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Gold and oil both were higher as the US dollar weakened. Gold was up by $6.90 at $900.50/oz and crude oil was up $1.05 at $50.73/bbl.
Regal Resources Limited (RER) is pleased to announce, its subsidiary Magma, has signed an agreement with the landowners who hold title over the Oak Park location who have agreed to grant Magma exclusive and unimpeded access to the site where the Pilot Test for the Underground Coal To Liquids (UCTL) is planned to occur.
The agreement is for a 12 month period and gives Magma sufficient time to complete construction works and the active operation phase to undertake the UCTL Pilot Test, which is anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009. The UCTL Pilot Test will be aiming to determine the commercial applications of converting low rank coals (brown coal/lignite) into long chain hydrocarbons (crude oil) in an “in situ” location. This avoids traditional methods of mining or removing coal from the coal seam environment and treating such coals at surface within capital and energy intensive plants. The UCTL process intends to extract the crude oil products from within the coal seam utilizing conventional and widely accessible oil extraction techniques.
The Oak Park location has five existing wells that are in good condition for testing of the UCTL process and were drilled and completed during 2002 as part of a coal seam methane test at this site. The wells have been well maintained and will require little or no modification for use in the UCTL Pilot Test. Regal is currently a 20% shareholder in Magma however shareholder approval is currently being sought (late May 2009) for Magma to become a 100% fully owned subsidiary of Regal.
Cardiac catheter manufacturer CathRx Limited (CXD) today announced the John Hunter Hospital had joined its Australian clinical trial to gather data for Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval for its quadrapolar and decapolar diagnostic catheters. John Hunter Hospital is a leading teaching hospital and major cardiology and cardiac surgery centre. CathRx’s Australian approval trial began at Westmead Hospital in Sydney in November 2008.
CathRx Chief Executive Officer Neil Anderson said that while the catheters had already been on sale in Europe, the Australian trial was being conducted to enable CathRx to file for Australian approvals. The protocol at John Hunter Hospital calls for use of CathRx’s diagnostic catheters undergoing electrophysiology procedures that require the use of diagnostic catheters. There will be an equal number of CathRx and control patients. The primary end-point is a confirmation of diagnostic capability.
CathRx is a medical device company which manufactures and sells advanced cardiac catheter systems for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. CathRx’s proprietary diagnostic and therapeutic catheters are designed to give physicians the tools to successfully treat patients with speed, safety and precision. CathRx’s first diagnostic products are now on sale in Europe.
Straits Resources (SRL) is pleased to announce financial close of its strategic alliance with the PTT Group of Companies via the sale of a 60% interest in SRL’s wholly owned subsidiary, Straits Bulk & Industrial (SBI), for up to US$335 million as announced to the market on 23 March 2009.
The strategic alliance between SRL and PTT will deliver the following benefits:
SRL has received the upfront cash completion payment of US$220 million from PTT. The remaining performance payment of up to US$115 million relates to certain matters in connection with reserve upgrades in relation to the mine located on Sebuku Island, South Kalimantan, Indonesia controlled and operated by SAR or as otherwise agreed between PTT and SRL. The performance payment is expected to be realized during 2009. Following receipt of the US$220 million cash proceeds, SRL has repaid the A$45 million Debt Facility provided by ANZ and Macquarie Bank Limited in full. The Board of SRL is currently reviewing the funding requirements of SRL going forward. As previously foreshadowed, SRL expects to return approximately one fifth of the total consideration received by SRL from the transaction to shareholders.
The US markets closed lower last night after a volatile session. The Dow was down by 8 points or 0.1% at 8016, the S&P500 was down 2 points or 0.2% at 855 and the Nasdaq was down 5 points or 0.3% at 1673.
Gold and oil both were lower. Gold was down by $14.60 at $893.6/oz and crude oil settled down $0.67 at $49.25/bbl.
LogiCamms Limited (LCM) is delighted to announce it has been awarded a contract by Thiess Kentz to provide the Process Control & Monitoring System works at the Edinburgh RAAF facilities Hardened and Networked Army project in South Australia. This project is LogiCamms most significant defence contract win and strengthens the company’s credentials in the defence sector. The contract value for LogiCamms is in excess of $2 million.
LogiCamms Managing Director, Adam Keats commented, “This project is a very strategic win for our company as it demonstrates our ability to competitively service the growing defence industry. This is important and timely for our company as the multi-billion dollar Air Warfare Destroyer contract in Adelaide is gaining momentum and we anticipate this will create new opportunities for our company.”
LogiCamms is an industry leading national electrical engineering and control Systems Company servicing the Infrastructure, Energy & U utilities and Resources sectors. LogiCamms currently provides a wide range of electrical engineering services along with specialized design, implementation and support of control systems. This work is highly specialized and involves the understanding and integration of multiple system components to deliver a fit for purpose solution which reliably and efficiently delivers on client’s operational needs.
Computronics Holdings Ltd (CPS) has successfully negotiated with South America’s largest agricultural machinery manufacturer, Stara S/A Industria De Implementos Agricolas, to provide them with non-exclusive access to the Intellectual Property of its Farmscan Canlink 4500. The US $1.1 million one-off payment to Computronics for the use of the Canlink 4500 IP in Stara’s range of agricultural equipment underpins the true global value of Computronics’ world class precision agriculture technology. Stara will use the Farmscan Canlink 4500 IP to manufacture and install variable rate control and spray control systems into existing agricultural machinery lines. The deal also cements Computronics as Stara’s exclusive supplier of further product development services for these technologies.
Computronics’ Chief Executive Freeman Wyllie said, “While some of the funds raised through this deal will go back into R&D, it has also provided an opportunity to put cash into other areas of the business and to explore other growth opportunities.”
Stara Director Atila Trennepohl said that he considered Farmscan variable rate control and spray control systems to be the best on the market for functionality and simplicity of use.
Stara S/A is the largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery in South America. It has a turnover of US$ 160 million this year and sells over 12,000 agricultural machines per annum. Stara currently exports to 28 countries.
