Metminco Ltd (LON:MNC) shares increased after the miner said it achieved “several significant milestones” in the quarter ended 30 September.
During the period, the group received environmental approval in Colombia to construct an underground development covering the Miraflores exploration licence. Metminco said the approval by the Corporacion Autonoma Del Risaralda will allow the company to expose previously defined ore zones and complete infill diamond drilling for stope definition before a final decision on constructing the processing facilities and supporting infrastructure.
The company also completed a maiden ore reserve estimate for its wholly-owned Miraflores gold project in Colombia of 4.3mln tonnes at 3.3 grams per tonne of gold for 456,000 ounces (oz) contained gold and 357,000 oz contained silver, and announced this to the market on 18 October 2017.
The group also finished a feasibility study for the potential development of the project, which supported the ore reserve estimate.
Shares gained 11.11% to 3.75p.
Pantheon Resources Plc (LON:PANR) shares dipped after saying its VOBM2H well in Polk County has encountered difficulties during drilling.
The group said this means a “sub-optimal” well completion that will impact flow rates.
"Given the expected commissioning of the gas processing facility within the next fortnight, VOBM2H will remain shut in until facility commissioning has been completed and the well can flow directly into the facility and pipeline,” the company said.
“This will allow the company to benefit from being able to sell (rather than flare) the tested natural gas, while saving the additional cost of testing equipment.”
Shares were 5.75% lower at 53.25p.
2.00pm: Red Emperor Resources rallies
Red Emperor Resources plc (LON:RMP) said it reviewing two exploration opportunities after entering a joint venture with an oil and gas firm to identify strategic leases in California.
Shares jumped 21.78% to 1.37p.
Under a heads of term agreement signed with the unnamed explorer, Red Emperor will earn a 60% interest in the newly established joint venture in return for funding 100% of lease acquisition costs.
The company said it is “currently reviewing two exploration opportunities at high level, with a number of other assets having been introduced and considered”.
Boxhill Technologies PLC (LON:BOX) was under the cosh after reporting a drop in first half revenue and a wider operating loss.
The technology company, which provides products and services to the lottery and e-commerce industries, said revenue fell to £559,000 in the six months to 31 July from £1.13mln a year ago while the operating loss grew to 3358,000 from 3288,000.
“Unfortunately certain planned first half revenues have slipped into the second half due to circumstances outside the group's control,” the group explained.
Shares declined 15.79% to 0.08p.
11.30am: SolGold shares up on positive sampling results in Ecuador
SolGold PLC (LON:SOLG) shares shot higher after announcing high grade copper and gold sampling results from a project in Ecuador.
Rock chip samples collected from the wholly-owned Machos - Florida Santa Cruz- La Hueca project returned high grade copper and gold mineralisation across a broad 5km x 1km zone over an extensive area.
SolGol said it has identified additional areas of strongly anomalous copper and gold mineralisation outside of the mineralised quartz vein zone in stream sediment and panned concentrate sampling results. The sampling will be followed by prospecting and field mapping.
The project is located on the northern section of the Andean Copper belt, the production base for nearly half of the world's copper.
Shares rose 20.18% to 32.75p.
Earthport PLC shares were lower after reporting a wider full year loss as average revenue per transaction fell.
The company, which provides networks for cross-border payments, said the pre-tax loss grew to £12.6mln in the year to 30 June from £7.2mln last year as costs rose. Average revenue per transaction, a key measure of the group’s health, fell to £2.64 from £3.12.
Earthport said it did not achieve cash flow break-even by the year-end, as already flagged at the interim results, as it continued to invest in entering new markets.
Shares fell 5.81% to 18.25p.
9.30am: Wey Education surges as it turns profit
Wey Education PLC (LON:WEY) shares surged as the education services firm said it has delivered its first ever profit in the 2017 fiscal year.
The company swung to a pre-tax profit of £17,630 in the year to 31 August from a loss of £800,000 a year ago as it achieved a 60% increase in turnover to £2.4mln, driven by the expansion of its B2B business.
“Since the beginning of this financial year, we have seen our B2B business expand rapidly (albeit from a modest base) and it has already exceeded the target number of pupils planned to have on the student roll at the end of the Autumn term,” said executive chairman, David Massie.
Massie said the company expects “further significant” revenue growth in the current financial year across all divisions.
Shares were up 28.95% to 24.50p.
Nostra Terra Oil & Gas Company PLC (LON:NTOG) announced its third acquisition in the Permian Basin of Texas, sending its shares up 20.83% to 2.18p.
The company is to buy a 53.3% working interest in a lease that covers 120 acres of the Permian Basin for an estimated cost of US$380,000.
The lease includes three drill-ready locations in a 40-acre spacing and the profile of the wells indicates about 35,000 barrels of oil, generating an estimated return on investment of 2:1 at a price of US$40 per barrel.
Nostra Terra also said it is in advanced talks with lenders and has received a non-binding letter of intent from one provider.
“While there is no guarantee final agreement will be reached with any of the providers, initial indications suggest that Nostra Terra could secure a US$5,000,000 to US$25,000,000 senior lending facility, with an initial borrowing base of up to US$1,500,000 (prior to hedging) at an annual interest rate in the range of 4.5% to 5.5%,” it said.
On the downside, Tern PLC (LON:TERN) shares dropped after saying the fundraising of its investee company Device Authority Ltd will be extended.
The private placement, launched on 28 September, now has 120 days to complete.
Device Authority is accepting a minimum total subscription of US$2.5mln, which was initially expected to be complete in October.
Shares are down 9.8% to 5.75p.
Andalas Energy and Power PLC (LON:ADL) shares dipped 11.43% to 0.03875p after announcing the resignation of chairman Paul Warwick and reporting another full year loss.
Current chief executive David Whitby will replace Warwick as chairman and Simon Gorringe will succeed Whitby.
Proactive news headlines:
Wolf Minerals Limited (LON:WLFE) has enjoyed one its best quarters since production started at its Hemerdon tungsten mine in Devon. The price of tungsten rose to a three year high of over US$310 per metric tonne during the quarter to September, while concentrate production and sales rose by 15% to 35,601 mtu.
The latest preclinical data for Sareum Holdings PLC’s (LON:SAR) checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitor candidate continues to demonstrate the potential of the cancer-fighting treatment.
ReNeuron Group PLC (LON:RENE) was in demand early on Tuesday after the cell-based therapeutics specialist delivered another encouraging update from its Phase II clinical study treating stroke patients with its CTX stem cells.
Ferrum Crescent Limited’s (LON:FCR) is pressing on towards a maiden JORC 2012 resource estimate for its Toral prospect in Spain. Executive directors Laurence Read and Miles Campion have completed a review of the company's operations and believe this is the correct decision for the company in order to realise value from the project.
Strategic Minerals PLC (LON:SML) has released the results from the latest four holes to be drilled on the Redmoor tin-tungsten project in Cornwall. These show high grades and should serve to provide further support to the resource upgrade currently in preparation which is due for release in the first quarter of 2018.
KEFI Minerals PLC (LON:KEFI) has re-jigged its plans for production at the Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia. The new plans allow for 145,000 ounces of production in the first three years, up from the 115,000 that had been planned for previously. The new plans dovetail with the requirements of infrastructure specialist Oryx, which has said in Heads of Terms that it will provide US$135mln in funding. That number may now be increased to US$140mln.
Kibo Mining PLC (LON:KIBO) has announced that its CEO Louis Coetzee will be presenting at the One Belt One Road summit in Beijing this week, highlighting the critical energy situation in Southern Africa and the development of the Mbeya Coal to Power Project.
APQ Global Limited (LON:APQ), the emerging markets income company, has made a further appointment to its International Advisory Council with Manos Papatheofanous joining it.The group said he will leverage his invaluable 20 years of expertise in the financial markets to assist in locating Emerging Markets opportunities globally for APQ.