Connemara Mining Company PLC (LON:CON) took a hit late on as exploration in Inishowen in Donegal, Ireland unearthed plenty of base metals but no gold.
“We took a leap of faith,” said John Teeling, chairman.
“We found lead/zinc and silver grades but no gold. We will now look at a programme to follow the high grade [gold] vein over a shorter distance."
Shares tumbled 17% to 1.79p.
Scotgold Resources PLC (LON:SGZ) had better news as it was given permission to extend a bulk processing trial at its Cononish project in the Trossachs.
It can now carry on until March 2018 and learn more about the metallurgy of the gold project said chief executive Richard Gray.
Shares rose 9% to 0.625p.
But news gets no better for printer St Ives PLC (LON:SIV), which has just lost a contract to print books for HarperCollins.
While not a material contract at 3% of revenues, it will knock £3.5bn off 2018’s profits with a further £4.5mln in one-off costs.
Shares fell 14% to 62.44p.
12.45pm..China Africa Resources surges on US lithium acquisition
Lithium continues to fascinate and entrance investors in equal measure.
News that China Africa Resources PLC (LON:CAF) had agreed to take up to a 47.5% stake in private Aussie firm US Lithium (USL) was enough to put 50% on its share price.
USL has interests in four lithium exploration licences in Arizona and New Mexico and will use the money it is getting from CAF to up its exploration programme..
Shares rose 46% to 3.83p.
Trinidad-based oiler Range Resources Ltd (LON:RRL) has completed a US$20mln convertible note financing.
The notes replace part of a payable balance due to contractor LandOcean Energy Services (at the time of the note issue the outstanding balance was US$35.9mln).
If the notes are fully converted, the contractor would own just under 20% of the company’s enlarged share capital. Shares rose 5% to 0.37p.
FlowGroup PLC crashed 16% to 5.125p as it said it was mulling a withdrawal from the small microCHP boiler market in the UK due to changes to the feed-in-tariff system.
Instead it will concentrate on a roll-out in Europe and will consider a sale of its Flow Energy business to fund it.
9.4apm...Nanene just the job for Versarien
Versarien PLC (LON:VRS) headed to the top of the risers as it launched Nanene, its own branded graphene product.
Shares rose 28% to 15p.
Versarien uses its own technology to separate layers of graphite to make Nanene, which is sheets of graphene less than ten atoms thick, with the majority less than five atoms thick.
The new product will be targeted at high-end applications such as carbon fibre composites.
One order was already announced in November and Neill Ricketts, chief executive, said he expects more to follow soon.
Nanene can be produced in large volumes at market leading prices, he added.
blur Group plc (LON:BLUR) was another big riser as it pointed to further improvements in EBITDA [underlying profits], operating costs and cash burn. As a result 2016 EBITDA should be ahead of expectations, said the e-marketplace group.
Shares rose 11% to 8.18p.
Dunelm Group PLC (LON:DNLM) slumped 9% to 624.5p as pre-tax profits dipped 11% to £67mln in the half year to December or by 26% to £55.9mln adding in the losses from the recently acquired online garden and childcare group Worldstores.
Not even a hefty dividend increase could help shares in the homewares retailer, which tumbled 9% to 624.5p.