Asiamet Resources (LON:ARS) said the 2015 drill programme for the Beruang Kanan Main (BKM) deposit in Indonesia is now complete as it released another set of assays that burnish the potential of the resource.
Mineralisation was intercepted in sections from three metres down to 67 metres, returning copper grades of 1.09% to 2.61%.
It was one of a number of big mining stories in the small cap space.
Elsewhere, Sierra Rutile (LON:SRX) is firing on all cylinders it said this week.
The latest update, covering the third quarter, revealed it produced its second-strongest ever quarter with output of 33,960 tonnes rutile.
Xtract Resources (LON:XTR) told investors there appears to be more copper in the group’s copper tailings venture, comprising O'Kiep and Carolusberg, than it had previously assumed.
Drilling at the two projects, in South Africa, has yielded positive results.
Sticking with copper, Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) has more high grade gold-copper intercepts at its Hot Maden project in Turkey.
Local partner Lidya is undertaking a drilling programme to expand the project’s resource and assays from the four latest drill holes were consistent with the high grades and widths seen previously.
In gold news, W Resources (LON:WRES) has increased the size of its CAA/Portalegre exploration licence in Portugal by 101.7 sq km to include the São Martinho gold project.
São Martinho has an unclassified resource estimate of 329,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.37 g/t from limited exploration by a previous owner.
Meanwhile, KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI), the gold specialist putting the finishing touches to financing of its flagship project in Ethiopia, revealed progress on second asset, in Saudi Arabia.
The Jibal Qutman property will be developed as a low-capex conventional open-pit operation once its main mine, Tulu Kapi, is in operation.
From precious metals to precious gems, and good demand for coloured gemstones enabled Gemfields (LON:GEM) to hit another revenue record despite a difficult time for luxury arm Faberge.
Sales in the year to June rose 7% to US$171mln, with underlying profits 9% better at US$64.4mln. Pre-tax profits fell 28% to US$26.3mln.
In other news, Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) has issued an upbeat trading update that revealed production and prices are both moving in a favourable direction.
The AIM-listed anthracite coal mining company operating in Pennsylvania, USA, said turnover in the first nine months of the year was up by around 26% year-on-year to around US$17.8mln from US$14.1mln in the same period of 2014.
Finally, Metal Tiger’s (LON:MTR) expansion has taken another forward step as it secured an option to take control of its Thailand venture.
For a total of US$50,000, it can acquire the remainder of the venture that it doesn’t already own, though the plan is to then assign 10% to a local Thai partner.