There was some exciting news for mining companies today. Alexander Nubia (CVE:AAN) continues to unveil good results from its Hamama project in Egypt and not just near surface.
The explorer said a deep step-out hole (AHA-31) from the oxide gold cap (near surface) had shown mineralisation from the top down to a depth of 157 metres.
Fellow gold miner SolGold (LON:SOLG) is to add a second rig at Cascabel to speed up the drilling of a high grade central area at the main target Alpala.
The high grade zone is up to 85Mt at Alpala Central and SolGold plans to drill deviations from the existing holes 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11
Meanwhile, Aurasian Minerals (LON:AUM) moved a step closer to unlocking the mineral wealth of Laos in Southeast Asia as it unveiled a new joint venture with Lao investment company Sahamit Phattana.
In other joint venture news, W Resources (LON:WRES) will seek a partner to develop the CAA/Portalegre prospect in Portugal after scout drilling backed up surface indications of gold.
Five holes were drilled over 1,058 metres with 16m of gold at 1.37 g/t between 124m and 140m in the fifth hole the best intersection.
Away from gold, Golden Saint Resources (LON:GSR) has recovered more diamonds from its alluvial operations in Sierra Leone.
At Tongo, six stones ranging from 2.77 carats to 0.325 carats have been recovered to take the total recovered to date to 12.8 grams.
Elsewhere, IronRidge Resources (LON:IRR) has begun an initial drilling programme on its Quaggy nickel-copper project in Queensland, Australia.
Marble quarry owner Fox Marble (LON:FOX) has raised £2mln to pay off an outstanding convertible loan and buy more processing equipment.
The new shares will be issued at 20p and clear £1.1mln outstanding from a debt with Amati Global taken out in 2012.
To oil and Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) unveiled an independent assessment of its Irish offshore exploration project that estimates the potential for about 1.5bn barrels of oil.
Europa has a 15% stake in the acreage alongside major partner Kosmos, which owns the other 85%.
Meanwhile, Independent Oil & Gas (LON:IOG) is to remap an area of the Southern North Sea in an effort that could potentially double gas reserves.
Falkland Oil & Gas (LON:FOGL) told investors that technical problems relating to the controls for the Eirik Raude drilling rig’s blow-out preventer have now been fully resolved and exploration drilling has resumed.
Canadian Overseas Petroleum (LON:COPL, CVE:XOP) continues to work with ExxonMobil for the planning of future drilling in Liberia.
The potential expansion of the group’s portfolio in sub-Saharan Africa is another focus of the company in the near-term, as it works to complete a deal for projects across Africa.
In other news, President Energy (LON:PPC) told investors it has now resolved a dispute with its partner in the Pirity concession in Paraguay and all claims and actions have now been discontinued and withdrawn.
To pharmaceuticals and annual results from Verona Pharma (LON:VRP) reflected a year of progress for the biotech and its drug candidate, RPL554.
The most important financial landmark was last March’s successful £14mln fundraiser to bankroll its lead compound.
Meanwhile, Akers Bioscience’s (LON:AKR, NASDAQ:AKER) new breath scan products will provide “tremendous value” to the personalised health information sector, said executive chairman Raymond Akers.
Elsewhere, recently listed clinical stage biopharmaceutical company Motif Bio (LON:MTFB) has been selected to present at the 2015 BIO International Convention, the leading global event for the biotechnology sector.
In other news, video game outsourcing group Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) said chairman Ross Graham has increased his shareholding in the company, buying 27,950 shares at 161p each.
The new financial year has got off to a good start at eg Solutions (LON:EGS) with the software firm winning a number of contract renewals and chairman Duncan McIntyre is confidence the company will reach its full-year targets.
Finally, non-executive director Jeffrey Lewis will not be seeking re-election to the board of Tekcapital (LON:TEK) at this month’s annual general meeting after he recently joined a new law firm that prohibits him from holding a board position with a public company.