Lonmin PLC (LON:LMI) shares dived on Friday after the platinum miner said it would delay publishing its annual results while it finishes carrying out an operational review. Back in August Lonmin announced plans to slash costs amid concerns about the platinum mining industry in South Africa.
Given that the review “continues to demand management’s undivided” attention, the group said it would “not be appropriate” to publish its annual results on November 13 as previously planned.
Although the preparation of the accounts is ongoing, Lonmin said initial indications are that its tangible net worth at the financial year-end would be around US$1.1bn, which would potentially leave it in breach of one of its covenants.
Acacia Mining PLC (LON:ACA) shares dropped as it announced that its chief executive and chief financial officers have resigned amid negotiations to end a long-running dispute with the Tanzanian government.
Brad Gordon, chief executive, and Andrew Wary, chief financial officer, will remain at the company until the end of the year. Gordon is returning to Australia for family reasons while Wary is pursuing an opportunity elsewhere, Acacia said.
Peter Geleta, currently Acacia’s head of organisational effectiveness, will step in as interim chief executive, and Jaco Maritz, currently general manager, will be appointed chief financial officer.
Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) shares were in the red as it raised its full-year marketing guidance for underlying earnings (EBIT) but reported a decline in the third quarter production of some commodities.
The miner lifted its marketing EBIT guidance to US$2.8bn from US$2.6bn as commodity prices recovered. Production of copper, nickel and oil fell in the third quarter but Glencore said this would not impact full year earnings.
In the small cap sector …
Marcus Engelbrecht, Stratex International plc's (LON:STI) chief executive, has stepped down from the junior miner's board after dissident shareholders voted down a proposed merger with Aussie-listed Crusader Resources (ASX:CAS).
Removal of Engelbrecht was one of two resolutions passed at the meeting, along with a resolution to scrap the merger with Crusader. The dissident shareholders, which included two former Stratex directors David Hall and Paul Foord, have been vocal in their criticism of the Crusader merger ever since it was fi rst announced in May.
The share based-deal valued Crusader at £31.1mln (A$54.2mln) and would have seen its shareholders end up with an 81% stake in the enlarged company.
At the time Crusader had two advanced gold projects in Brazil, Borborema and Juruena, with combined JORC-compliant resources of 2.7Moz Au, as well as the Posse iron ore mine, which it subsequently agreed to sell.
Tethyan Resources PLC (LON:TETH) has appointed its chief operating officer, Fabian Baker, as president and chief executive to replace Peter Mullens.
Mullens, who has been chief executive for the past two years, will move into the role of executive director and senior vice president of exploration and development. He will oversee the company's exploration and development of its existing assets and evaluate new business opportunities.
Baker has been chief operating officer of Tethyan since May 2016. Tethyan said during this time he has “successfully acquired and developed significant exploration assets, built a highly capable team and implemented the company's business strategy in the region”.
Shares in Greatland Gold plc (LON:GGP) headed higher on Monday morning as the explorer revealed its cash pile has grown recently.
As of last Friday, net cash stood at roughly £4mln, helped by last month’s placing of shares, which raised £750,000, and by the recent conversion of warrants into Greatland shares, which brought in about £2.5mln.
Management believes that these funds will facilitate a step change in the scale of the exploration campaigns at the company's key projects.