Hummingbird Resources Ltd (LON:HUM) was cheering this week as it revealed the government of Mali had made an US$11mln investment in the local subsidiary that controls its Yanfolila gold project.
It has exercised an option to take 10% of Société Des Mines De Komana as well as having an ‘non-dilutable’ free carried interest in the same number of shares.
"I believe this is a clear signal of the government's appreciation of the enormous value accretion potential of Yanfolila in the long term,” said chief executive Dan Betts.
Mine construction began last autumn with the first gold expected to be poured by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, earlier in the development curve, Goldstone Resources Ltd (LON:GRL) has been encouraged by the results of a short auger drilling programme at its Homase-Akrokerri project in Ghana.
The programme was undertaken to test three of the initial nine targets identified from the review of the 2012 VTEM survey.
Test results from all three targets demonstrate some gold anomalies, with two zones being of particular significance.
The first of these, dubbed Eureka, has a marked anomaly over a strike of a least 200 metres.
Shares in dual-listed Mkango Resources Ltd (LON:MKA, CVE:MKA) shot up in London as it announced plans to start exploration on its Thambani uranium project.
Following recent management site visits, Mkango plans to commence its 2017 exploration programme in the Thambani licence area, in Malawi, during the first quarter.
The decision follows the airborne geophysics survey last year that was funded by the World Bank.
Premier African Minerals Ltd (LON:PREM) has reported an issue of additional equity, due to the exercise of loan notes.
Darwin Capital has exercised £600,000 worth of loans into equity, taking 294.6mln new shares priced at 0.203634p
The AIM quoted mining junior said that remaining, un-exercised, loan notes are presently worth a further £675,000.
Earlier this week, the company announced what it described as encouraging initial results from drilling at the Zulu lithium and tantalum project in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, StratMin Global Resources Plc (LON:STGR) is poised to buy specialist Australian gold explorer Signature Gold Ltd after signing a binding heads of agreement in a deal worth over £9.5mln.
As has been widely reported, Stratmin has been mulling various opportunities across various industries over the last six months.
Signature's portfolio was valued in December last year at A$21mln or around £12.75mln and consists of a development pipeline of at least half a dozen projects.
It's focused on what's called large-scale intrusive related gold system assets in Queensland.
Significantly, Signature also holds the option to acquire the Kasperske Hory gold project in the Czech Republic, which is currently owned by private firm Elbrus Resources Ltd.
Elsewhere, Shanta Gold PLC (LON:SHG) received this week a bullish write-up from SP Angel as the Tanzania-based miner switches to underground production at its New Luika mine.
The resource specialist broker believes that the move underground allied to exploration in satellite areas and at new deposits such as Singida in Tanzania will substantially extend the production profile.
In 2016, New Luika produced 88,000oz of gold at an all-in-cost (AISC) cost of $661/oz.
Guidance for 2017 is 80-85,000oz at $800-850/oz AISC.
The latest drilling results at Ilunga, the third biggest gold deposit in the portfolio, saw its resource expand to 258,000oz at 4.6/gt from 74koz at 3.5g/t , which should see a mine plan update later this year.