Berkeley Mineral Resources (LON:BMR) said that the acquisition of tailings dumps at Kabwe is not now expected to take place until early in 2011.
The vendor is in the process of securing new licences and permits under Zambian mining law as a renewal of the previous small scale mining licence held by the vendor which expired, as did all such licences, in July 2010. The process of obtaining these licences and permits has been one of the reasons for the delay to the completion of the acquisition.
In early November, the company said that the acquisition of Kabwe was expected to be completed within three or four weeks.
EnCore Oil (LON:EO) and Nautical Petroleum (LON:NPE) reported that the Transocean Galaxy II heavy duty jack-up rig left the standby location in the UK North Sea on Sunday 12 December and is en route to the Varadero location on Block 28/9.
Subject to weather and any operational delays, the rig is expected to arrive at Varadero later today.
Xcite Energy (LON:XEL, TSX-V) has drawn down on its Standby Equity Distribution Agreement with YA Global Master SPV in the amount of £6.75 million. This draw down has been undertaken at a price of £2.87 per share.
Range Resources (LON:RRL) announced the issue of 16 million Ordinary Fully Paid Shares to be issued upon exercise of listed options and 6 million Ordinary Fully Paid Shares to be issued upon exercise of unlisted options.
Regal Petroleum (LON:RPT) said that the results of the strategic review of reservoir performance and its business plans have largely attributed the disappointing well flow-rates to the lower permeabilities of a substantial portion of the gas-bearing sandstones as defined by wireline logs, which are also vulnerable to liquid saturation blocking when exposed to overbalanced conditions.
The review has concluded that development of the company's Ukrainian asset will require further technical studies, following which the impact, if any, on the company's estimated reserves and the investment capital required to fund future development can be determined.