A fairly busy week for the small cap diggers but lets start with a titan.
Ivan Glasenberg, commodity giant Glencore PLC’s (LON:GLEN) chief executive, said the group's situation had never been better as underlying profits jumped by 81% and it resumed dividend payments.
Shareholders will get a 7c payout following a jump in net income to US$2bn (US$1.3bn) and underlying profits to US$3.9bn as base metal and coal prices recovered strongly over the year.
“Since our IPO in 2011 and subsequent acquisition and integration of Xstrata, Glencore has never been so well positioned as it is today”, said Glasenberg.
It is a far cry from the end of 2015 when Glencore’s share price had collapsed and there was talk it might not survive the commodity price slump.
Meanwhile, to the other end of the spectrum and Ironridge Resources Limited (LON:IRR) received another batch of high grade gold indications from its early stage gold project in Chad, Africa.
Latest rock samples were from an untouched area, Nabagay, it identified from structural analysis with 34.1g/t, 3.76g/t, 2.53g/t and 1.9g/t gold the best of the results.
Ironridge is also to start a 4km trenching programme at Dorothe, 25km away, to test a 3 x 1km mineralised zone that has seen extensive artisanal workings.
Soil sampling has also identified more potential at the high-grade Am Ouchar gold prospect, while geographical overviews have been completed over Ouaddaï South region by SRK Consulting.
Elsewhere, Kolar Gold Ltd (LON:KGLD) is undergoing a name change effective Monday that will be more reflective of its future direction.
This is as a revenue-generating, mine-to-market business rather than one that spent several largely unsuccessful years trying to rehabilitate an Indian gold mine.
As Lionsgold (LON:LION) it will have three plausible shots on goal – a mining partnership that draws on its historic ties to the sub-continent; a joint-venture in Finland; and a fintech opportunity that allows people to invest in precious metals.
After a changing of the guards, the company is now led by Cameron Parry, founder of AIM-quoted mining investment vehicle Metal Tiger and co-founder of blockchain pioneer Coinsilium. He’s joined by Luke Cairns, former managing partner of City broker Northland Capital.
To Indonesia and Asiamet Resources Limited (LON:ARS) revealed it had carried out analysis of historic data for the area around its BKM copper deposit in Indonesia, which points to the huge potential of the property.
It looked at a three-kilometre radius and assessed three targets - Beruang Kanan West (BKW), Beruang Kanan South (BKS) and the BKZ polymetallic prospects (BKZ).
At BKW there were multiple copper mineralised sheeted vein zones found within 2.5-square kilometres. There were also well three copper-in-soil anomalies that coincided with these vein zones.
The most eye-catching result from BKS was a rock chip outcrop sample with a copper grade of 12.3%. There was also 18.2 grams per tonne of gold and 41 grams of silver.
Diversified mineral development company Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN) is set to have a new partner when it completes the acquisition of Vametco Holding.
Bushveld has agreed to facilitate a change in the ownership of one of Vametco's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partners.
Jaxson 640, led by investment professional Bill Chipane, is to acquire a controlling interest in the BEE shareholdings in Vametco from a consortium led by Avacap, giving it a 21.2% stake in Vametco.
Finally some broker coverage, and a trip to Premier African Minerals PLC’s (LON:PREM) RHA site in Zimbabwe has eased concern over water availability at the tungsten mine, said Shore Capital yesterday.
“In 2015, water availability was an issue of significant concern to us, with the on-site dam at a very low ebb.
“The situation improved markedly in 2016, but we were nevertheless very pleasantly surprised to see just how full the dam had become by the time of our latest visit.
Water from boreholes, underground dewatering and return water from processing are now expected to be able to sustain RHA’s operations going forward, with the dam relegated to backup status added Shore.
Grades may also come in higher than expected as inferred resources are grading at 2.4kg/t against 1.5kg/t for the indicated.
At the time of Shore’s visit, RHA was on track for processing operations to recommence in March, with throughput targeted to reach 7,500mtu/month and 10,000mtu/month in the second and third quarters.
At 7,500mtu/month, the miner expects to generate cash of US$0.2m/month even at current subdued tungsten prices.