The companies that hold the licences to what could turn out to be the biggest onshore oil find in the UK are making tentative preparations to develop a field.
A flurry of announcements from the consortium that includes UK Oil & Gas (LON:UKOG), Solo Oil (LON:SOLO), Alba Minerals (LON:ALBA) and Evocutis (LON:EVO) updated on plans and provided a new independent resource estimate.
The calculations prepared by oil services giant Schlumberger suggest there are 10.99bn barrels of crude across 55 square miles, in Sussex, of near Gatwick Airport, owned by the explorers.
It sent investors into a frenzy of excitement, but was not the only piece of news to come out of the oil small cap space today.
Sticking with Solo Oil, the oil junior and Aminex (LON:AEX) are now ‘ready’ to start producing gas from the Kiliwani North field onshore Tanzania.
The gas sales agreement is currently close to being complete, though finalised payment protection clauses and guarantees are awaited before signing.
Meanwhile, Aminex said, as it awaits first gas in Tanzania, it is advancing plans for appraisal drilling on the Ntorya discovery.
In other oil news, Oil group 88 Energy (LON:88E) rubber-stamped the acquisition of its Icewine exploration project in Alaska.
Andes Energia (LON:AEN) launched a US$9mln share placing which will help fund drilling in Argentina.
Cash raised will part-finance the company’s participation in up to 78 low cost wells, as well as 30 ‘work-overs’ of existing wells.
Meanwhile, IGas Energy (LON:IGAS) appointed Julian Tedder as its new chief financial officer.
He wasn’t the only appointment today, as Breedon Aggregates (LON:BREE) named Pat Ward, currently boss of Aggregate Industries Europe, as new chief executive to succeed Simon Vivian, who is stepping down to become a non-executive director.
In mining news, Asiamet Resources (LON:ARS) dominated headlines after it said it had uncovered a high-grade copper zone at Beruang Kanan (BK), in Kalimantan, Indonesia, that has the potential to transform the economics of the project.
The latest hole produced an 11 metre section containing 2.96% copper. Significantly, it was intercepted from just six metres below surface.
Elsewhere, Mining junior Sunrise Resources (LON:SRES) confirmed on Wednesday that the drillbit started turning, on schedule, at its Bay State silver project, Nevada, USA.
The first phase will see 500metres of diamond drilling in three holes at the historic mine site.
Bushveld Minerals (LON:BMN) is making progress across its portfolio, and while the focus is exploration, mining is "within reach", it told investors, reporting 2015 results.
The vanadium project in South Africa is the flagship and in the longer term, the firm sees cash flows from that helping to finance other projects.
Meanwhile, Anglo Pacific’s (LON:APF) royalty income for the six months to June 2015 rose by 48% when compared to the corresponding period a year ago, to £3.8mln.
Speaking of cash, Kibo Mining (LON:KIBO) is set for a cash boost and shortly receive placing monies held in accounts of bust stockbroker Hume Capital, it said.
Elsewhere, quarrying and finishing specialist Fox Marble (LON:FOX) is looking forward to showcasing its premium material at a trade fair in Italy this autumn.
In other news, Demand for Kalibrate Technologies' (LON:KLBT) software continues as it announced it had inked a deal with UK supermarket Morrisons for its cloud pricing system.
Finally, Africa-focused carrier Fastjet (LON:FJET) has reached a milestone as it struck a deal to buy its first plane.
The group has been leasing aircraft but today said it had inked a letter of intent to buy an Airbus A319 aircraft.