A flurry of junior mining news this week, including Eurasia Mining plc (LON:EUA) posting a major milestone for the Semenovsky Tailings Project (STP) in Russia - a maiden reserve.
The entire tailings dam has been approved at Russian C2 standard to total 2.99mln tonnes of ore grading 1.18 g/t gold and 16.44 g/t silver.
The contained metal was calculated as 3.53 tonnes gold and 49.28 tonnes of silver.
Eurasia is partnered at the site with resource investor Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTC) and a heads of terms signed last November allows them to acquire 67% of the project, which is owned by OOO Metallurg Complect.
Elsewere, gold recovery firm Goldplat PLC (LON:GDP) told investors it was profitable in the final quarter of the financial year after a “strong” three months.
A total of 11,095 ounces of gold and gold equivalent were produced by the South Africa business.
In Ghana 304 ounces of gold was produced with 947 ounces sold (the difference between the two figures owed to the fact the GDP is currently running down existing stocks).
Kilimapesa, Kenya’s first gold mine, produced 570 ounces of the yellow metal.
Sticking with gold, Xtract Resources PLC (LON:XTA) issued this week an update on progress at its Chepica gold mine in Chile.
Testwork undertaken by well-known mining industry consultant SGS Lakefield in South Africa has shown that before the current refurbishment got underway previous processing operations at Chepica used a grind size in the crushing plant that “was not optimal.”
SGS has now worked out a new optimal grind size after concluding that the old flotation circuit would as a consequence have been unable to deliver the required recoveries.
Hummingbird Resources (LON:HUM) has also been busy. It said the construction of a hydro-electric plant (HEP) close to its Dugbe Gold Project in Liberia could have a “material impact” on the economics of the planned mine, said chief executive Dan Betts.
His comment followed the publication of a pre-feasibility study assessing the potential benefits and costs of constructing a facility.
The work, funded by IFC InfraVentures, an offshoot of the World Bank, put the capital investment required at US$51.5-US$143.5mln, dependent on size of option selected, which ranged from 10-30 megawatts of electricity.
Weighing in at 4.2mln ounces of the yellow metal, Dugbe is the country’s largest gold deposit.
Using a natural, green and, crucially, a cheap source of electricity will likely cut overheads significantly as power costs make up one-third of total operating expenses.
This week's interim results from Mariana Resources Limited (LON:MARL, CVE:MRY) charted an ‘exceptional’ period in which the full potential of the Hot Maden gold-copper project became apparent.
Drilling produced some high-grade results, including a bonanza 71-metre section at almost 33 grams per tonne and 1.9% copper.
The work was distilled down into an updated resources statement published shortly after the period end, which bumped the indicated gold resources to 2.79mln ounces, while the copper component weighed in at 166,000 tonnes.
Combined this was the equivalent of 3.43mln ounces of the precious metal, which represented a near 70% increase on the last updated figure of just under 2mln ounces gold equivalent.
Shares in copper miner Weatherly International plc (LON:WTI) rose last week as it made a further amendment to its loan repayment schedule with Orion Mine Finance.
The repayment of Facility C has been deferred to February 28 next year at no extra charge to Weatherly, it said.
The firm has said previously that US$8.6mln was lent to it under facilities C and D.
Speaking of cash, NQ Minerals Plc (ISDX:NQMI) which is bidding to unlock the silver held in vast stockpiles at the Ukalunda project in Queensland, is set to receive a $2.5mln cash boost as White Fox Ventures Inc (OTCQB:AWAW) is investing in the company, it emerged this week.
Shinsuke Nakano, White Fox chief executive, in a statement said: “Gold is a safe and prudent harbor given current international economic trends.
“We believe NQ Minerals has a stellar management team with terrific experience and great track record.
“We are behind their strategy and we shall continue to explore joint venture opportunities."
Rare earths explorer Mkango Resources (LON:MKA, CVE:MKA) revealed a second quarter, which charted significant progress and it sees a positive outlook for prices of rare earths and uranium.
The results are the first since it listed on London's AIM on June 15, raising £1mln in the process, which will provide for 18 months' working capital, it said today.
For the three months to end June, and in keeping with an explorer, the firm posted a net loss of US$699,213 (2015: US$1.17mln).
Cash at end of period was US$1.12mln compared to $62,303 at the same time last year.
It's been a busy few weeks. Earlier this month it said it had identified two more potential rare earths targets at its Phalombe licence in Malawi from an airborne survey funded by the World Bank.
Meanwhile, Solgold PLC (LON:SOLG) has inked a conditional agreement with Australian mining heavyweight Newcrest under the terms of which Newcrest looks set to take a 10% stake in the company.
The deal needs to be put to shareholders at a vote, but the board of Solgold has said that it will recommend that the subscription deal goes ahead, “subject to no superior proposal being received".
That last statement points to a significant truth about this deal: Solgold has been promoting the sometimes stunning intercepts at its Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador for some years ago, and it’s always looked likely that at some stage Cascabel would be taken out by a bigger player.