the copper-gold belt in southeast Mongolia that also hosts the world-class Oyu Tolgoi deposit.

Partial drill core from hole BF62 hit an 180 metre interval with continuous copper mineralization, the company said.

Average copper grade is 0.5% copper and 0.1 gram per tonne (g/t) gold with associated molybdenum mineralization up to 0.33%.

This includes 0.82% copper, 0.14 g/t gold and 0.04% molybdenum across 37 metres, as mineralization begins from surface and remains open at depth. 

Kincora said core cutting and sampling is on-going with the hole continuing below 1,000 metres. 

Meanwhile, partial assays have been returned for Tourmaline Hills, one of the licenses acquired from Forbes and Manhattan through an exchange of shares in April 2012. 

Hole F61 intersected just one metre of 2.74 g/t gold between 39 to 40 metres and 5 metres averaging 2.65g/t gold between 60 to 65 metres. This includes 3.45 g/t to 4.70 g/t gold across three metres.

Transeuro Energy shares up on resource upgrade in Ukraine field

Transeuro Energy Corp. (CVE:TSU) shares rose as Australia-based oil and gas explorer Aleator Energy (ASX:AWD) announced Monday a "significant" resource upgrade for the Povorotnoye gas field in the Ukraine, in which Transeuro holds a 10.8 per cent stake. 

Transeuro's interest is in the joint activity agreement to develop the gas field. 

Aleator also said that a drilling rig has been secured for the field for drilling in September. 

The Povorotnoye gas field prospective resources have increased significantly, Aleator said, to 256 Bcf P50 gas-in-place in three gas reservoirs in the field - M-3 (both Upper and Lower) and M-4.

This compares to the earlier estimated resources of 61 Bcf gas-in-place in the company's February report.

Aleator, formerly named Golden State Resources, said in its statement that commercial production could start as soon as the middle of next year if the initial well is successful. 

A gas plant with spare capacity and connections to a nearby gas main line is located 10 kilometres from the field, the joint venture partners noted. 

Transeuro explores and produces crude oil, condensate and natural gas. It owns 100 per cent of a gas producing property in British Columbia, Canada and has interest in gas exploration and appraisal developments in Crimea, Ukraine.

The company's shares gained more than 16.6 per cent to 7 cents Monday. 

NanoViricides says oral FluCide drugs show similar effectiveness in reducing lung viral load as IV form

NanoViricides (OTCBB:NNVC) said on Monday that its anti-flu drug candidates under its FluCide program were nearly as effective orally as when they were given as IV injections - in terms of reduced lung viral load. 

Two different anti-flu drug candidates were tested in the oral versus intravenous comparison on animals, and both groups showed similar results, which indicated "strong oral effectiveness", the drug developer said. 

The development-stage company's nanoviricide class of drugs are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus particles and to dismantle them, with drugs being developed against a number of viral diseases, including different types of the flu, HIV and gential Herpes.

"The results clearly demonstrated that oral administration of both of these  FluCide drug candidates resulted in substantially superior animal protection compared to oseltamivir (Tamiflu), a standard of care for influenza at present," NanoViricides said in Monday's statement. 

One of the FluCide drugs, when administered orally, resulted in a 20 times reduction in lung viral load, and matched the viral load reduction on the same drug candidate when given as an IV injection. 

The other FluCide candidate tested resulted in a similar result as the IV group, the company said. 

In contrast, Tamiflu, the standard method of care, saw only 4 times lung viral load reduction when compared to infected and untreated animals.

The drug maker said the results of the lung viral load were measured at 108 hours post-infection.

The number of lung plagues and plaque areas that resulted from the flu infection, were also "minimal" in the nanoviricide drug candidate stream, whether given as IV or orally. 

"Oseltamivir treatment did not protect the lungs of infected animals anywhere close to the protection afforded by the FluCide drug candidates," it said. 

The company also said that the results show the FluCide drugs, when given orally, almost matched the effectiveness of the injectable form given at 0.3 times of the oral dosage level. 

Chemistries were modified in by NanoViricides in an effort to make its drugs potentially available for oral administration. It previously reported lung viral load reduction as high as 1,000 times with its "best injectable" FluCide candidate in the same lethal animal model. 

The company said it believes that oral administration is an important attribute and "the trade-off in efficacy" due to the change in chemistry is acceptable.

"We can easily increase the effectiveness of our drugs by increasing the oral dosage," said president Anil R. Diwan, PhD, noting further that, "we have seen no adverse events in this study."

The total quantity of FluCide drug given orally was 3.33 times that of the drug given as injectable, to adjust for expected reduction in the amount of drug going into blood circulation.

The company is awaiting additional data from the studies and plans to release information as the data are analyzed.     

Prophecy Platinum to raise $3 mln in non-brokered financing

Prophecy Platinum Corp. (CVE:NKL)(OTCQX:PNIKF) said before the start of the weekend that it plans to raise $3 million through a non brokered private placement financing. 

The offering will consist of 2.5 million units at a price of $1.20 each. 

The entire placement was subscribed by an existing shareholder, Prophecy said.             

Each unit is comprised of one common share and a half share purchase warrant. 

One whole warrant entitles the holder to acquire an additional common share at a price of $2.00 each for a period of two years. 

The company said the new funds will be used for Prophecy's flagship platinum group metals-nickel-copper Wellgreen project in the Yukon, and its other properties, as well as for general working capital. 

The warrants under the financing are subject to 30-day accelerated conversion if the closing price of the company's shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is $2.80 or higher, for a period of 10 straight days.      

Closing of the placement is anticipated around the end of the month.         

The Canadian nickel-PGM exploration company has projects in Canada, Argentina and Uruguay. 

Aside from Wellgreen, its holdings include the fully permitted Shakespeare project in Ontario, the Lynn Lake nickel copper project in Manitoba, the Las Aguilas nickel PGM deposit in Argentina, as well as five prospective claims in Uruguay. 

Earlier this month, the miner unveiled further drill results from its underground infill program on its Wellgreen project. 

The five holes reported all intercepted "significant" mineralized widths, the company said, ranging from 94.2 metres and up to 284.4 metres. 

The grades were "materially higher" than the 0.22% nickel equivalent cut off adopted in the preliminary economic assessment resource model. 

Highlights included hole WU12-539, which returned 18 metres of 1.75 grams per tonne (g/t)platinum+palladium+gold, 0.82% copper, and 0.48% nickel within 51.5 metres of 1.11 g/t platinum+palladium+gold, 0.50% copper, and 0.31% nickel.

Rock Tech Lithium to start exploration program at graphite property in Quebec

Rock Tech Lithium (CVE:RCK) said today that an exploration program will start this week on its recently optioned Lochaber graphite property in Quebec. 

The exploration plan includes around 35 line-kilometres of ground geophysical survey, field prospecting and limited geological mapping. 

The company said the program will be carried out on the Plumbago Mine area, in the southern part of the property. 

Based on the results, trenching and drilling will likely start in October, which will aim to confirm the historical exploration work and discover new targets. 

The property is considered to be prospective for large flake, crystalline graphite, with a historic record of exploration and production. 

Several flake graphite occurrences on the property are some of the oldest graphite showings in Canada, Rock Tech noted, having been discovered in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

There are three historical graphite occurrences, known as McLaren, Kelly and Burke, and two past producing graphite mines - Mayo and Plumbago - distributed over an area covering 16 square kilometres. 

The three graphite occurrences have a historic resource estimate of 82,263 tonnes at 8% graphite or 54,091 tonnes at 10% graphite. 

"The company believes that the historic estimate is relevant to an appraisal of the merits of the property and forms a reliable basis upon which to develop future exploration programs," it said in a statement, adding that sufficient work has not yet been done to classify the historic resource as current. 

In the 1940s, Rock Tech said that a metallurgical test was carried out on a sample from the Kelly showing, with a head grade of 21.17% carbon. According to the miner, after being concentrated by floatation, 34.37% material was coarser than 0.212 millimetre (mm) size and assayed 87% carbon. 

Rock Teck inked the option agreement to acquire a 100 per cent interest in the graphite property in May, from UniMera Holding Public Ltd, as it looks to diversify its asset base in advanced technology materials.

The Quebec property consists of 32 mineral claims, covering 19.23 square kilometres in the Buckingham region of Lochaber Township, 45 kilometres to the northeast of Gatineau.

Aside from the new graphite project, the company’s portfolio includes an advanced stage lithium-bearing pegmatite project with an NI 43-101 resource estimate in the Thunder Bay mining district of Ontario, and two early stage lithium-bearing pegmatite projects in northern and western Quebec.

Lithium Americas shares gain on Talison Lithium deal

Lithium Americas stock was on the rise Thursday after specialty chemicals maker Rockwood Holdings (NYSE:ROC) said it would pay C$724 million in cash to buy Australia-basedTalison Lithium (TSE:TLH). 

Talison Lithium mines and processes lithium-bearing mineral spodumene at Greenbushes near Perth, Western Australia. The company produces a range of lithium concentrates that are distributed to a well-established global customer base, including China.

Rockwood, a NYSE-listed global specialty chemicals and advanced materials company, is paying C$6.50 cash per Talison share, a  53 per cent premium to Talison’s last closing price on August 22 of C$4.24.

"The acquisition of Talison is the logical next step in further strengthening our lithium business and enhancing our capabilities," Rockwood said. 

Rockwood, which has been betting on the increasing demand for lithium ion-based batteries, has said it expects battery-grade lithium products to show double-digit sales growth this year.

The company earlier this year said it would invest $140 million in a 20,000-metric-ton lithium production plant in Chile. 

The deal, which was approved by Talison's board, boosted the lithium sector in Toronto, with shares of Lithium Americas up 4.5 per cent this morning to $1.16 and shares of the more junior Rodinia Lithium (CVE:RM) up almost 7 per cent to 15.5 cents. 

Lithium Americas' stock is up more than 28 per cent in the last month as it recently said it received the environmental approvals for the construction of its Cauchari-Olaroz lithium-potash project in Argentina. 

Lithium Americas previously obtained definitive mining title, as well as secured long term land use agreements with the five aboriginal communities on which its Cauchari-Olaroz mine will be built.

The project proposal is now being reviewed by the provincial committee of experts for submission to the governor of Jujuy, in a bid for final construction approval - marking the final administrative step for full permitting in place. 

The company said in June the low operating cost and large brine reserves of the project compare "very favourably" to existing lithium carbonate producers, and suggest that the company has the potential to become one of the largest and lowest cost lithium operations in the world.

The property has proven and probable reserves sufficient to operate at a production rate of up to 40,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) of lithium carbonate for 40 years, the company said in June, and up to 80,000 TPA of potash, which would include an initial five year ramp-up period.

The company's plan is to build the project in two stages, with each stage consisting of a 20,000 TPA lithium carbonate facility and a 40,000 TPA potash facility.

Highlights of the base case feasibility study include a pre-tax net present value, at an 8 per cent discount rate, of US$738 million and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 23 per cent.

Net cash operating costs per tonne of lithium carbonate are seen at US$1,332. Overall project revenue is projected at US$6.6 billion and project EBITDA is pegged at US$4.3 billion.

To add to these economics and the company's confidence in the project, Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corporation and Canada-based autmotive supplier Magna International are both shareholders in Lithium Americas, with both companies having off-take arrangements with the lithium miner. 

Rodinia Lithium, meanwhile, recently wrapped up the prototype production well and drilling program at its Diablillos lithium-potash brine project in Salta, Argentina.

The company is advancing the project toward feasibility stage, completing 10 additional conventional mud rotary drill holes that totaled 1,604 metres. A prototype production well, 250 metres in depth, was also constructed. 

The company said the latest round of drilling confirmed previously announced basin lithologies and provided "definitive basin/basement contacts" where previously estimated. 

Three of the drill holes designed for pump tests in the eastern portion of the Salar encountered "strong artesian conditions", the company noted, with flow rates of up to twenty-two litres per second. 

The company's Salar de Diablillos lithium-brine project contains a recoverable resource of 2.82 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent and 11.27 million tonnes potassium chloride equivalent. 

The lithium explorer is looking to commercialize a significant potash co-product that is expected to be recoverable through the lithium harvesting process. It even closed a $4.5 million potash stream financing in late June. 

Holders of the potash stream preferred shares will be entitled to receive a cumulative, preferential cash dividend linked to the potash price and the revenue generated by the company from its Salar de Diablillos project. 

Rodinia also holds 100 per cent mineral rights to around 70,000 acres in Nevada's lithium-rich Clayton Valley in Esmeralda County, and is currently in the process of assessing the size, quality and processing alternatives of this deposit. 

TrueContext Mobile's Q2 revenue grows 75% as losses trimmed

Mobile business apps maker TrueContext Mobile Solutions(CVE:TMN) reported Thursday that second quarter sales jumped more than 75 per cent on the back of sharp increases in all revenue channels. 

For the three months that ended June 30, the maker of the ProntoForms app said it trimmed losses to $564,897, compared to a loss of $689,813 a year ago. 

Total revenue rose just over 75 per cent to $593,646. 

In early 2010, TrueContext announced its reseller partnership with AT&T for its ProntoForms app - a mobile form solution that is meant to increase business productivity by improving the quality and speed of data collected in the field. The app allows mobile workers to access business data directly on their smart phone or tablet devices.

The web management portal component of the app allows account managers to create forms, manage mobile users and access usage reports. The portal allows administrators to configure their back office system connectivity, and/or connect collected data to cloud platforms such as Dropbox, Google Docs and Microsoft SharePoint.

Subscription license revenue grew 89 per cent to $416,931 from $359,090 in the second quarter of 2011, while operator channel subscription sales, such as those from the AT&T partnership, more than doubled to $244,432. 

Second quarter services revenue rose 49 per cent to $176,715 from $118,358 in the year-earlier period. 

"Our second quarter 2012 results show continued steady growth in customers, subscribers and revenues with operator channel subscription revenue growing by 125% over last year," said CEO of TrueContext, Alvaro Pombo. 

"We are pleased that we obtained this growth while also achieving our second consecutive quarter of reduced net loss for the company."   

Pombo added that the company's primary goal is subscriber growth through established and new channels as the business is focused on optimizing the sales process with these partners. 

"We are actively diversifying and expanding our channel subscriber base and we have recently announced important new relationships with Rogers Communications and Bell in Canada.

"Additionally, we are experiencing significant interest from carriers globally. Carriers introduce ProntoForms because it's a strategic subscriber service that helps improve sales of related voice and data plans, smartphones and helps reduce customer churn."

Pombo said the marketing and sales processes that it has built with AT&T is being deployed to new partners. 

"Furthermore, our secured co-marketing partnerships with the global top four mobile smartphone brands help expand awareness and representation of our products through the mobile operator channels globally," he added.

The simple-to-add app, which does away with paperwork and redundant data entry, lets field workers fill business forms out of the office from all major mobile device platforms such as Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad, RIM's (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSE:RIM) Blackberry,Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Mobile platform.

At the end of the quarter, the company had cash and equivalents of over $1 million.             

The ProntoForms app is used by 1,800 business customers, including Toshiba and RentoKil.

Stonecap Securities ups Great Panther target price to $2

Capital markets firm Stonecap Securities (TSE:GPR) has increased its target price on Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR) to $2 from $1.80 after it acquired Mexican surface rights.

Stonecap retained its "Sector Perform" rating.

Earlier this week, Great Panther acquired surface rights for the San Ignacio project located close to its Guanajuato mine complex. In addition, the company provided a timeline and critical path for development of the project as a source of satellite feed for the Guanajuato mill.

The development of San Ignacio is key for Great Panther to get back on track toward delivering production growth from its flagship 100 per cent-owned Guanajuato mine, Stonecap said.

"Development of the San Ignacio project should allow Great Panther to get back on track in terms of production growth," Stonecap analyst Christos Doulis said in a note.

"As we had been expecting San Ignacio to enter the production queue in late 2014, Great Panther’s announcement that initial production at San Ignacio is scheduled for late 2013 has positively impacted our target price for the company’s shares."

Great Panther is a primary silver mining and exploration company focused on mining precious metals from its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico.

It also owns the development-stage property San Ignacio, and an exploration stage property, Santa Rosa, which is located approximately 15 kilometres northeast of Guanajuato.

Guerrero Exploration gets approval to issue further shares with respect to Riverside Resources agreement

Guerrero Exploration (CVE:GEX) has said that it will issue a total of 150,000 shares at a price of 6 cents each with respect to its agreement with Riverside Resources (CVE:RRI) on the Chapalota gold property in Mexico. 

Late last month, the company said that it has decided it will not pursue its option on the Chapalota property. 

In March 2011, Guerrero and Riverside inked a letter agreement whereby Guerrero could acquire a 70 per cent interest in Riverside’s Chapalota property for 1.25 million common shares, total cash payments of $200,000, and $2.25 million in exploration expenditures on the property within 36 months of the agreement.

The shares announced today, for which it received regulatory approval, will be the final issuance under that agreement, and will be subject to a 4 month hold period, Guerrero said.

The Chapalota property is located around 50 kilometres northeast of the city of Mazatlan in south-central Sinaloa, Mexico. The property covers an area of 8,073 hectares and is located on the western margin of the Sierra Madre Occidental Belt.

Last week, Guerrero said it closed its financing for a total of nearly $0.5 million in gross proceeds. The company issued a total of around 9.1 million units at 5 cents each. 

Each unit consisted of one common share and one share purchase warrant. Each warrant is good for 5 years from closing, at a price of 10 cents per common share. 

The new funds will be used for general working capital and for exploration on its properties. 

The miner said it is immediately undertaking an additional financing on the same terms of up to $600,000, to be used for the same purposes. 

Kilo Goldmines drills 5,200 metres at Imbo project

Junior resource company Kilo Goldmines (CVE:KGL) finished 27 holes and has so far drilled 5,200 metres at its Imbo project, the company said. 

The company started drilling in April on the Manzako and Kitenge prospects, and once done it said it would move two rigs to the Senegal and Canal blocks. 

Highlights from the total planned 10,000 metre diamond drill program include, two holes drilled to targeted depth along the 2,200 metre long Manzako prospect. Fifteen holes were also drilled to targeted depth along the 1,500 metre long Kitenge prospect. 

The company plans to drill 10 holes to evaluate the gold potential at the Senegal block, and 14 holes on the Canal prospect. It expects to start drilling next month.

Kilo also said soil sampling has delineated anomalous gold-in-soil values associated with the Manzako, Kitenge and Senegal prospects. Twenty samples returned values between 1060 and 1960 parts per billion of gold (1.06 and 1.96 g/t Au respectively). 

The northwest-trending Manzako gold-in-soils zone is continuous over at least a 2.3 km strike length and covers 12.5 hectares, while the combined northwest-trending Kitenge-Senegal gold-in-soils zones cover 42.7 hectares over a 2.6 km strike length.

In addition, a "large, virtually untested 14.42 ha area with elevated and anomalous gold-in-soil values" has been discovered between Manzako and Kitenge in at least 10 northwest-trending targets, it added.

Kilo said soil sampling and geological mapping is focused on areas showing de-magnetization as well as linear magnetic structures to delineate new drill targets.

The Manzako prospect, which was mined for gold in the 1940s and 1950s, is now being tested for several parallel structures with current drilling focused on a 1,600 metre strike length with a 160 metre space drill hole toward the southwest.

Twelve holes, to date, have been completed to a target depth delivering some 2,270 metres of drill core, the company said.

Gold mining started on the Kitenge block in 1942, while historical records show production at Manzako and Kitenge totalled 80,000 gold ounces. 

At Kitenge, drilling is targeting a 1,500 metre strike length of a gold-bearing structure with holes toward the southwest. 

Most of the drill holes, however, have also intersected mineralized quartz veins and Kilo plans to report results when assays become available. 

These Manzako and Kitenge, Senegal and Canal prospects fall within a 5 kilometre radius of the company's Adumbi resource, and collectively form the Imbo project. The Imbo project resides on one (PE9691) of the eight properties that Kilo has exploitation rights for, and forms part of the greater Somituri project.

There are plans to complete soil sampling programs on all eight permits in 2012.

Kilo Goldmines is a Canadian gold explorer that has over 7,000 square kilometres of Archaean Kabalian greenstone in the Kilo-Moto area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Great Western Minerals CEO Engdahl gives corporate update

Great Western Minerals' (CVE:GWG)(OTCQX:GWMGF) CEO Jim Engdahl gave an update on corporate events on a conference call Wednesday.

Engdahl said the company continued to be well positioned as a fully integrated rare earths producer.

At the company's Steenkampskraal rare earth project in South Africa, refurbishment at the surface program is virtually completed. In the exploration component, drill crews are making steady progress within the property, he said.

In light of recent events elsewhere in South Africa, Great Western's Engdahl said that company's operations were very far removed from the Johannesburg mining region and that the company was following a strategy of actively engaging with local communities. South Africa's black economic empowerment regulations will ensure that their employees will be financial benificiaries in the success of Steenkampskraal, Engdahl said.

Great Western's David Kennedy said the company operates in a region that was very different from the highly unionized and politicized mining region of South Africa. 

"We're quite a different animal to the platinum mines in the Johannesburg region."

Regarding its UK unit Less Common Metals, Engdahl said a new strip-cast furnace was being tested and expects first commercial shipments for clients "very quickly" after a series of test runs. A second strip-cast furnace is due to arrive on site by the end of the year.

Earlier this year Engdahl said he would stand down as CEO. A board committee is currently in discussion with several candidates but Engdahl didn't say when any annoucement would be made. 

"The right person will be an execution person to take the company to the next level," he said.

As for the upcoming reverse stock split, Engdahl said the company would only move ahead with this if it received full shareholder support. 

Commenting on cash burn, CFO Jim Davidson said cash burn was "historically in line" at around $700,000 to $800,000 per month. 

Second-quarter earnings are due for release on August 29.

SilverCrest Mines to begin trading on US-based NYSE MKT exchange

SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL)(OTCQX:STVZF) said Wednesday that its shares have been approved for listing on the NYSE MKT in New York. 

The shares will begin trading on the US exchange on August 27 under the trading symbol "SVLC". 

SilverCrest's shares will also continue to be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "SVL". 

"This NYSE MKT listing represents another significant milestone in SilverCrest's growth," said company president, J. Scott Drever. 

"The listing is expected to provide greater trading accessibility for investors in the United States and internationally." 

The silver producer operates in Mexico with its headquarters based in Vancouver, BC. 

Its flagship property is the 100 per cent-owned Santa Elena Mine, which is located 150 kilometres northeast of Hermosillo, near Banamichi in the State of Sonora, Mexico. 

SilverCrest anticipates that the 2,500 tonnes per day facility should recover around 4.8 million ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase. 

A three year expansion plan is underway to double metals production at the project, and exploration programs are advancing the definition of a large polymetallic deposit at the La Joya property in Durango, Mexico. 

Last week, the company posted a sharp increase in earnings for the second quarter as cash operating costs declined and revenues nearly doubled year-over-year. 

For the quarter that ended June 30, comprehensive earnings amounted to $9.2 million, or 10 cents per share, way up from $0.8 million, or 1 cent per share, a year ago. 

The increase was driven by higher silver and gold sales volumes, and a positive marked-to-market derivative impact, the company said, partially offset by lower realized precious metal prices and a higher tax expense.

Cash flow from operations more than doubled in the quarter to $7.2 million, from $2.9 million a year earlier.     

Revenues rose 87 per cent to $16.0 million on sales of 124,739 silver ounces and 8,679 gold ounces. 

Meanwhile, cash operating cost per silver equivalent ounce sold decreased 16 per cent to $6.94 - below the company's budget of $8.20 per ounce. The decline was due to a sharp increase in production volumes, crusher throughput and gold to silver ratio.