The great and the good of the junior mining sector gathered in London this week for one of the set-piece events of the year.
Resourcing Tomorrow, formerly Mines and Money, was once a magnet for scores of locally listed explorers and developers.
This year it had a more international feel, a trend that has been gathering pace. That shift to opportunities further afield probably explains why the normal flurry of announcements from UK small-cap diggers simply did not materialise.
Instead there was a dribble. The week’s biggest mover was Anglesey Mining PLC (AIM:AYM), up 227% after unveiling a sweeping balance-sheet reset and a £350,000 investment from its largest shareholder and creditor, Energold Minerals. The deal removes about £4 million of debt by transferring Anglesey’s stakes in Grängesberg Iron and Labrador Iron Mines to Energold, leaving roughly £100,000 of liabilities.
Management says the overhaul puts Anglesey on a far firmer financial footing and frees it to focus on developing its flagship Parys Mountain copper-zinc-lead-silver-gold project in North Wales.
Emerald miner sparkles
Elsewhere, Gemfields Group Limited (AIM:GEM) was up 6% after booking a decent return from its latest emerald auction.
On the downside, Metals One, off 41%, suffered in the wake of a deeply discounted placing, which brought in £4.4 million of new investment.
Turning to the wider market, it was a flat week for the AIM-All Share as it consolidated after a frenetic end to November, mirroring the FTSE 100.
Outside mining, there was plenty of action. Hardide PLC (AIM:HDD) jumped 66% after securing £1.75 million of orders from a major new-energy customer in North America. The deal beats forecasts, boosts 2026 revenue expectations and signals demand likely extending into 2026 with potential volume increases in 2027.
Testing alliance
GENinCode leapt 63% after striking a broad partnership with Thermo Fisher to make and distribute its CARDIO inCode-Score test across the US and EMEA, starting as a Lab Developed Test ahead of full FDA approval.
Mirriad Advertising PLC (AIM:MIRI, OTCQX:MMDDF) surged around 59%, with traders pointing to signs that streaming platform Twitch is using its ad-tech system. Volumes jumped sharply as investors reacted to the unconfirmed but widely discussed development.
Caspian Sunrise PLC (AIM:CASP) climbed 44% after securing a two-year extension to its Yelemes Deep exploration licence in Kazakhstan’s BNG Contract Area. The move lets the company restart work at Deep Well 803, where oil was previously detected, and positions it to seek a future 25-year production licence.
Transformational deal
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd (AIM:ECO, TSX-V:EOG) rose 36% after striking a “transformational” deal giving Navitas Petroleum paid-for options over key Guyana and South Africa blocks, plus potential stakes across its wider Atlantic portfolio, with Navitas also carrying major portions of future work.
Polarean Imaging PLC (AIM:POLX, OTC:PLLWF) gained after revealing that Philips has validated its FDA-cleared XENOVIEW 3T Chest Coil for use with the company’s latest MRI systems — an important step in broadening access to Polarean’s xenon-based lung-imaging technology.
And finally, a nugget of news that may have passed people by and which needs a little explanation. BP announced this week it is stepping back from its Teesside hydrogen scheme, leaving the UK with far fewer credible hydrogen developers just as the Labour government is banking on the fuel to support its green-energy plan. That gap creates a clearer runway for EnergyPathways.
Hydrogen opportunity
While the oil giant gives way to what could become Europe’s largest AI data centre, EP is moving in the opposite direction. It has begun engineering studies with KBR and Hazer for its Barrow project, which aims to produce 20,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year alongside a major stream of synthetic graphite, a mineral the UK classifies as critical for batteries and other net-zero technologies.
Investors may not appreciate that EP’s technology sits at the lower end of the cost curve at a time when traditional blue and green hydrogen routes are becoming harder to justify. It also has a rare advantage: the Secretary of State has already designated its Barrow scheme a project of national significance, giving it a faster, more predictable planning route.
Put simply, while others are dropping out, EnergyPathways is still building.