A fairly mixed offering in a late August week, with Strategic Minerals (LON:SML) reporting a sharp pick up in iron ore revenues in the three months to June.
The group operates a magnetite tailings operation at Cobre in New Mexico and income rose to US$327,000 (US$170,000) with tonnage shipped almost doubling to 4,839.
For the 12 months to June, revenues rose to US$1.32mln from US$887,000.
Strategic added there was also potential to raise sales at Cobre ‘significantly’.
“Underlying sales are on the rise in Cobre with a new large client commencing shipments in August.
“Should other sales remain unaffected, and the new client maintains their expected demand, sales volumes could significantly increase in the coming year,” it said.
Elsewhere, Metals Exploration Plc (LON:MTL) has said it needs another immediate injection of funds after delays in getting its Runruno gold mine in the Philippines up and running.
Just last month the group raised US$5mln but major debt restructuring discussions have yet to be resolved and revenue from a first gold sale is not expected until late September.
Currently the company is required to pay interest accruing on a US$15mln capital payment on a monthly basis
Talks have started with its major shareholders but no agreement has been reached as yet.
Junior miner North River Resources PLC (LON:NRRP) strengthened the management of its subsidiary in Namibia while its waits for a permit to restart the Namib mine.
Asser Kapere, Ratonda Katjivikua, and Francois du Plessis have all become directors of NLZM, the locally based holder of the Namib project, it emerged this week.
North River submitted an amended licence application for Namib in April to address the Namibian government’s requirement for local ownership, poverty eradication and managerial opportunities for Namibians.
That application is still being considered North River said today with no indication from the Ministry of Mines when or if a licence will be granted.
On Friday, African Potash (LON:AFPO) said it received an order for 1,500 Metric Tonnes (Mt) of urea from the state-run Zambia Co-Operative Federation (ZCF).
The order comes under the scope of the Zambia government’s e-voucher scheme and is part of a fertiliser supply agreement previously agreed.
Under the E-Voucher Scheme, the Zambia government provides farmers with a voucher with a value that is used to buy agricultural inputs from specified, government approved outlets without cash changing hands.
Meanwhile, Metal Tiger PLC’s (LON:MTR) Logrosán gold and tungsten joint venture has applied to increase the acreage it controls around Extremadura in Spain.
The venture company has applied for the San Cristóbal Sur licence immediately to the south and adjoining the current Zorita and San Cristóbal exploration licence areas.
The licence will secure the southerly extension of the Logrosán South gold-in-soil anomaly announced earlier this month, said the resource investor.
In other news, Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN) has confirmed the closing of a £580,000 share placing.
The group told investors the injection of funds will be used for general working capital, as well as supporting continuing costs related to its Vametco transaction.
It also supports the group’s work in respect of a cooperation agreement with the IDC, and continuing work on Lemur Resources IPP project in Madagascar.
To silver, and Arian Silver Corporation plc (LON:AGQ, CVE:AGQ) has been given more time to decide whether it wants to option Tierra Nueva Mining's (TNM) Noche Buena gold and silver tailings project in Mexico.
On May 4, the firm revealed it had paid US$25,000 to evaluate the site exclusively for 120 days.
That has now been extended, at no extra cost, by 60 days to October 28 this year.
Arian is currently in the throes of metallurgical testworks at the site, where a previous NI 43- 10 report for TNM in 2012 showed an indicated resource containing 1 million tonnes with 3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 55 g/t silver, representing around 100,000 ounces (oz) of gold and some 1.7 million ounces of silver.
In production news, Vast Resources (LON:VAST) Pickstone-Peerless gold mine (PPGM) pulled out all the stops in the second quarter of 2016
Both production and operating costs metrics topped market expectations, according to Vast Resources’ chief executive Roy Pitchford.
There was a 14% quarter-on-quarter increase in ore milled at 61,577 tonnes and a 62% hike in gold produced at 4,542 ounces.
Elsewhere, Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) has identified two more high priority copper targets at the Concordia project in South Africa.
There are now seven high priority targets at Concordia, while Minxcon Consulting, which carried out the desktop analysis of historical data, had identified 27 other potential targets.
As a result, Galileo estimates the project contains 799mln host lithology tons, which contain 50% mineralised host at a mean grade 0.57% copper.
Premier African Minerals Ltd (LON:PREM) said more sampling needs to be performed at the RHA tungsten project in Zimbabwe as grades have shown extreme variability.
As the company announced a convertible loan note agreement to raise funds to tide it over, it said grades at RHA range from sub-economic levels to an eye-popping 300 kilograms (kg) per ton over a short strike distance, which may make the application of normal geo-statistical methodologies unreliable.
Ore from underground operations fed through the plant has returned a head grade greater than 4kg per ton and a recovery of up to 70% of the contained metal. Concentrate produced is at grades of up to 65%.
The target throughput at the plant is 8,000 tons per month at a grade of 6kg per ton and a recovery of 80% of contained wolframite.