Gold stocks had big week after the latest escalation in North Korean missile testing and the weak dollar sent the metal price above US$1,300.
London’s biggest gold miner Randgold Resources Limited (LON:RRS) climbed back above £80 on Friday.
Elsewhere, Berkeley Energia Limited (LON:BKY) has arranged the finance to bring its Salamanca uranium project into production through a US$120mln convertible loan and option package with Oman’s sovereign wealth fund.
The deal will see Oman become a substantial shareholder in the company, with an option to become an offtake partner.
Tharisa PLC (LON:THS) has taken over the operation and sales and marketing functions of Lonmin’s (LON:LMI) K3 UG2 chrome plant at the Marikana mine in South Africa.
Subsidiary Arxo Metals will run the plant and aims to boost metal recoveries to levels seen at Tharisa’s own operations, where 68% chrome was recovered in the half year to March.
Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC) said drilling this summer has confirmed the presence of another massive nickel deposit at its Kun-Manie licence in Far East Russia.
A 20,000m drill campaign showed that the Ikenskoe/Sobolevsky and Kubuk targets are in fact a single deposit of more than 4km in length and possibly as much as 5km.
“Merging of the two deposits will expand our nickel resource to more than a million tonnes of nickel alone said Robin Young, chief executive.
Metal Tiger PLC’s (LON:MTR) copper and silver project in Botswana has continued to outperform its expectations as it agreed an exploration budget with joint venture partner MOD Resources.
The joint venture partners have decided on a budget of A$10mln for the year starting 1 October to fast-track the drilling of district-scale copper targets at the T3 project.
Wolf Minerals Limited (LON:WLFE ASX:WLF) reported a double boost from improvements in both its operating performance and the price of tungsten. The Plymouth-based miner has also received a further £5mln in bridging finance from Resource Capital, making £45mln in total it has received from its major shareholder.
Katoro Gold PLC (LON: KAT) has reported continuing significant progress being made on the Imweru resource development program in Tanzania, which is ahead of schedule and within budget.
In a statement, Katoro’s executive chairman Louis Coetzee, also noted that the group has been “one of the first, if not the very first company “ to successfully export geological /metallurgical samples under Tanzania’s new mining legislation.
Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) has received A$8,124 as the first royalty payment from gold production at the Spring Hill project in Australia, which it sold in February 2016 for A$3.5mln.
Strategic Minerals PLC’s (LON:SML) managing director, John Peters will double his holding in the minerals production and development company to 20 mln shares after he exercises a portion of his currently vested options.
In a stock market statement, the AIM-listed firm said Peters has provided a notice that he wishes to exercise options over 10 mln shares in the tranche, expiring 30 June 2018, at a price of 1p per share for a total of £100,000.
Orosur Mining Inc (LON: OMI) produced 35,371 ounces of gold from its Uruguay operations in the full year to May 31 2017, following a significant increase in production in the fourth quarter. The average gold price received was US$1,258 per ounce.