A mixed news bag from the small cap miners this week. Here are a few nuggets.
Metal Tiger (LON:MTR) hailed an excellent year in 2014 as assets, profits and its market value all grew sharply.
Year-on-year, the company’s net assets increased by 1,900%, its market capitalisation by over 400%, its borrowings were cut to zero, and it turned the previous year’s £190,000 loss into a profit of £106,000, it revealed.
This week, Stratex’s (LON:STI) joint venture partner Bahar Madencilik confirmed that production at the Altintepe gold mine in Turkey is due to commence in September this year.
In fundraising news, W Resources (LON:WRES) said it brought in £1.2mln through a placing heavily backed by two main directors.
The funds, which were raised at 0.3p per share, will be used fast track development of the La Parrilla tungsten mine in Spain.
Elsewhere, Hummingbird Resources (LON:HUM) has topped up its bank balance through a £500,000 placing with Canadian resource investor Sprott.
Shares were placed at 33p per share, a slight discount to the previous day's close with the money going towards working capital for the Yanfolila gold project in Mali.
Alecto Minerals (LON:ALO) said this week it had raised £300,000 through a placing at 0.1p with an existing institutional investor.
Proceeds will provide additional working capital while it looks for a suitable gold producer acquisition. Talks are also underway over partnerships for its West African gold assets.
Currently Alecto’s portfolio comprises Kerboulé in Burkina Faso; Kossanto East in Mali and Kossanto West in Mali; and two gold projects in Ethiopia.
In other news, Sula Iron & Gold (LON:SULA) has sent over 100 samples for further testing ahead of a possible drill programme at its gold prospect Ferensola in Sierra Leone.
Sula’s technical director visited the site with consultant SRK, after which 108 samples were collected and sent for sample preparation and assaying.
Data from these and historical exploration at the site will be used to select exploration targets and plan a drill programme to establish a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for the project.
Mandalay Resources (TSE:MND) revealed that production has been suspended at the Cerro Bayo mine in Chile due to a strike.
The union started a legal strike yesterday (Tues) amid "ongoing bargaining efforts to reach a new collective agreement", the firm said in a brief regulatory update.
"It is not known how long the strike action will be and the impact on production is therefore undetermined at this time."
Minera IRL (LON:MIRL) sold more than 26,500 ounces of gold in during year ending December 31, 2014, generating revenue of US$29.9mln and a gross profit of US$6.8mln.
The production came from the company’s small Corihuarmi mine in the Peruvian Andes which, even after long service, remains an integral part of the Minera operations.
The cash generated from Corihuarmi has long provided the company with a bulwark against the worst excesses of the capital markets as it seeks slowly and deliberately to put a funding package in place for the much larger Ollachea gold project, also in Peru.