It is always confusing when Strategic Minerals and StratMin release announcements on the same day.
Strategic Minerals (LON:SML) has a coal deposit at Tatu in New Zealand that has sufficient resources for a 20 year mine.
A maiden JORC resource estimate from Gordon Geotechniques showed 6.72Mt (million tonnes) of measured and indicated thermal coal, of which 75% was in the high certainty measured category.
The firm aims to complete a bulk sample from the mine in the next quarter to confirm the quality of coal for identified customers, while it progresses a feasibility study to support development, targeted to be published in July.
StratMin Global Resources (LON:STG="" rel="257" stellar-resources="">LON:STGR), meanwhile, is the owner of a graphite mine in Madagascar, and today it unveiled the results of a preliminary study of the area next to its Loharano graphite operation.
It confirmed the Mahefadok deposit is a large mineralised body 1.5km long and 150 metres wide that is similar to the existing mine.
Being easily confused, I often get confused by graphite and graphene. Haydale Graphene Industries (LON:HAYD) has announced a deal to supply its HT60 reactor for research and development to the Centre for Process and Innovation (CPI).
CPI has received £14mln to create the UK's Graphene Applications Innovation Centre.
This organisation will help companies to develop, prove and commercialise products using graphene technologies.
The initial agreement with CPI is worth around £170,000, Haydale said, though it will also supply research & development (R&D) quantities of material.
I sometimes get mixed up over the UK onshore oil projects at Wressle and Horse Hill, even though the former is in Lincolnshire and the latter is, so we are always told, somewhere near Gatwick.
Production testing has now begun at the onshore Wressle discovery well, with the extended well test aiming to determine Wressle’s productivity using pumps, while two of the discovery’s three reservoir intervals will be tested.
The start of testing operations marks a significant milestone for AIM firms Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG), Egdon Resources (LON:EDR) and Union Jack Oil (LON:UJO) – which respectively own 33%, 25% and 8.3% of the project.
Meanwhile, the consortium of firms involved in the Horse Hill project were no doubt excited by a new independent report that estimates oil in place could exceed 9.2bn barrels of oil.
Today’s estimate specifically looks at the 55 Square mile area covered by Horse Hill licences (PEDL 137 and PEDL 246), and refers to the oil-in-place (OIP) within Jurassic mudstone and tight limestone sections.
"Nutech's latest report is a significant step towards understanding the resource potential of our Weald licences, being the first independent semi-regional quantification of OIP over the area that incorporates the findings from the company's HH-1 well,” said Stephen Sanderson, chief executive of UK Oil & Gas Investments (LON:UKOG), a 20% stakeholder in the project.
Fellow Horse Hill stakeholders include Solo Oil (LON:SOLO), Doriemus (LON:DOR), Alba Minerals (LON:ALBA), Stellar Resources (LON:STG) and Evocutis (LON:EVO).
There is no confusion about the location of the York Potash Project, which is in an area of great natural beauty.
Shares in the project’s developer Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) were knocked today as a planning officers’ report concluded the company had underestimated the environmental damage its York Potash mine project might cause.
Sirius took issue with some of the conclusions of the report, and chief executive Chris Fraser maintained: “The planning case stood up to scrutiny”.
In overseas oil news, KrisEnergy (SGX:SK3) has started production from the Nong Yao field in Gulf of Thailand at an initial production rate of 2,500 barrels daily from three wells.
US Oil & Gas (USOP) confirmed the completion of its equity fund raise, with the issue of just over 1.1mln new shares.
On to miners, and Sphinx Resources (CVE:SFX), which has intersected a stratabound platinum metal reef on its Green Palladium project in Quebec.
Grades were 3.44 grams per tonne (g/t) palladium platinum and gold over 0.4m from a nine hole drill programme, totalling 962m.
Paragon Diamonds (LON:PRG) has taken out a £500,000 loan to buy out any uncommitted shareholders and boost the share price.
Philip Falzon Sant Manduca, executive chairman, said, “Paragon’s share price, in my opinion, should already be in double digits, and I have no doubt that it will be shortly after production commences.”
A buyback would also ensure the share price is not overly volatile in the lead up to the completion of the Mothae acquisition, he said.
Kibo Mining (LON:KIBO) expects to receive shortly placing monies held in accounts of bust stockbroker Hume Capital.
Administrators for Hume expect to distribute client monies held under administration in one lump sum payment by early September, it said.
Sunrise Resources (LON:SRES) has submitted its permit application and detailed plans for a drilling programme at its Bay State silver mine in Nevada.
Earlier this month, Sunrise reported bonanza silver grades from samples taking from old mine workings at Bay State, which prompted a revision of its drilling plans.
Caledonia Mining (LON:CMCL) is on track with its upgrade programme at the Blanket mine in Zimbabwe.
The new Tramming Loop has been completed, something that is expected to boost production towards the end of this year.
Xtract Resources (LON:XTR) announced its Chepica mine returned to profitability in May, at least three months ahead of schedule.
The gold and copper miner reckoned earlier this month that the Chepica mine in Chile was three months away from profitability.
The company confirmed today, however, that the mine made US$150,000 profit in May before capital expenditure.
ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) has reported mixed results from its latest drilling at the Itogon gold project in the Philippines.
All diamond drill holes bar one intersected near surface gold mineralisation.
Best intercepts were 4.4m at 2.12 g/t gold, 7.5m at 0.89 g/t gold and 2.9m at 1.55 g/t gold.
Overall, though, the grades were lower than those from the company’s earlier drilling, though so far ECR has only tested the uppermost parts of the epithermal system and not the main feeder structures.
Trinity Exploration & Production (LON:TRIN) has told investors it has extended a moratorium on loan repayments.
Principal repayments on Trinity’s outstanding US$13mln debt remain on hold until the end of the month, the company said.
A strategic review and formal company sale process is ongoing.
Lastly, away from the resources sector, Real Estate Investors (LON:RLE) revealed it has spent almost £25mln increasing substantially the size of its West Midlands commercial property portfolio.
The acquisitions, including 40 St Paul’s Square in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, were funded by April’s £45mln share placing.
The initial rental income is put at £2.26mln, which equates to an initial yield of almost 9%.