On a short week, equity news has been somewhat subdued but there were some nuggets in the mining sector.
Kicking off with Condor Gold (LON:CNR)n which said a high-grade intercept to the south of its proposed La India open pit in Nicaragua hints at the untapped potential of going underground.
The latest drill campaign intercepted a 7.55 metre section grading 10.2 grams per tonne.
Condor said this indicated an extension to high grade gold mineralisation 100 metres outside the planned pit shell and next to underground resource.
Sticking with gold, Austria-focused explorer Noricum Gold (LON:NMG) has started geological mapping and sampling programme at the Walchen VMS deposit it acquired in March.
The work will take 2-4 weeks and focus on known outcrops from historical studies plus new cuttings made by more recent forestry road works in the area.
Hummingbird Resources (LON:HUM) nudged higher after it confirmed it remains on track for an initial gold pour at its Yanfolila project in Mali in the first half of next year.
Earthworks are due to be completed by the end of the next month, paving the way for construction, the firm said.
Meanwhile, ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) told investors it expects to receive full assay results from its recent drill programme at the Itogon gold project, in the Philippines, in June.
Drilling operations were completed at Itogon in April, but the availability of the assay results have been delayed due to circumstances outside the company’s control; including one lab worker being hospitalised with dengue fever.
In tungsten news, Premier African Minerals (LON:PREM) is now fully funded to move its RHA tungsten project in Zimbabwe into production next month (June), said broker Northland, which has started covering the shares.
The firm agreed a £1.65mln convertible loan facility with financier Darwin last month to complete the mine build.
Combining the two, initial drilling at Metal Tiger's joint venture (JV) gold and tungsten project at Logrosán, in Extremadura, Spain, has identified near-surface tungsten mineralisation.
The natural resources investing company(LON:MTR) said 563 metres (11%) of the planned 5,000 metre drill programme has been completed, with 31 holes drilled to date.
To diamonds - and Golden Saint Resources (LON:GSR) has found a 9.65 carat clear white diamond at its Tongo site to add to its growing collection.
The news comes almost one month after the company said it found a 9.475 carat diamond at the same site, which it valued at between US$75,000 and US$100,000
Finally, Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) said it intends to keep its focus on the Hot Maden project in north east Turkey, where a 10,000 metre drill programme is delivering promising high grade results.
Positive results have presented an opportunity for the company to advance Hot Maden more quickly than initially anticipated.