Mining stocks appeared to be in vogue today.
Ferrum Crescent Limited (LON:FCR) shares gained ground as it told investors it had completed a programme of six holes at the Toral project in Spain, which all returned visually identified lead-zinc intersections.
The work has led to the firm better understanding the structure of the deposit and it has now kicked off scoping and comparative studies as it begins the journey towards a pre-feasibility study, as well as efforts to expand the resource.
WATCH - 'It doesn't really get any better than this' - Ferrum Crescent's Justin Tooth on Toral drill results
Elsewhere, Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) shares ticked higher as it reported on a strong second quarter operationally and expects output from its mines in Romania and Zimbabwe to continue increasing.
At the Manaila polymetallic mine in Romania, where progress was notable, there was a 41% increase in the three months in the amount mined, compared to the previous quarter this year and a 57% increase in tonnes milled.
There was also a 57% increase in copper concentrate produced, to 828 dry tonnes, and a 19% increase in zinc concentrate produced to 157 dry tonnes.
Wolf Minerals Limited (ASX:WLF, LON:WLFE) interim managing director Richard Lucas told investors that the UK miner is heading into a pivotal time.
The company, in a statement, said that the processing plant turnaround plan is starting to deliver improvements in production – with the plant treating 7% more ore in the three months ended June 30, and concentrate output was up 15%.
It also highlighted that tungsten prices have improved, up 5.9% during the quarter, and the group’s interim management team are now based in the UK, close to the mine.
"The next six months is a pivotal time for Wolf to realise its' objective of becoming a reliable steady-state producer,” Lucas said.
Amur Minerals PLC (LON:AMC) reckons it has added another three years of production at its giant Kun-Manie project in Russia - as it unveiled favourable drilling results from the Kubuk deposit there.
The results are from work between June 30 and July 21 this year, which aimed to drill gaps between the Kubuk and Ikenskoe/Sobolevsky (IKEN) targets, and to upgrade their existing resource to the more certain 'indicated' category.
Amur said the limits of the mineralisation have now been expanded by around 50% from the February 2017 resource model, which contained 14.5mln ore tonnes and 112,000 nickel tonnes (at 0.77%) and 30,000 tonnes of copper (at 0.20%).
It added that the newly defined mineralisation averaged around 14.3 metres (m) thickness per hole with average grades of 0.78% nickel and 0.20% copper.
In other news, Hayward Tyler PLC (LON:HAYT) has set out the timetable for its previously announced all-share merger with fellow engineer Avingtrans (LON:AVG).
As reported previously, shareholders need to approve a scheme of arrangement for it to go through.
To that end, a general meeting at Avingtrans has been set for August 21 at 10am.
Avingtrans shares will be suspended on August 30 and the effective date of the scheme will be August 31, with the enlarged share capital to begin trading on AIM on September 1.
Myanmar-focused MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ) confirmed it is working on a placing to raise funds to set up a mobile payments platform.
A mobile payments platform within Myanmar would involve the creation of digital wallet services, a mobile payment application for processing peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions.
Additional funds would also allow it to consider potential acquisitions and strategic investments.
In management changes, E-commerce enabler Blur Group PLC’s (LON:BLUR) chief financial officer Tim Allen has stepped down, with James Porter assuming the role of interim finance lead.
Antonia Power, in-house legal counsel, becomes company secretary.
Dotdigital Group plc (LON:DOTD) has appointed Phillip Blundell as its interim chief financial officer and will join the board of email specialist once regulatory procedures have been completed.
Blundell previously has been chief financial officer at Eagle Eye Solutions and Intelligent Environments with over 18 years' experience in software businesses.
Milan Patel, dotdigital’s chief executive, said Blundell’s experiences and expertise in operational leadership will be very valuable."