Marula Mining PLC (AQSE:MARU), a mining and development company focused on South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania, said it is seeking a listing on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market.
Chief executive Jason Brewer said the board believes a listing on AIM “should prove to be transformational for the company".
Thungela Resources Limited (LSE:TGA) said it has entered into agreements to acquire a controlling interest in the Ensham coal mine, located within the well-established and infrastructure-enabled southern Bowen Basin in Queensland, Australia.
The South Africa-based energy firm said it will acquire the controlling interest through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Thungela Resources Australia Pty Ltd, and will loan fund a portion of their co-investors' - Audley Energy Limited and Mayfair Corporations Group Pty Ltd - equity contributions. The Ensham coal mine is the primary asset of the Ensham joint venture which is currently 85% owned by Idemitsu, with the remaining 15% owned by LX International.
The coal world is ‘restoring its price hierarchy’, as the costs for metallurgical (met) coal are soaring, while those for thermal coal are under pressure, according to a research note issued by Liberum.
The difference in pricing is due to the steel industry in Asia coming out of winter and looking for raw materials, while power-generators are stocking up before the next shoulder season, the City broker said.
Metal Tiger PLC (AIM:MTR, OTC:MRTTF, ASX:MTR), the investor in natural resource opportunities, has noted that investee company Armada Metals Limited has announced the identification of additional targets at the Nyanga Magmatic Nickel-Copper (Ni-Cu) project in Gabon.
Armada said preliminary modelling of airborne Mobile Magnetotellurics survey data has defined multiple preliminary targets, which will direct future ground-based Natural Source Audio-Magnetotelluric (NSAMT) programs and drill targeting. A series of ground-based NSAMT surveys are planned to follow up on the highest priority targets in advance of further drilling.
Ora Banda Mining Ltd (ASX:OBM) will welcome a new chief financial officer in Gareth Jones after Tony Brazier stepped down from the position of CFO and joint company secretary, effective February 6, 2023 to pursue other opportunities.
Jones has more than 20 years of experience in financial, governance and operational leadership across a diverse range of companies and sectors and recently served as CFO at Austin Engineering (ASX:ANG) Limited.
Thor Explorations Ltd (TSX-V:THX, AIM:THX, OTC:THXPF) told investors that it has amended and restated the terms of the balance of a $54 million senior debt facility its subsidiary Segilola Resources Operating Limited (SROL) entered into with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) close to three years ago for the construction of the Segilola gold mine in Nigeria’s Osun State.
The company noted that Segilola started ramping up production in the fourth quarter of 2021 and achieved full commercial production at the beginning of 2022, with total annual production of 98,008 ounces (oz) of gold in the full year 2022. By 31 December 2022, SROL had repaid or cancelled $25.6 million of the Project Facility, reducing the facility outstanding to $28.4 million.
Adani Enterprises has cancelled its much-vaunted US$2.5bn share offer pitched to international investors following a damning investigation from infamous New York short sellers Hindenburg Research.
Founded by Asia’s (now second) richest man Gautum Adani, the Adani group of companies became the target of Hindenburg’s short-selling campaign following a two-year investigation into alleged fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering.
Power Metal Resources PLC (AIM:POW), an exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio, said it has increased its uranium property portfolio focused on the Athabasca Basin area in Saskatchewan, Canada through direct mineral claim staking.
The claims were acquired during the most recent Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan (MARS) electronic registry system claim reopening on 31 January 2023. The staking acquisitions represent some of the most significant additions to the company's uranium portfolio, Power Metals said.
Oriole Resources PLC (AIM:ORR) said lithium pegmatites have been identified at its Cameroon central licence package (CLP).
According to a statement, the AIM-quoted exploration company has been undertaking reconnaissance exploration at two of its licences, Ndom and Gamboukou, to assess the potential for lithium-bearing pegmatites.
KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF), the mining development company, has hailed the ‘substantial progress’ made to date across all projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia as it provided investors with a comprehensive update.
It said the draft definitive agreements for the US$320 million financing plan for the Tulu Kapi operation in Ethiopia are expected to be finalised ‘soon’ after all necessary government approvals are received.
Galileo Resources PLC (AIM:GLR) has reported the highest grade results to date from its initial exploration of the Shinganda Copper-Gold (Cu-Au) project in Zambia.
Results from Target 1, the primary target, returned values of 33.90 grammes per tonne (g/t) Au, 20.16g/t Au and 8.54g/t Au.
European Metals Holdings Ltd (AIM:EMH, ASX:EMH, OTCQX:EMHLF) (EMH) said DRA Global has been appointed to complete the definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the Cinovec lithium project in the Czech Republic.
EMH said DRA will build on the optimisation work carried out by the Cinovec team in 2022 with a view to the completion of the DFS in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Andrada Mining Ltd (AIM:ATM, OTC:AFTTF), formerly Afritin, said in-fill drilling at its Uis mine in Namibia has further highlighted the mineralisation potential of the V1/V2 pegmatite ore body.
Pegmatite, the source rock for lithium, was intersected in all holes of the latest programme at the depths and apparent widths modelled, with lithium intersections ranging from 30 metres (m) to 63m.
Greatland Gold PLC (AIM:GGP, OTC:GRLGF) plans more exploration at the Juri joint venture in the Paterson region of Western Australia after what it said were encouraging assays from a second drill programme.
Paterson Range East and the Black Hills tenements make up Juri but the results also included holes drilled at the A9, Tama and Black Hills North (A27) targets.
Future Metals NL (ASX:FME, AIM:FME) has identified broad zones of disseminated nickel-copper sulphides outside the existing high-grade platinum group elements (PGE) reef system at Panton Project in the East Kimberley Region of Western Australia.
Standout assays include:
Celsius Resources Ltd (ASX:CLA) has tapped Paul Dudley to be a non-executive director on the board and chair of the company's Audit Committee, effective January 30, 2023.
Dudley holds more than 25 years of experience in business, having worked across the natural resources, corporate finance, regulatory and financial services sectors.
Kodal Minerals PLC (AIM:KOD) confirmed the receipt of the US$7mln deposit in relation to the US$118mln funding package announced last month to finance the Bougouni lithium project in Mali and support a major exploration and development programme.
The AIM-listed exploration and development company agreed the funding deal with Hainan Mining and its UK-incorporated arm Xinmao Investment to drive Bougouni through to production.
Atlantic Lithium has received a share price target upgrade from Liberum after the upgrade to the resource at its Ewoyaa deposit in Ghana.
Liberum has raised its target to 57p based on a new preliminary 3Mtpa DFS case (from 46p).
Mkango Resources has signed definitive agreements with ESG technology group CoTec Holdings for an investment first flagged in May last year.
CoTec has agreed to issue a two-year, £2mln secured convertible loan to Mkango with 5% interest, convertible into shares at 27p each or into subsidiary Maginito shares.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is eyeing a site near Mexico City for an assembly plant as Elon Musk’s electric vehicle giant prepares to ramp up expansion into another gear in future.
The site would “take advantage” of the nearby Felipe Angeles international airport for exports, Mexican presidential spokesperson Jesus Ramirez told Reuters, building on a site just two miles from the airstrip.
Oriole Resources offers investors first mover advantage in Cameroon, with a portfolio of highly prospective, early-stage assets that offer significant room for value creation, broker SP Angel suggests.
Oriole is currently developing a suite of licences across Cameroon and has delivered an initial JORC MRE (mineral resource estimate) in the inferred category at Bakassi Zone 1, one of four projects at its Bibemi licence.
A private equity group has reportedly emerged as a potential buyer for the defunct battery start-up Britishvolt.
According to the Financial Times, Greybull Capital executives recently met with Britishvolt management to discuss proposals after being brought in as a possible saviour.
Atlantic Lithium Limited (AIM:ALL, OTCQX:ALLIF, ASX:A11) has upgraded the mineral resource estimate (MRE ) at Ewoyaa in Ghana to 35.3 million tones (Mt) at 1.25% Li2O (lithium oxide), with 79% now in the highest certainty measured and indicated categories.
This is the first time it has published measured resources for Ewoyaa, Atlantic Lithium said, with the new indicated tonnes upgraded from inferred.
Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) said its copper production dropped by 12% in 2022, impacted by issues at its Katanga open-pit mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The FTSE 100-listed miner and trader said it produced 1.06mln tonnes of copper last year, and kept its 2023 outlook unchanged at around 1.04mln tonnes. Glencore suspended operations at its huge Antapaccay copper mine in Peru on 20 January after protesters attacked the premises.
Gold demand surged 18% year-on-year to hit 4,741 tons in 2022, the highest annual total in a decade, according to the World Gold Council's latest report.
The document highlights the hefty central bank buying and persistently strong retail investment as the driving forces behind the growth.
KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF) said it has appointed advisers to prepare for a potential dual listing of the company's shares on the Saudi Exchange, based in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Exchange is currently the 11th largest stock exchange in the world, with 223 listed companies, with a combined market capitalisation of US$2.63 trillion as of 31 December 2022. The total value of shares traded on the Saudi Exchange in 2022 was US$455bn and the 'Materials Industry' group was the largest sector on the market by value of trades, representing 23.8% of the overall market. There were 22 IPOs on the Saudi Exchange in 2022.
CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL) said all of the exploration licences applied for at the Llamara project in Chile have been granted, giving it a prospective total area of 344 square kilometres.
Exploration drilling is now expected to get underway in the coming weeks, CleanTech said in a statement.
Trident Royalties PLC (AIM:TRR) has welcomed the involvement of US carmaker General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) (GM) in the Thacker Pass lithium development in Nevada.
GM has said it will invest US$650mln into the project to develop it with operator Lithium Americas Corp (TSX:LAC, NYSE:LAC).
Aura Energy Ltd (ASX:AEE, AIM:AURA) will work even more closely with the Mauritanian Government after mining conventions were signed for an initial period of 30 years.
This supports further transformational agreements including a shareholder’s agreement with ANARPAM (Agence Nationale de Recherches Géologiques et du Patrimoine Minier) in relation to the Tiris Uranium Project in Mauritania.
Adriatic Metal’s managing director Paul Cronin said construction at the Vares silver project is now 60% complete with the first concentrate production scheduled for the third quarter of 2023.
Cronin added that although there has been a 6% increase in project costs from US$173mln to $183mln, which includes US$10m of unutilised contingency, it remains fully funded to completion.
US startup AstroForge aims to launch its first mission to mine asteroids for metals later in 2023 via a partnership with UK-based Orbital Astronautics Ltd (OrbAstro).
A small 'cubesat' satellite built by OrbAstro and called Brokkr-1 will be launched into low Earth orbit in April this year on a SpaceX rideshare, to test AstroForge's technologies and "orbital refinery" for extracting metals from asteroids and a mass spectrometer to analyse the samples.
Vast Resources shares shot up 60% as it said shipments from its Baita Plai polymetallic mine (BPPM) in Romania should increase during 2023, putting it on track to achieve 14,000t production and profitability in the first half of the year.
A restructuring of BPPM in July 2022 increased monthly capacity and allowed one to two commercial quantity shipments in the final quarter of the year.
Orral Nadjari, founder of collapsed car battery startup Britishvolt, is planning a bid to bring his former company out of administration.
The offer is expected to be valued between £25mln to £30mln and has been fundraised by individuals in his native UAE, according to the Financial Times.
Ecora Resources PLC (LSE:ECOR, TSX:ECOR, OTCQX:ECRAF)highlighted the benefits of investing in royalties for commodity price exposure amidst the inflationary environment in its fourth-quarter trading update.
Against a backdrop of strengthening commodity prices through most of 2022, Ecora saw its portfolio of royalties generate US$143.1mln over the full year up 67% on 2021 – despite its fourth quarter contribution reducing 48% from the preceding quarter, at US$17.8mln, due to reduced saleable volumes from the Kestrel mine, in Australia.
Thor Energy PLC (AIM:THR, OTCQB:THORF, ASX:THR) said it will focus on its uranium prospects at Wedding Bell and Radium Mountain in 2023 while a maiden drilling programme is scheduled at the Vanadium King prospect in Utah.
In a quarterly update, Nicole Galloway Warland, managing director, commented: “At our Wedding Bell and Radium Mountain uranium projects in the US, the intersection of uranium-bearing, reduced sandstones at the greenfields Section 23 prospect is exciting".
Landore Resources Ltd (AIM:LND, OTC:LNDLF) confirmed that it has received a further payment under its option agreement with Lithoquest Resources in regard to the sale of the Miminiska Lake and Keezhik Lake properties in the Thunder Bay Mining district, Northern Ontario.
The payment comprises of C$251,824 cash and 2,175,939 new common shares in Storm Exploration Inc to the value of C$248,176, and will go towards Landore’s working capital needs.
Andrada Mining Ltd (AIM:ATM, OTC:AFTTF) has announced further results from its lithium and tantalum infill drilling programme at the flagship Uis mine in Namibia.
The current exploration programme aims to upgrade the existing mineral resource classification for lithium and tantalum over the areas where tin is currently classified within the measured and indicated categories.
Bushveld Minerals Limited (AIM:BMN, OTC:BSHVF) produced 3,842 mtV from its operations in South Africa in the 12 months to end-2022, slightly below the revised guidance range of between 3,900 mtV and 4,100 mtV.
Electricity load shedding at the Vanchem has had a negative impact.
Pets at Home Group PLC (LSE:PETS) will be one of those getting attention ahead of the busier diary later in the week.
A third-quarter update will see investors likely to be focused on whether the pressure on the retailer’s profit margins has eased since November.
Celsius Resources Ltd (ASX:CLA) has been admitted to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange plc and will begin trading at 8.00am today under the ticker CLA.
Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX:PLL, NASDAQ:PLL, XETRA:) welcomes the news its strategic partner Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX:SYA) has taken another step to a restart of the North American Lithium (NAL) operation in Québec, Canada, with a successful trial feed of ore into the crushing plant.
The company is on track for first production late in the first quarter of this year and hopes to become North America’s leading lithium producer.
Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM, AIM:SVML) has received more strong results from a targeted deep infill aircore and push tube core drilling program at the Kasiya Rutile Project in Malawi, the world’s largest rutile deposit.
The results are from 98 aircore holes and 247 push tube holes and have confirmed the consistency of high-grade rutile and graphite mineralisation at depth.
Adani Group has responded to activist investor Hindenburg Research’s explosive investigation into Gautam Adani’s Indian business empire which detailed a litany of accounting fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering allegations over a 33,000-page hit piece.
Hindenburg Research, a well-known New York short seller, carved US$50bn out of Adani Group’s market value when it laid the go-short case for Adani last week.
European Metals Holdings Ltd (AIM:EMH, ASX:EMH, OTCQX:EMHLF) shares advanced in Monday’s trade after its Cinovec lithium development in the Czech Republic has been classified as a strategic project for the Usti region by the EU.
Being classified means Cinovec has priority for grant funding from the Just Transition Fund (JTF) co-funding, it added, ahead of many other projects that have been submitted.
Shares in Zinnwald Lithium PLC (LSE:ZNWD, OTC:ZNWLF), a German lithium development company, jumped 4.2% following positive results from a drilling report on its Falkenhain license.
The results indicate the potential for a significant lithium resource that could provide feed to the company's integrated lithium hydroxide project.
Oriole Resources PLC (AIM:ORR) said that mapping and rock-chip sampling has been completed at Mbe, one of its five licences within the Eastern central license package (CLP) in Cameroon.
The exploration company said the results delivered multiple high grades, including 131.1 grams per ton (g/t) gold from a roughly 12.5 kilometres (km) long by 3km wide gold mineralised corridor.
Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd (LSE:FAR), the vanadium producer and developer of the Balasausqandiq deposit in Southern Kazakhstan, said it expects to be ‘operationally profitable’ this year.
Progress will be driven by an increase in the quantity of concentrates to be treated, and higher recoveries of vanadium, molybdenum and nickel. Increased prices expected for vanadium, and a return to more normal levels of transport, fuel and reagent costs will also help, the company said.
Pan African Resources PLC (AIM:PAF, OTCQX:PAFRY, JSE:PAN, OTCQX:PAFRF) has maintained its forecast for gold production this year as it expects production at its Barberton and Evander mines in South Africa to pick up in the second half.
Output in the six months to end-December 2022 was 92,307 ounces down from 108,085 ounces in the comparable period, which the gold miner's chief executive Cobus Loots said was largely down to issues at Barberton and problems with grid electricity supplies.
Trident Royalties PLC (AIM:TRR) chief executive Adam Davidson told investors that the company has continued to generate good momentum over the past 12 months, as the company released an activities report for the quarter ended 31 December 2022.
“We finished 2022 with our best operational quarter since inception,” Davidson said in the statement. “Q4 2022 saw record royalty receipts of US$3.5mln, 46% higher than the previous quarter and a ninefold year-on-year increase."
Panther Metals Ltd (ASX:PNT), which is 36.6%-owned by Panther Metals PLC (LSE:PALM), has returned positive high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) test work results from the Coglia nickel-cobalt project in Western Australia.
The Coglia Nickel-Cobalt Project has taken an important step forward with the inaugural metallurgical testwork providing very encouraging results,” said Darren Hazelwood, chief executive of Panther Metals PLC in a statement.