Resources Top 5: Forrestania a star performer with up to 25.6g/t gold
New results include the highest gold intercept seen at Ada Ann from Forrestania drilling
White Cliff Minerals continues to ride high after a 175m intersection at 2.5% Cu from 7.6m
Jameson has updated economic outcomes of a BFS for the Crown Mountain coal project in Canada
Your standout resources stocks for Friday, May 9, 2025
Forrestania Resources (ASX:FRS)
Golden drilling results from Ada Ann prospect at the Bonnie Vale Project near Coolgardie in WA's prolific Eastern Goldfields have made Forrestania Resources a star performer.
Shares were as much as 54% above the previous close at a daily high of 6c and it has been a steady move northward for FRS from 0.9c on February 5, 2025.
1m drilling results from the second phase of drilling at Ada Ann have returned more encouragement after the first stage defined strong, consistent, high-grade gold with grades up to 21g/t.
They have confirmed consistent mineralised structures at Ada Ann and include the highest gold intercept seen at Ada Ann from FRS drilling – 25.6g/t gold - and the second highest ever intercepted at the prospect confirming the high-grade potential.
The second phase of 14 RC holes for 1017m returned best results of:
7m at 4.3g/t gold from 72m, including 1m at 25.6g/t;
3m at 7.8g/t from 74m, including 1m at 22.2g/t; and
3m at 5.9g/t from 82m, including 1m at 16g/t and 2m at 3.6g/t from 70m.
The Ada Ann footprint has been extended ~60m south and ~30m north of historical mineralisation and it remains open at depth and along strike in both directions. The strike of gold mineralisation has increased to ~310m.
'These 1m results from Ada Ann are highly significant, with grades up to 26g/t Au, underlining the high-grade potential of the system. Pleasingly, we are seeing some thickening of the mineralised zones at depth,' Forrestania Resources' chairman John Hannaford said.
'The drill program extended the known mineralised zones to the north and south and the prospect continues to remain open in all directions.
'We look forward to coming back to drilling at the Bonnie Vale project later in the year.'
With the Au mineralisation continuing to extend north and south, the company is hopeful of extending the mineralisation in both directions and increasing the strike extent with further drilling.
The company will now focus its attention on drilling at the Lady Lila prospect, whilst continuing analysis and planning for further drilling at Ada Ann and the Bonnie Vale project.
White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN)
A string of positive news from its projects in Canada's remote northwest, and particularly in relation to copper, has driven White Cliff Minerals to a new high of more than eight years.
The company has reached 37c, an increase of 23.34% on the previous close on volume exceeding 158m. WCN has surged 185% from 1.3c on April 9.
Most of the good news has come from the Rae copper project with the latest being a 175m intersection at 2.5% Cu from 7.6m while the nearby Great Bear project has also delivered encouraging survey results pointing to IOCG and epithermal potential.
Results from Rae on Tuesday increased the spotlight on WCN and have seen it as one of the week's best performers.
The 175m hit in hole DAN25008 also included 8.66g/t silver with a sub-section of 14m at 7.55% copper and 25.8g/t silver from 138m.
This hole averaged 3.9% copper and 14.96g/t silver in the last 60m to the final depth of 182.88m and it ended in mineralisation with the last 1.5m sample returning 4.46% copper and 11.58g/t silver.
'We believe this drill hole ranks among the most significant copper intersections globally within the last 50 years and comfortably sits within the top 10 globally reported 'grade-metre' copper results,' WCN managing director Troy Whittaker said.
Another hole, DAN25001, returned 52m at 1.16% copper and 3.43g/t silver from surface, including 7.6m at 3% copper and 9.5g/t silver from 18.28m.
The Rae project is home to a number of historical non-JORC and 'blue sky' resource estimates, as well as up to 64.02% copper from rock chip assays indicating widespread outcropping copper throughout the 805km2 licensed area.
It represents a district-scale opportunity at the pre-discovery stage, underpinned by the presence of high-grade volcanic-hosted copper-silver lodes and the prospect of a large tonnage sedimentary hosted copper deposit.
Follow up diamond drilling is being planned to drill out the mineralisation boundaries at Danvers, while the next five assays along strike from DAN25008 are due in the coming weeks.
Jameson Resources (ASX:JAL)
Revised capital and operating costs and coal price assumptions have enabled Jameson Resources to update the economic outcomes of a bankable feasibility study (BFS) for the Crown Mountain hard coking coal project in the Elk Valley of British Columbia, Canada.
Results confirm that increased coal price forecasts arising from concern about reduced supply of premium steelmaking coal significantly outweigh any capital and operating cost increases that have occurred since the BFS was completed in July 2020.
Using the updated economic inputs, the review resulted in an estimated increase to pre-production capital (without contingency) of 28% to US$394m and a 15% increase in cash operating costs (FOB Vancouver) from US$89.41/t in the Yield Optimisation Study to US$102.79/t.
The outcome of the increases to capital and operating costs and coal price forecasts resulted in an overall 200% increase in pre-tax NPV10 from US$469m in the Yield Optimisation Study to US$942m.
'The feasibility update has indicated significant increases to the project's high-level economics,' Jameson's chair Nicole Hollows said.
"With the continued progress of the Environmental Assessment process, this update highlights the advanced position of the project compared with greenfield projects in Canada, Australia or other key producer locations.
"There has been more than US$20 billion in steelmaking coal M&A in the last year highlighting that existing producers have limited options for organic growth.
'Crown Mountain's position as the most advanced steelmaking coal project in Canada and its substantial underlying value is further enhanced by the feasibility update which demonstrates the project's cost competitiveness compared to current and planned production.
'Continued progress of the regulatory process will enable the project to be developed to meet the identified shortfall in premium steelmaking coal supply in the medium and long term.'
As a result of the positive review, Jameson's shares were one-third higher to 4c.
Aureka (ASX:AKA)
The appointment of a world-class exploration manager by Aureka (ASX:AKA) is expected to provide new impetus as it advances a suite of advanced stage high-grade gold projects across Victoria.
As well as significant experience gained during more than 25 years in the field and the last four years as Barrick Gold's exploration manager, Jozef Story brings to Aureka the benefit of more than 12 years focused on numerous Victorian gold projects including early-stage Fosterville exploration.
The appointment adds increased experience to Aureka's existing technical team with project assessment, exploration, planning and execution skills.
While at Barrick, Story was responsible for managing, developing and exploring that company's entire +5000km2 exploration portfolio throughout Tanzania.
'We are delighted to have secured and to welcome a senior exploration manager with such credentials, to our already talented team at Aureka, which recognises the significance of our portfolio of existing and future discoveries,' AKA managing director James Gurry said.
'Jozef's time with Barrick and other projects globally, along with his experience with successful Victorian projects, ensures we have the very best opportunity for Aureka's success and growth.'
Aureka's current contract exploration manager Peter de Vries will continue to consult to the company through his firm Geological, Educational & Mining Services (G.E.M.S) P/L.
While Story takes responsibility for exploration strategy, de Vries will continue to oversee the practical elements of the Irvine and St Arnaud drilling programs.
"I'd also like to thank Peter de Vries for his efforts in getting Aureka back drilling after its 2-year hiatus,' Gurry said.
The company's shares reached 14,5c, a 31.82% increase on the previous close.
Augustus Minerals (ASX:AUG)
Augustus Minerals has been as much as 40.7% higher to 4.5c after executing a binding share purchase agreement to acquire ACM International's ACM Contract Mining PNG Ltd, a PNG company with a valid third in line licence application for the Mt Kare gold project.
Two earlier applications for the advanced PNG project made by unrelated third parties for the same project area will be considered prior to ACMPNG's application.
Mt Kare, which is about 600km northwest of Port Morseby and 145km west of Mt Hagen, is prospective for gold and silver, hosting a historical JORC 2004 mineral resource of 43Mt at 1.5 g/t Au for 2.1 Moz Au and 18 Moz Ag.
Nearly 75% of this is in the higher confidence measured and indicated category, based on 454 diamond drill holes for 73,639m as at July 2013.
This historical estimate has not been reported in accordance with the JORC Code 2012.
The total consideration payable by Augustus under the acquisition is $250,000 in cash, excluding GST.
As the application has not yet been granted and is contested ACMPNG does not have an actual or contingent right to undertake exploration and development activities, or to exploit the historical resource estimate and there is no guarantee that the application will lead to a licence being granted over the project.
Based on ongoing due diligence investigations, the company understands that in excess of $2 million has been spent by ACM to date in relation to the application process.
The company also understands that ACMPNG has approximately $80,000 (in PNG Kina) in funds available, resulting in the effective purchase price being approximately $170,000.
The board of the company considers that the quality of the Mt Kare project places it as one of the premier gold development opportunities in the Australasia-Pacific Region.
Following completion of the acquisition, Augustus intends to actively pursue the application and grant of an exploration licence.
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News.com.au
33 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Experts back NSW Premier Chris Minns' plea for cigarette tax cut despite opposition
NSW Premier Chris Minns says law-abiding citizens are being 'dragged into the black market' by the federal government's tobacco tax – and he wants that to change. Mr Minns threw down the gauntlet this week when he called for a re-evaluation of the tobacco excise, kicking-off political rows in both Sydney and Canberra. Twice yearly, the federal government sets the excise for tobacco products but in this year's budget recorded a $5.2bn decline in revenue since 2022-23. The NSW Premier has pointed the finger at illicit sales at tobacconists, some 5000 of which have opened up across NSW over the past few years. 'There's a whole bunch of law-abiding people who wouldn't break the law in a million years,' Mr Minns said. 'But, they're being dragged into a black market where they go to the store and they can either buy a $17 packet of illegal cigarettes or a $60 packet of cigarettes. 'It's a no-brainer.' Despite pushback, Mr Minns said every tax change started with 'an idea from someone who calls out a policy that's no longer fit for purpose'. 'So, let's get the ball rolling here because these illegal tobacco stores are pushing out hot bread shops, small businesses and restaurants. 'Because the sales from illegal tobacco are so lucrative, they can just pay the rent at a higher price. 'Something's gone amiss here and we need to have a crack at fixing it alongside our federal colleagues.' Mr Minns earlier signalled that police resources may have to be moved from domestic violence and organised crime to combat illicit tobacco. Mr Minns said the situation was 'intolerable', with 'every to-let shop in every high street in Sydney taken over by a tobacconist'. 'The biggest supporters of a massive excise on tobacco sales in NSW are probably organised criminals,' he said. 'It's a giant black market and major display on every street in every suburb in NSW.' No easy answers On Wednesday, federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers ruled out any change to the excise, saying making cigarettes cheaper wouldn't solve the issue of the booming illegal tobacco trade. In NSW, there are about 19,500 tobacco stores across the state – up from 14,500 a few years earlier – that are overseen by only about 30 health inspectors. A parliamentary inquiry into illicit tobacco sales, pushed for by the NSW opposition, will later this year examine which agency is best suited to the task. Until now, Liberal leader Mark Speakman has remained mum on whether NSW Police should takeover illicit tobacco enforcement from NSW Health. On Thursday, Mr Speakman said illicit tobacco had exploded under Mr Minns and organised criminal gangs were 'raking in big money'. 'They know NSW has minimal enforcement and some of the weakest penalties in the country,' Mr Speakman said. 'While other states have acted to drastically increase penalties and improve enforcement, Chris Minns has been missing in action. 'Now that the federal Treasurer has ruled out changes to the federal excise, Chris Minns needs to tell people how he is going to tackle this issue.' Under law, an individual found to be selling a prohibited tobacco product faces a maximum fine of $55,000 for a first offence. Those laws will change on July 1 when a new tobacco licensing scheme is introduced, requiring businesses to obtain a tobacco retailing licence. Businesses found to be selling tobacco products without a licence will face fines of up to $220,000 and $44,000 for an individual. Nonetheless, the issue sparked a fierce debate in NSW parliament on Wednesday between Mr Speakman and Police Minister Yasmin Catley. Asked about whether anti-gang Taskforce Falcon will expand its remit to illicit tobacco, Ms Catley struck out. 'The leader of the opposition knows that it is Health that enforce illicit tobacco. He knows that,' she said. 'And, he has come in here and has the audacity to come in here and say the police are not doing their job. Well, shame on you. Shame on you. 'NSW Police are doing absolutely everything they can and I am disgusted that the leader of the opposition could come to the NSW parliament and suggest otherwise.' For his part, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has pointed the finger at the former Coalition government for not earlier introducing a licensing scheme. What do the experts say? Over the past six years, the duty price put on a 20-pack of cigarettes has gone up by about 75 per cent – from $16 to $28. As a result, the price of a packet at the counter sits about $40-50, with the cheapest little more than $30. Illicit cigarettes, meanwhile, cost about $13-15 per 20-pack and up to $20 for premium brands. University of Sydney School of Public Health researcher Edward Jegasothy supported Mr Minns' comments on the tobacco excise. He said there was no solution to the prevalence of illicit tobacco without a re-examination of the 'punitive' policy. 'There's really no ethical basis for the policy because it's essentially just a punitive policy attack on the poor,' he said. Mr Jegasothy said the policy had failed to demonstrate any 'meaningful health benefits and certainly no equitable health benefits'. 'I can't see a solution that doesn't have involve bringing down the tax,' he said. 'It has to be part of the solution … because it is essentially putting more holes in the bottom of the boat.' Mr Jegasothy said the belief that the excise, in increasing the cost of cigarettes, would reduce rates of smoking 'didn't hold water'. With rates of smoking higher among poor and marginalised groups, he instead encouraged solutions that addressed the root causes, 'which is largely poverty'. He urged for a review of the excise as a public health policy, including up until the explosion of black market sales in the early 2020s. That explosion, Mr Jegasothy suggested, came as a result of a combination of factors, including the cumulative impact of the excise and a tightening on loose leaf tobacco. The Australian Association of Convenience Stores has also backed Mr Minns' call for a rethink of the tobacco excise. Chief executive Theo Foukkare said it was 'extraordinary that it's gotten to this point'. 'Tobacco is a price-sensitive consumer product,' he said. 'If you put a price on it that is manifestly higher than what people can afford, they'll find a cheaper alternative and that's where this incredibly dangerous black market is cashing in – and even worse, they're using that money to fund the most atrocious crimes.' What about other states? NSW is far from the only state or territory in Australia where the issue of illicit tobacco has become a hot-button topic in recent years. In Victoria, police have continuingly battled the so-called tobacco wars, conflict between organised crime groups during which stores have been burned. According to Victoria Police, there were about 1300 stand-alone tobacco stores in the state – of these, 1000 sell some kind of illicit tobacco. From July 1, business caught possessing or selling an illicit tobacco product in Victoria face fines of up to $1.7m. For an individual, that penalty is about $830,000 or 15 years in prison. Further north, Queensland Health seized more than 15.2 million illicit cigarettes worth $12.2m across the state between July 1, 2024 and February 28, 2025. Mr Jegasothy said outside of NSW and Victoria, there was little publicly available information about the prevalence of illicit tobacco.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Aldi is known for drawing inspiration from big brands. Here's how experts say the retailer does it
It's no secret that Aldi, the supermarket chain that once had the slogan "like brands, only cheaper", sells products visually similar to well-established competitors. In the cereal aisle of each store, brown boxes of Power Grain are reminiscent of their Kellogg's counterpart, and in the snack aisle packets of Blackstone chips appear to draw inspiration from Red Rock Deli. In the US, blue boxes of Aldi-brand cream-filled biscuits are so similar to Oreos that the company behind the snack giant is suing the supermarket for "blatant copying". It's not the first time the chain has landed in legal trouble over its cheaper, duplicated private-label brands. In Australia, there have been several legal cases against Aldi. But intellectual property and consumer experts are not worried about this case creating legal implications for Australian consumers, who they say are largely unphased by Aldi's "phantom labels". "Ultimately the key reason they [Aldi] do this is about visual congruence," retail expert Gary Mortimer said. "So, when we're shopping in a supermarket, it's historically a mundane, habitual, low-involvement decision-making context. 'You walk down an aisle and you think Cadbury is purple. They [consumers] are influenced by pack colour, brand name or packaging shape." Professor Mortimer said when a consumer saw a product similar to another brand's, they might infer it was the same. "What the danger is, is a customer goes, 'Well, actually, their cereal is just as good as the Kellogg's version,'" he said. "Brands themselves spend a lot of money ensuring their brand is high quality. "Then a new player enters with a private label that looks very similar and, therefore, all of that positioning you've done with that product, the private label takes advantage of that position. "Brands would be concerned about that." Professor Mortimer said the private Aldi label was perceived as higher value than, say, the Coles or Woolworths generic-brands. "You won't get Aldi-brand biscuits, you'll get Belmont." In fact, they are so popular, other chains are taking a leaf out of the Aldi playbook, creating their own, cheaper, private brands. He said Woolworths and Coles had created private labels that sold cleaning products and pet food. "To some point, supermarkets understand we won't feed our dog Woolworths pet food but we might feed them a cheaper brand like Baxter's, which is actually Woolworths owned." With Choice ranking Aldi as the cheapest supermarket in Australia in its past five surveys, legal experts say the occasional legal challenges Aldi faces for sailing "close to the wind" with its packaging and branding are largely justified. While Aldi has faced legal challenges in Australia in the past over its packaging and the likeness of its products to rivals, the University of Sydney's Fady Aoun says it is far more challenging to take Aldi to court here. The senior lecturer in intellectual property law said this was because Australia's legal systems were vastly different to those in the US, for instance. "In the realm of trademark law and other forms of forms of policing commercial practices, American law is vastly different to Australian law," he said. "And, in addition to trademark infringement, they have something called unfair competition, which Australian law doesn't adopt "Their trademark law is far more protective of arguably trading interests and goes further than the Australian law in this respect." But there are several ways legal action can be pursued. Last year in Australia the company Hampden Holdings and Lacorium Health Australia successfully sued Aldi Foods for breach of copyright in relation to children's food products. Hampden licenses intellectual property to Every Bite Counts, which sells children's food products under Baby Bellies, Little Bellies and Mighty Bellies, which are sold in Australia. In 2018 and 2019, Aldi engaged the company Motor Design to re-design the packaging for its baby food and product range. The case found that in April 2019, Aldi instructed Motor Design to reuse the Little Bellies brand as the "benchmark" for the re-design of the packaging for its Mamia dry food range. The packaging and labelling were put side by side in court documents to highlight how similar each looked. "Aldi, they sail close to the wind," Dr Aoun said. "They sometimes overstep the mark. Other times they're just short of what is impermissible. "I suspect there is a strong legal department there and that's their business mode." The court found Hampden and Lacorium's owned the packaging designs. Aldi is currently appealing against the court decision. It was approached for comment. "The typical claims in Australia here are trademark infringement, misleading and deceptive conduct and — much more difficult — the common law action of 'passing off'," Dr Aoun said. "Hampden is just a company that holds IP rights and they are the holder of the copyright," Jane Rawlings, an intellectual property barrister said. "So they weren't suing on the trademark; they were suing on the look of the packaging, how it presents itself to consumers. "That was successful because the court had found Aldi had deliberately modelled their snacks on the Baby Bellies." Separately, Aldi won a federal court appeal in 2018 against a deceptive conduct ruling over hair care products brought against the supermarket chain by Moroccanoil Israel. Dr Rawlings said this was harder to prove. "You have to show there is reputational goodwill in the brand, and in this purpose it is by using a similar name, brand or look that misleads consumers and that damages the goodwill of the brand because they're being diverted to a cheaper alternative or because the brand owner is losing sales," she said. "You have to still prove the conduct has been deceptive and what Aldi do is tread a fine line where they've got a lookalike brand but it's not enough to argue consumers are being misled." In the UK in 2023, Cider producer Thatcher's successfully won a legal battle against Aldi, claiming it "copycatted" its Cloudy Lemon Cider in "taste and appearance". This was a lookalike trademark case that argued Aldi's Taurus drink had been "deliberately riding on the coat-tails" of the cider company's reputation as a brand. Dr Rawlings said she believed registering a brand as a trademark was one of the best ways to protect it. "To be honest, and if I were a brand owner trying to protect the look of packaging, I'd be looking very seriously at trademarking registration because it's relatively cheap and then you can basically sue on the trademark registration." Ultimately, experts agree the impact on consumers is relatively low. "What Aldi will typically say is our consumers are not confused [and that] while they may draw inspiration from leading brands there's no confusion people know what they're getting," Dr Aoun said.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Hawthorn: Home inspected by 200 people snapped up
A Hawthorn apartment inspected by hundreds of buyers has been snapped up by a purchaser who made a dramatic entrance to the auction. On Saturday, the two-bedroom home at 2/51 Denham St went under the hammer after being checked out by more than 200 buyer groups. The Agency Victoria's Luke Saville said that apart from the stylish and light-filled interiors, many buyers were attracted to the property because it is part of a company share title. This essentially means the 10-unit complex, where the apartment is located, is considered a company which homeowners buy into by purchasing a tenth of a share in the entire building and land. Nowadays, this is a rare arrangement with most modern apartments on strata titles. A mix of mainly first-home buyer couples and singles were interested in the home which went to auction with four bidders, starting with a $470,000 bid. Mr Saville said that one of the buyers, a woman who has sold her family home, had decided on Friday that she no longer wanted to bid. The woman was also in Perth, meaning she would miss the auction. However, the buyer contacted her daughter on Saturday, asking her to get to the auction within 30 minutes – as the mother had changed her mind and wanted the apartment. The daughter, who was out cycling, raced home and jumped in her car to get to the auction to bid on behalf of her mum. 'She got there five minutes into the auction, bid and bought,' Mr Saville said. The property ended up selling for $565,000, a sum $35,000 higher than the $530,000 reserve. Despite the rain, about 60 onlookers turned out to watch the auction. Further out of the city, a four-bedroom house at 16 Diamond Creek Rd, Greensborough, also went under the hammer on Saturday. Set on 859sq m, the home features three bathrooms, a lounge room with a timber-lined cathedral ceiling and two decks with views across the surrounding trees. Jellis Craig Greensborough and Hurstbridge's Daniel Cobern said more than 100 people had inspected the property. Two bidders contested the auction, with the house selling for $765,000 after being placed on the market at $760,000. 'A young couple bought while the underbidder was looking to do a renovation and flip,' Mr Cobern said. The buyers liked the home's size and location near parklands, public transport and Greensborough Plaza, he added.
