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Proactive mining highlights: Armadale, Blackham, Evraz, Jubilee, Metal Tiger and Sirius

Published: 09:30 20 Aug 2016 BST

Miner holding a massive diamond

Shares in Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) jumped more than 10% after the AIM-listed mining firm told investors that it is in advanced discussions to add an experienced non-executive director to its board.

Although the company didn’t reveal a name, it confirmed the potential director was a man “based in the City of London with significant mining experience”.

Fox Marble Holdings (LON:FOX) said the impact of currency fluctuations on the sterling following the EU referendum had hit its order book.

In an operational update ahead of its interim results, the Kosovo and the Balkans-focused marble group said its order book stood at €4.1mln, €0.5mln lower than previously announced at the end of June.

Blackham Resources Limited (ASX:BLK), in which investment company Polo Resources Limited (LON:POL, TSE:POL) has a stake, has raised around A$25mln through a share placing.

Polo drew its shareholders’ attention the placing, which was down at A$1 a share, in a London stock market announcement on Friday morning.

Resources investor Metal Tiger plc (LON:MTR) has held a Merit ceremony to celebrate the opening of its Thailand joint venture head office in Bangkok.

In line with traditional practice the establishment of a new office was recognised with a formal Merit ceremony, performed by Buddhist monks.

A new gold target area has been delineated at the Logrosán gold and tungsten joint venture project in Extremadura, Spain, Metal Tiger has revealed.

The new target area, dubbed “Logrosán South”, is located in the south of the project’s Antonio Caño and the recently awarded San Cristóbal exploration licence areas. This new target area is in addition to the ‘El Seranillo North’ gold target area reported on 5th April 2016, Metal Tiger said.

Rare Earth Mineral PLC’s (LON:REM) Toronto-listed associate Macarthur Minerals (CVE:MMS) has entered the US lithium market after acquiring the Stonewall project in Nevada.

Macarthur – which already owns a portfolio of lithium exploration assets in Western Australia – says the lithium project is “essentially drill-ready”.

K92 Mining Inc. (CVE:KNT) announced on Wednesday that the company has completed refurbishing the Kainantu Processing Plant.

The company explained that a restart of mining and processing operations was on schedule and on budget.

Tungsten explorer W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has told investors that it has completed the finance package for the first phase of the La Parrilla fast-track mine development.

The company raised £600,000 through a placing of 171mln shares at a price of 0.35 pence per share, a discount on the current share value.

Metal Tiger Plc (LON:MTR) has raised £1.1mln though what it describes as a strategic share placing.

Some 28.5mln new Metal Tiger shares are being issued to high net worth investors and certain existing shareholders.

Kibo Mining PLC (LON:KIBO) ticked another box on its Mbeya coal-to-power project (MCPP) “to do” list by engaging a global law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright.

The law firm will assist the Tanzania-focused mineral exploration and development company with the preparation and negotiation of commercial arrangements and agreements pertaining to the MCPP power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Tanzanian Government and TANESCO (Tanzania's parastatal power distribution company).

Xtract Resources PLC (LON:XTR) said it hasn’t yet received a US$2mln down-payment on the US$15mln purchase of the company’s Manica gold project in Mozambique.

Buyers Nexus Capital Limited and Mineral Technologies were expected to have provided the initial funds by August 12.

Xtract, in a stock exchange announcement, said the two sides were currently in talks over the present structure of the deal, which was originally struck for US$17.5mln.

Northern Sphere Mining Corp. (CNSX:NSM) announced on Tuesday that its making big strides in moving to production stage at its 80%-owned Arizona silver property.

The company has already produced over 500 ounces of silver from an initial pilot run. In addition, its built a stockpile of over 300 tonnes of high-grade feed material and have moved forward with engineering and infrastructure development.

South America-focused gold miner Orosur Mining Inc (LON:OMI, CVE:OMI) has increased its forecast production guidance for the current financial year (FY17).

Guidance has been increased to between 35,000 and 40,000 ounces of gold at operating cash costs of between US$800 and US$900 per ounce, up from previous guidance of 30,000 to 35,000 ounces at US$850-950 an ounce.

Rare Earth Minerals plc’s (LON:REM, OTCMKTS:REMMY) 15.5% owned associate Macarthur Minerals Limited (TSE:MMS) has acquired a lithium exploration project in Western Australia.

Macarthur has secured exclusive rights over 191 square kilometres in Western Australia’s Yalgoo region, in an area close to the explorere’s existing Edah Hill project.

Thor Mining (ASX:THR, LON:THR) has announced a new drill campaign close to its existing Molyhil tungsten deposit in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The 50-hole campaign is designed to confirm the close proximity of additional tungsten mineralisation within a six kilometre radius of the Molyhill tungsten deposit, targeting magnetic anomalies with similar characteristics to Molyhill.

Fratelli Investments, the major shareholder of Serabi Gold PLC (LON:SRB, TSE:SBI), has exercised its right to convert an existing US$2mln loan into Serabi shares.

The shares have been converted at a price of 4.5p each, resulting in 42.3mln new shares being issued to Fratelli, taking its stake in the Brazil-focused gold mining and development company up to 55.3%.

Shares in StratMin Global Resources Plc (LON:STGR) rose by a third in Friday’s early deals as investors looked forward to the pending completion of a A$15.25mln asset sale.

The company’s Graphmada Mauritius subsidiary is being bought by Bass Matals Ltd (ASX:BSM), which earlier today released an update revealing an anticipated timeline to complete the deal.

An investment in Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX) should enjoy a significant uplift in value as the AIM group’s mine development project in Yorkshire is progressively derisked, says Shore Capital analyst Yuen Low.

Low, who rates Sirius as a ‘buy’, did also note that Sirius is currently at development stage and still some years from becoming a cash flow-generating company.

Metals and mining firms enjoyed a day in the sun, dragging the FTSE 100 higher. But for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich it was a trading session best forgotten.

For his company Evraz plc (LON:EVR), Swiss-based but listed here in London, saw 11% wiped for its share price.

Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC) is ahead of schedule with its Maly Kurumkon/Flangovy (MKF) drilling programme at its Kun-Manie nickel project in far east Russia.

An early start to the drilling season, combined with higher than planned drill rates, has enabled the company to complete a total of 54 holes as of 1 August 2016, shifting 11,979 metres of soil in the process.

Chromite concentrate production at the Dilokong chrome mine (DCM) project has continued to exceed expectations, Jubilee Platinum PLC (LON:JLP) revealed.

Production climbed to 9,670 tons in July, which was up 29% month-on-month, while project revenue from the sale of concentrate was 33% higher than in June at £692,000. July’s earnings were 46% higher than in June at £520,000.

Asiamet Resources Limited (LON:ARS, CVE:ARS) continues to be encouraged by the results of in-fill drilling at its Beruang Kanan Main copper deposit in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Delineation drilling at the BK058 zone continues to confirm the thickness and continuity of near surface higher grade copper mineralisation and it is anticipated that the latest results will further reduce the already low strip ratio of the potential open pit in the southern part of the BKM deposit, Asiamet said.

Shanta Gold Limited (LON:SHG) said full-year production is expected to be towards the upper end of its guidance range of 82,000 – 87,000 ounces.

If the company hits its annual target, it would represent an annual record for the New Luika gold mine.

Construction firm Balfour Beatty plc (LON:BBY) said there has been “little sign of impact” on the firm or its markets following the UK’s decision to exit the European Union.

Balfour said it is still probably too soon to understand what direct impact the vote will have on the company, although it attempted to reassure investors that it was well-positioned regardless of what the long-term implications may be.

Capital Drilling Ltd (LON:CAPD) gave a guardedly optimistic assessment of prospects as the mining contractor hiked its interim dividend payment by more than a third.

After a solid six months in which revenues grew 5% and underlying earnings (EBITDA) were stable, the company reported “positive signs of improvement, resulting in increased tendering”.

First half results from Stratex International plc (LON:STI) have confirmed that after a slightly protracted process the Altintepe mine is now up and running well.

For the six months to June Altintepe produced 19,467 ounces of gold, which translated into revenues of nearly US$33 mln for Altintepe Madencilik, the operating company 45% owned by Stratex and 55% owned by its partner, the Turkish conglomerate Bahar Madencilik.

This morning Shore Capital used the word “unsurprisingly” twice in its pre-open comment about BHP Billiton’s (LON:BLT) abysmal full year results.

It was “unsurprising” that the results were so bad. Of all the miners, BHP Billiton is most exposed to oil, and oil has been weak for many a long month now as US shale continues to surprise and the fissures in OPEC deepen.

Geological mapping conducted at Armadale Capital PLC’s (LON:ACP) Mahenge Liandu graphite project in south-east Tanzania has confirmed extensive areas of graphite mineralisation. 

The company said the mapping is consistent with the conductive targets identified by the recent electro-magnetic (EM) survey and further highlights the prospectivity of the project.

W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has secured a finance package for the fast-track development of La Parrilla tungsten mine in Spain worth up to US$3.2mln.

It has agreed a US$1.2mnln forward sales facility with ICD Alloys and Metals, a speciality chemicals, metals and plastics firm based in the US. A total of US$200,000 has been handed over to date.

Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX) said work to secure the construction finance for its North Yorkshire Polyhalite Project was “ongoing” and “extensive”.

The capital requirements are put at US$2.91bn, with US$1.1bn needed to get the first phase of the ambitious underground fertiliser mine underway at an initial 10mln tonnes per year.

Aussie mining group Aura Energy Limited (ASX:AEE) is coming to London as aims to fund a feasibility study for an open pit uranium mine project in Mauritania.

The project, named Tiris, is host to some 49mln pounds of uranium resources and it is estimated that a mining operation could achieve high recovery rates of around 94%.

Copper mineralisation has been confirmed at T2 West on the property being jointly developed by Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) and MOD Resources Ltd (ASX:MOD).

Metal Tiger, which owns 30% of the project in the Kalahari copper belt, said copper (Cu) mineralisation was confirmed in both of the first two reverse circulation (RC) holes drilled at T2 West, which is located 20 kilometres north of the T3 resource drilling area.

Shares in Edenville Energy PLC shot up 38% after it said a ban by Tanzania on coal imports could create “near-term production and supply opportunities” for its Rukwa project in the west of the country.

It said the coalfield, which is being developed as part of a more ambitious integrated electricity scheme, could move quickly into production.

Sunrise Resources Plc (LON:SRES) has reported positive progress on its Pozz Ash natural pozzolan project in Nevada.

Two bench tests have been carried out by a concrete producer using raw Pozz Ash as a replacement for ordinary Portland Cement at 20% and 25% substitution levels. After 28 days setting time the Pozz Ash concrete had between 72-75% relative strength and 9% extra water demand, Sunrise revealed.

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