Lekoil (LON:LEK) has confirmed that the Otakikpo field, in Nigeria, has now achieved first oil.
The field, located in a ‘shoreline’ location, has begun producing after testing over the weekend.
It was one of a number of stories on a hectic day in the small cap world.
Elsewhere in the oil and gas sector, LGO Energy (LON:LGO) completed the last of the development wells planned for 2015 at Goudron in Trinidad.
Range Resources (LON:RRL) told investors it spudded the MD 42N well at the Morne Diablo field in Trinidad.
Meanwhile, Maghreb Petroleum gave Sound Oil (LON:SOU) two months to carry out due diligence work and negotiate a deal to buy its subsidiary that owns a 25% working interest in the Sidi Moktar licence.
To mining – and KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI) provided a double dose of good news as it revealed planned output from its Ethiopia gold project has grown significantly and said a winning bidder has emerged for the contract to mine the Tulu Kapi deposit.
Tulu Kapi is now expected to produce 100,000 ounces of the precious metal a year over a decade rather than 75,000 ounces over 13 years.
In other gold-related news, Noricum Gold (LON:NMG) has hired a mining and exploration expert as senior advisor to help it to upgrade and convert the current resource at the Bolnisi copper and gold project in Georgia to JORC standard.
China Nonferrous Gold (LON:CNG) has awarded the processing and smelting agreement for its Pakrut gold project in Tajikistan.
Aureus Mining (LON:AUE TSX:AUE) has sold the first gold produced from its New Liberty Mine in Liberia.
Nicaragua-focused gold explorer Condor Gold (LON:CNR) is considering all options including a sale of the company in a strategic review of where it goes from here.
Away from gold, Harvest Minerals (LON:HMI) debuted on London’s Aim market on 7 September, following a solid pre-listing marketing effort over the summer and riding on the coat-tails of an impressive news release from its Arapua potash project in Brazil.
Exploration group Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) has decided to drop its option over the Soledad copper and gold project in Peru.
Coloured gemstone specialist Gemfields (LON:GEM) reported a successful auction of high quality rough emerald and amethyst stones in Singapore, which produced revenues of over US$35mln.
The emerald sale from the Kagem mine in Zambia between Aug 31 and Sep 4 saw 0.6 million carats placed on offer, with 18 of the 19 lots offered sold, generating US$34.7 million, demonstrating that prices of emeralds remain robust, the firm said.
In other news, a robust financial showing meant Avation (LON:AVAP) could hike the dividend 49% to 3 cents a share backed by a bumper US$108.6mln in cash (up from US$23.4mln a year earlier).
While revenues for the 12 months to June 30 jumped 17 to US$56.9mln, underlying profits fell slightly to US$13.2mln.
Sticking with things that fly, Haydale Graphene's (LON:HAYD) composites division is to collaborate on an aerospace research project in a bid to produce a material less likely to be damaged in the event of an aircraft lightning strike.
In property news, Midlands-focused property company Real Estate Investors (LON:RLE) has raised £4.0mln through the sale of two non-core properties from its portfolio.
Elsewhere, Accor’s Mercure division will be the partner for Action Hotels’ (LON:AHCG) 130-room operation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it was revealed Monday.
In the tech space, mobile commerce firm Proxama (LON:PROX) has struck a new contract with the UK's largest provider of taxi advertising, which will allow passengers in London to receive content when they have hired a cab.
Galasys (LON:GLS) is to work with Disney associate Shanghai International Theme Park to develop a platform for third parties to sell admission tickets for its Parks and theatres.
Workforce management specialist ServicePower Technologies (LON:SVR) has applied for three new patents for its newest algorithm, Quantum Annealing.
In the US, Versarien (LON:VRS) was granted patent protection for its volume graphene platelet production process.
It adds to existing patent protection for the graphene production process that had already been granted in Europe.
Finally, Brady (LON:BRY) is beefing up its recycling offering. The company is paying US$2.0mln (£1.3mln) for ScrapRunner, a product aimed at the US recycling and scrap metal market.