There was a lot of mining news out today in the world of small caps. Kick off with sapphire miner Richland Resources (LON:RLD), which expects production to increase by two-thirds in the current quarter as its Capricorn in Australia mine ramps up.
The miner produced 156,000 carats above the current cut-off of 4mm from the operation in Queensland in the three months to September, with the current quarter forecast to see this rise to 250,000cts.
Speaking of precious gems, at full production, Paragon Diamonds' (LON:PRG) two mines in Lesotho would be comparable to Gem Diamonds' nearby world-class Letseng mine - at over 100,000 carats a year, says Allenby Capital.
From gems to metals, where Turkey focused mine developer Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) has kicked off a new drilling programme at the Kiziltepe sector of its Red Rabbit gold project in a bid to increase the resource there.
Sticking with gold, in less than a month’s time ECR Mining (LON:ECR) will issue an NI43-101 resource update and technical report on its Itogon gold project in the Philippines.
Kefi Minerals (LON:KEFI) is now focused on finalising full development funding for its Tulu Kapi gold mine in Ethiopia ahead of targeted gold production in 2017.
Philippines-focused Metals Exploration (LON:MTL) said Typhoon Koppu, which hit central and northern Luzon on Sunday, caused no structural damage to its operations at Runruno - the gold, moly project.
The firm has started a clean-up of debris and is undertaking repairs to water damaged roads and infrastructure after which it is expecting to return to a normal state within two weeks.
Sula Iron & Gold (LON:SULA) has applied for a IFC loan to establish a small coltan producing operation at Ferensola in Sierra Leone.
Elsewhere, African Potash (LON:AFPO), the exploration company focused on sub-Saharan potash assets, has added vastly experienced Elias Pungong to its board as a non-executive director.
Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) says it's in an "excellent position" following a placing to a new investor, which has brought in £339,060.
In the energy sector, 88 Energy (LON:88E) has acquired the additional information requested for its well permit in Alaska and hopes to start drilling in days.
LGO Energy (LON:LGO) has started discussions over additional funding with its bank after its latest hole in Trinidad was plugged and abandoned after the pipe got stuck.
Speaking of oil, DekelOil (LON:DKL), operator and 51% owner of the Ayenouan palm oil project in Côte d'Ivoire, said its kernel crushing plant is in the wet testing phase and pilot production has commenced.
The operation will produce palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake, which it is hoped will boost the company’s sales and profitability.
In the tech space, Myanmar-focused social media phenomenon, MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ), has hit two major milestones, it said today.
The group this morning reported it had gone through the 1.5mln user mark and, in the same announcement, it revealed it had inked its first service agreement.
Meanwhile, machine-to-machine specialist Telit (LON:TCM) has been awarded a contract worth up to US$220mln as part of the UK’s £11bn smart metering infrastructure project GB SMIP.
Supplies are expected to start in the final quarter of 2016 and continue through to the end of 2021.
The transition to a purely Cloud-based offering with dependable recurring revenues continued in the third quarter at portfolio analysis tools provider StatPro (LON:SOG).
In other news, Venn Life Sciences (LON:VENN) has completed the acquisition of Kinesis Pharma and strengthened its board at the same time.
Finally, Michelmersh Brick (LON:MBH) said its full-year profits will exceed market expectations as it updated on trading.
It said its better than expected performance was aided by operating efficiencies, continued low energy costs and additional capacity from Freshfield Lane, in West Sussex.