It was another busy day for energy companies on London’s alternative investment market.
Red Rock Resources (LON:RRR) is to be a new partner of Northcote Energy (LON:NCT) at the Shoats Creek field, in Louisiana.
Andrew Bell’s Red Rock has, with the assistance of Northcote, agreed an option deal with project stakeholder Shoats Creek Development Inc (SDI) that sees the AIM company acquire a 20% working interest (14% net revenue interest) in two new wells.
It is set to cost Red Rock between US$500,000 and US$600,000 in aggregate.
Primeline Energy (CVE:PEH) has completed drilling of the LS23-1-1 well, offshore China.
The well, drilled to a depth of 2,666 metres, encountered several zones of gas bearing sandstone with net pay measured at 14 metres, the company said; however, further analysis revealed it was unlikely to be a commercially viable find.
LekOil (LON:LEK) has confirmed it has now closed a US$46mln share placing to fund its acquisition of a controlling stake in a potentially high impact exploration asset in Nigeria.
Yesterday, in an after-hours statement, the African oil and gas company announced it had agreed to buy a the stake in OPL 325, which is host to several large prospects amounting to 5.7bn barrels of estimated oil in place.
It is paying a total of US$40mln to acquire a 62% interest in the project; by acquiring 88.57% of the operator Ashbert Oil and Gas Limited, which owns 70% of OPL 325.
In other funding news, security systems specialist Westminster Group (LON:WSG) has raised £1mln through a convertible loan note agreement with what are described as “high quality” strategic investors.
It will support business development costs, namely those associated with an expansion of ferry services in West Africa.
In the mining sector, Metals Exploration (LON:MTL) has been served a suspension order for certain mine construction works whilst it deals with impacts from Typhoon Lando (Koppu).
The super-typhoon passed close to the Runruno mine development project and as a result the site was affected by two days of high winds and intense rain fall.
It must carry out rehabilitation and clean up works to the areas affected by excessive water run-off.
Mariana Resources (LON:MARL, TSE:MRY) has notified shareholders it will file a technical report for the Hot Maden project, in Turkey, into Canada’s SEDAR system.
Rare Earth Minerals (LON:REM) announced its shares began trading on the ISDX Growth Market under the ticker REM this morning.
Wolf Minerals’ (LON:WLFE) Hemerdon mine near Plymouth in Devon, is running for seven days a week on a trial basis.
Wolf said today that some supply is being withdrawn from the market with some producers shutting down and lower overall trading volumes than in previous years.
Wolf added that new supply from projects outside of China is expected to be limited for the next few years, which may result in a tighter supply scenario.
The board rooms of Britain’s growth companies have seen some comings and goings today, and it is little surprise to find African Potash’s name featuring among those making appointments.
African Potash (LON:AFPO) has added its fourth new board member in the last two weeks.
Lord Peter Hain, who rose to prominence in the seventies as an anti-apartheid campaigner, will join the fertiliser specialist as a non-executive director from December.
Hain was a cabinet minister for seven years and a government minister for five years, and held positions including Foreign Minister, Europe Minister and Energy Minister.
Victoria Oil & Gas (LON:VOG) has hired Ahmet Dik to run its Cameroon operating subsidiary Gaz du Cameroun (GDC).
Dik, a lawyer by profession, will be GDC chief executive and will also be a director of VOG.
He has been involved with the company for two years and was key to the commercial deal with ENEO Cameroon, which enabled a significant expansion of the GDC operation.
Iofina (LON:IOF) has shuffled its board with the addition of Neil Hekking as executive director.
He will serve as chief financial officer (CFO), having previously worked in senior financial roles at a number of firms, including plastics maker RTP as European controller.
Current finance director Michael Coddington, who has held the position since April last year, will step down from the board.
In the medtech space, diagnostic kit specialist Epistem’s (LON:EHP) results for the year to June were affected by a weakening in demand for its research and personalised medicines businesses.
Sales dropped to £4.5mln (£5.8mln), while losses rose to £3.4mln from £2.35mln, which included heavier spending on Genedrive’s development.
Cash reserves at the year-end were £4.9mln.
Life sciences research firm Horizon Discovery Group (LON:HZD) has launched a new eCommerce platform and integrated web-shop to boost its sales leads.
“These systems are designed to substantially increase the number of sales leads generated, connecting customers, in particular academic, with Horizon's catalogue of over 20,000 cell lines and in vivo models, and clinical labs with the company's extensive collection of reference standards," it said.
Finally, mobile app group Globo (LON:GBO) has confirmed it is facing an investigation from the Financial Conduct Authority after its chief executive revealed evidence of falsified accounts at the weekend.
The company added it had also reported this matter to the appropriate law enforcement agencies in the UK, Greece and Cyprus.