Mining and oil dominated the news in the world of small caps today.
Starting with Amara Mining (LON:AMA), which said its 2015 drill programme at the Yaoure project has demonstrated its potential to become a large, low cost gold mine.
The results of the programme, which spanned 11,904 metres of drilling, has also increased the company’s confidence in the opportunity for a starter pit in the northern area of mine’s central zone.
Elsewhere in the mining sector, Stratex International (LON:STI) continues to make excellent progress with the start-up of the Altintepe mine in Turkey, where the cold-commissioning phase has now been completed.
Pre-operational testing has been completed across the site, which is 45% owned by the AIM quoted mining junior.
Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) unearthed more high grade gold mineralisation at the Salahi 1 prospect, within Block 4, Oman.
The company says field work, following up previous sampling and mapping, has increased the gold potential of Block 4. Grab samples contained grades of up to 13.9 grams per tonne. Trenching included 12 metres of mineralisation at 11.87 grams per tonne.
Sticking with the yellow metal, Shanta Gold (LON:SHG) said its New Luika gold mine is on-track to meet production guidance.
Production is expected to be within 72,000 to 77,000 ounces, and Shanta added that costs are being maintained within the ‘all-in sustaining costs’ budget of US$850 to US$900 per ounce.
Away from gold, Elsewhere, Rare Earth Minerals (LON:REM) has topped up its stake in Bacanora Minerals (LON:BCN, CVE:BCN) as it ramps up its drilling programme in Mexico.
The junior miner bought £181,405 worth of shares in Bacanora, taking its total holding to 17.02% from 16.8%.
In the oil sector, 88 Energy (LON:88E) said it is confident of securing the final two permits for its first Alaskan onshore well after passing a significant milestone.
The authorities of America’s most northerly state signed off the lease plan of operations for the drilling of Icewine-1 – meaning it has now entered the exploration phase
Meanwhile, Independent Resources (LON:IRG) identified two new substantial exploration leads at the Ksar Hadada project in Tunisia.
The leads, identified via a recent remote sensing survey as well as existing 2D seismic, are found within the in the prolific Acacus play prevalent, in the Ghadames Basin of North Africa.
Graphene Nanochem (LON:GRPH) secured a commercial order for its PlatQuartz lubricant additive from Scomi Oiltools.
The order is worth US$390,000 and is to be deployed to an oil and gas company in India for a 3-well drilling programme.
In pharma news, Constellation Healthcare Technologies (LON:CHT) is on the lookout for more acquisitions as it reported higher first-half revenue and profit.
Constellation, which supplies practice management and other services to US hospitals and clinics, has raised £12mln for acquisitions and on Wednesday announced a deal to buy Northstar First Health.
Elsewhere, specialty pharma group Clinigen (LON:CLIN) brokered a strategic alliance with NASDAQ-listed Cumberland Pharmaceuticals that extends the distribution capabilities of both firms.
The partnership will harness the “respective strengths, expertise and geographical footprints to maximise the commercial potential of future products”, Clinigen said.
To tech - where MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ), the Myanmar-language social media and entertainment platform, said it has the repaid US$256,688 it borrowed from Rising Dragon Singapore.
The decision to wipe out the debt reflects the fact that the firm’s cash balances are “significantly higher” than expected because user acquisition costs and operating expenses have fallen.
Rosslyn Data Technologies (LON:RDT) said it had a “broad pipeline” of new business as it revealed what it described as an “encouraging” set of prelims.
The results revealed the company was sitting on net cash of around £4.7mln as at the end of April after spending £4.1mln in the year just gone.
Finally, the directors of Ebiquity (LON:EBQ) announced it will pay its final dividend on October 9, with the last day of trading before it goes ex-div being September 17.