Coiled up tighter than a spring, page-12

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Pacifico latest small cap to get set, ready for post-COVID-19 Pacifico Minerals (ASX: PMY) has shown investors it will be ready to hit the ground running with a stronger base metals project once COVID-19 restrictions relax after bolstering its flagship Sorby Hills lead-silver-zinc project in WA's Kimberley. The acquisition of the newly granted Eight Mile Creek tenement, at no material cost to Pacifico, adds a further 30km strike of near-surface prospective ground just south of Sorby Hills. Pacifico is completing an optimised pre-feasibility study for Sorby Hills, which lies 50km north-east of Kununurra and already has a mineral resource of 36 million tonnes grading 4.9% lead (including silver credits) and 0.5% zinc. The Perth junior became the latest small cap this week to make clear to investors it was not letting the grass grow under its steel-caps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding the impact of restrictions brought about by the pandemic - in Pacifico's case, travel bans in the Kimberley - and generally negative capital markets conditions, Pacifico is using the time to bolster the quality of Sorby Hills to be in a better position post-pandemic to join the economic recovery process. News of Pacifico's Eight Mile Creek tenement acquisition came as St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) told investors it was finalising details for the next drilling campaign at Mt Alexander, Australia's best new high-grade nickel sulphide discovery, to target new discoveries alongside the four existing finds. St George has excited investors with positive outcomes from magnetotelluric and audio-magnetotelluric surveys at Mt Alexander, near Leonora in WA's Goldfields, which will help define the next drilling plan. Magmatic Resources (ASX: MAG) has just completed drilling of its first diamond hole at the exciting Lady Ilse gold-copper porphyry target in the East Lachlan region of NSW, next to Alkane Resources' (ASX: ALK) Boda discovery. The Lady Ilse deep hole - at 1014.8m - was a success after intersecting porphyry style mineralisation in the predicted target zone. Investors are now eagerly awaiting the assays results, due next month. Focus Minerals' (ASX: FML) priority is to advance the 100%-owned Laverton Gold Project and become WA's newest gold producer. However, it also continues to add value to its Coolgardie Gold Project and this week released results from a 15-hole reverse circulation campaign that returned hits including 45m at 3.15gpt from 63m at the Brilliant North. It is not just the smarter mineral explorers who, undeterred by the tough macro conditions, are adding value to their projects. Triangle Energy (ASX: TEG), one of only a handful of listed small-cap oil producers, told investors this week it had completed the Cliff Head Renewal Project. The renewal work confirmed three key priority drilling targets - Mentelle Updip, West High and SE Nose - that can be drilled and developed from the Cliff Head Alpha platform to further increase output and extend the life of this near-coast asset near Dongara, north of Perth. Triangle managing director Rob Towner said the next step would be to start well planning for "these drilling opportunities (that) provide a cause of optimism for the long-term future of the Cliff Head asset". Triangle, which has successfully adjusted its cost base to counter the weak oil price, this week also updated its assessment of Cliff Head's best-estimate (2C) contingent resource to 3.52 million barrels and the best-estimate prospective resource for production licence WA-31-L to 9.46 million barrels. The extent of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear. At the International Monetary Fund’s April 2020 World Economic Outlook Press Briefing, economic counsellor and director of research Gita Gopinath said large-scale stimulus and investment would be key to recovery. “Once the recovery happens and we are past the pandemic phase, for advanced economies, it would be essential to undertake a broad-based fiscal stimulus,” Ms Gopinath said “And this would be even more effective if it were coordinated across all the advanced economies across the world”.