On a busy week for the miners, Sierra Rutile (LON:SRX) caught the eye as it achieved another production record as output in its latest quarter rose by 25% compared to a year ago.
The Sierra Leone-based mineral sands miner produced 38,787 tonnes of rutile and 10,484 tonnes of ilmenite in the three months to December even though it deliberately slowed production in the final month to avoid holding excess working capital.
It meant the company hitting the upper end of its guidance for the year at 126,021 tonnes of rutile, 10% ahead of 2014,
Also making waves was European Metals Holdings (LON:EMH) as it released some of the drill results from its Cinovec project in the Czech Republic.
The company completed four core holes totalling 1655.3 metres at the lithium, tin and tungsten project before the end of 2015.
In other news, Keras Resources (LON:KRS), formerly known as Ferrex is on track to start production from its new gold venture in Australia in the second quarter.
The project, a five-year tribute agreement with Paddington Goldfields, will initially produce 30,000 tonnes per month from two shallow laterite gold pits.
Speaking of production, Anglo Asian Mining (LON:AAZ) produced a record amount of gold in 2015 as its recovery strategy kicked in fully.
The Azerbaijan-based miner produced just short of 18,000 ounces of gold in the last three months of 2015 to make around 72,000 ounces for the whole year, a 19% increase over 2014. Anglo Asia’s forecast was for between 70-75,000 ounces.
Sticking with gold, Mine developer Alexander Nubia International (CVE:AAN) expects drilling to restart at its Hamama gold project in Egypt next month.
Drilling will be concentrated on the Hamima West area of the project, on the the Gold-Oxide Cap where previous drilling intercepted mineralization.
Meanwhile, KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI) has agreed a series of tweaks and refinements to its Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia that have enhanced further the economics of the planned mine.
The changes were made after discussions with potential debt financiers, who will stump up US$100mln of the US$120mln of capital costs of building Tulu Kapi, and after talking to other partners.
Finally, Amur Minerals (LON:AMC) unveiled positive results from analysis of 2015 drilling at part of its Kun Manie project in the Russian Far East and has kicked off the process to update resources there.
Independent laboratory results showed grades from the Maly Kurumkon / Flangovy (MKFL) deposit had understated both the nickel and copper by around 5%.