D3 returns to South Africa testing; Astral expands Theia drilling to 21 holes; Surefire plans 15m buy-back; Dalaroo copper hits 284 ppm; D3 flow tests pending.
Alpha Score of 55 reflects moderate overall profile with strong momentum, weak value, weak quality, moderate sentiment.
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (ASX: XSO) ended Friday at 3,517.10, down 24.30 points, or 0.69%. Across the past five sessions the benchmark lost 27.00 points, or 0.76%.
Four ASX-listed juniors released operational and corporate updates, spanning helium and gas drilling in South Africa, gold exploration near Kalgoorlie, a proposed share buy-back and copper-nickel-PGE soil sampling.
D3 Energy Ltd (ASX:D3E) expects drilling crews to return to its 100%-owned ER315 permit in South Africa's Free State after bad weather interrupted the Nooitgedacht two-well program. Both wells, NGT245 E and NGT245 D, had reached total depth before operations were suspended and the crew demobilised. The company said operations should resume as planned and remain within budget.
Once the crew is back, D3 will run and cement production casing in both wells, then drill out the cement plugs and clean up each well bore. D3 said production testing at NGT245 E could begin in the coming weeks, subject to those steps. The testing program includes flow testing and gas sample compositional analysis. Results will be released once available.
Astral Resources NL (ASX:AAR) reported assays from three more diamond drill holes at the Theia deposit within its 100%-owned Mandilla Gold Project, about 70 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. A diamond rig continues to test the Theia Deeps area for extensions below the current mineral resource estimate. Astral said the program was designed to establish the potential broader scale of the Theia mineral system. Astral has expanded the program to 21 holes for around 11,000 metres. Additional holes are planned to test high-grade extensions to the existing resource at depth and along strike.
Surefire Resources NL (ASX:SRN) intends to undertake an on-market share buy-back of up to 15 million ordinary shares, representing around 8.3% of its fully paid shares on issue. At the previous closing price, Surefire estimated the cash cost of buying the full 15 million shares at about $345,000. Executive chair Vladimir Nikolaenko said the board believed the current share price did not reflect the underlying value of the company's assets and viewed the buy-back as an opportunity to acquire shares at a discount.
Dalaroo Metals Ltd (ASX:DAL) completed Stage 1 of a systematic soil sampling program at the Watheroo copper-nickel-PGE prospect within its 100%-owned Watheroo Project in Western Australia's mid-north wheatbelt. The program comprised 106 soil samples designed to test extensions of previously identified historical copper and nickel soil anomalies. Results extended the copper-in-soil geochemical response south of the historical sampling area. Dalaroo said the interpreted area enclosed by the 40 parts per million copper contour covers around 2 square kilometres. Stage 1 sampling returned peak values of 284 parts per million copper and 176 parts per million nickel.
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