A fairly busy news day, with miners and oilers prominent.
Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) was a notable share riser as it revealed what Adam Wilson, the company’s chairman, described as a “remarkable” turnaround.
In the six months to June 30, Atlantic Coal delivered sales of US$10.4mln, up 9.7% on the corresponding period a year ago, and an increase in profit from operations of just over US$4.4mln as last year’s small loss turned into a profit of US$4.24mln.
Scotland-focused mining firm Scotgold (LON:SGZ, ASX:SGZ) is looking to raise up to A$1.476mln (£679,552) via a rights issue. The issue to shareholders is on the basis of one new share for every ten held, the firm said in a brief statement.
They will be offered at 1.3 cents per share and the maximum number of shares that can be issue is around 113.5mln.
Earlier this month, the firm released the results of a BFS (bankable feasibility study) for its Cononish gold and silver project.
Elsewhere, Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) hailed progress in all-important cost-cutting as the Russian gold miner battled lower gold prices.
The group, formerly known as Peter Hambro Mining, says it managed to get costs at its main Pioneer and Albyn mines down to about or below US$600 per ounce in the first half.
Total cash costs came in at US$767/oz, down nearly US$100/oz on the 2014 level of US$860/oz.
In oil, payments owed to Gulf Keystone (LON:GKP) continue to mount, the Kurdistan oil firm said on Thursday as it revealed a US$77mln loss for the first half of the year.
GKP reported a 61% rise in first half revenue to US$30.1mln, versus US$18.7mln in 2014, and said it had US$117mln of unbooked revenue up to June 30.
Arrears due to the company, however, now amount to around US$283mln.
In other mining news, a highlight of Galantas Gold's (LON:GAL, CVE:GAL) latest quarter was the receipt of approval for an underground mine at Omagh in Northern Ireland.
After the three months to June 30, the AIM firm also completed a private placing, raising C$2.4mln, or around £1.189mln, with entrepreneur and mining financier Ross Beaty acquiring a near 15% stake.
Elsewhere , shares in drug developer Summit Therapeutics (LON:SUMM, NASDAQ:SMMT) nudged higher in London as it said it was excited about progress in both its clinical programmes.
The London and New York listed company is advancing therapies for the incurable condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and the hospital superbug C. difficile.
Highlights of the last six months include an IPO in the US, which was completed in March 2015 raising a gross US$39.3 million.
More recently, its treatment for DMD- SMT C1100 - achieved a major milestone in the drug candidate’s clinical development when over half the patients receiving higher doses of the drug had what is described as “desired plasma levels”.
Back to diggers, and the highlight of Stratex’s (LON:STI) interim results is surely the comment that construction of the mine at the Altintepe gold project in Turkey is “on track”, and that first gold is due to be poured by the end of the third quarter of this year.
That will be a defining moment for Stratex in its journey from explorer and project generator to producer.
Not many companies make that journey from start to finish, and especially not in markets as troubled as these.