Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) expects to tie up the acquisition of the Leigh Creek Copper mine in Australia by early next week. All requirements, including Foreign Investment Review Board approval, have now been met, Strategic said, with settlement to take place within five business days. Consideration will be A$1.5mln (£850,000) cash and shares worth A$1.45mln.
Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (LON:CHAR) has confirmed a US$15mln fund raise has now taken place, via a share placing to new and existing institutional (and other) investors. Some 82.5mln new shares are being issued, at a price of 13p each. The capital injection is intended to allow Chariot to drill the Prospect S exploration target offshore Namibia – giving the explorer a second-high impact well this year. It also has a 10% stake in the Eni operated Rabat Deep venture, offshore Morocco.
Marketing automation platform operator dotdigital Group PLC (LON:DOTD) is on course to meet full-year expectations after a “transformational” first half to the fiscal year. Revenue in the six months to December 31, 2017, surged to £18.77mln from £14.98mln the year before. Organic revenue grew 17% to £17.5mln from £15mln the previous year.
Scotgold Resources Limited (LON:AIM:SGZ) announced late on Tuesday that it has received planning approval for the first commercial gold mine in Scotland's history. In a statement, the AIM-listed group said the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority has unanimously approved the company's application for the development of the Cononish Goldmine at a Special Board Meeting held on Tuesday, subject to the conclusion of legal agreements.
Kibo Mining PLC (LON:KIBO) has unveiled plans to raise £750,000 via a share placing as it progresses its strategy to create a regional electricity supplier. In a statement, the AIM-listed firm said it has received commitments for a placing of 17,647,060 ordinary shares at a price of 4.25p each. In mid-morning trading, Kibo's were trading at 5.3p, down 6.2% on last night's close. Louis Coetzee, Kibo’s CEO, said: “The funds raised today enable us to build on our strategy to create a strategic regional electricity supplier."
In a separate announcement, Kibo Mining also announced that, contrary to press speculation, the company has not yet signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO). However, it said it remains in advanced discussions with TANESCO and the Ministry of Energy regarding the PPA for its flagship 300MW Mbeya Coal to Power Project (MCPP).
Genedrive PLC (LON:GDR) has been awarded £1.1mln in funding by Innovate UK for product development of its Genedrive tuberculosis testing kit. The grant will be used for the further development of a high-sensitivity bacterial sample preparation module for the Genedrive instrument.
PhotonStar LED Group PLC (LON:PSL) has raised £430,000 via a share placing with new and existing investors and directors of the company to fund the roll-out of its cloud-based Internet of Things lighting solution for buildings.The shares were placed at a price of 0.15p per share
Clinigen Group PLC (LON:CLIN) said second-half trading so far was in line with expectations as it served up a solid performance in the first six months of the trading year. Its top line growth had been well flagged in an update last month.
Drug development company Sareum Holdings Plc (LON:SAR) reported that Sierra Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:SRRA), the licence holder advancing clinical cancer candidate SRA737, announced that it has significantly expanded’ its clinical development programme.
SDX Energy Inc (LON:SDX, CVE:SDX) has told investors that it has begun drilling operations for the SAH-2 development well on the Sebou permit, onshore Morocco. The company said that the SAH-2 well is expected to take between fifteen and twenty days to drill.
Metal Tiger Plc (LON:MTR) told investors that it had participated in Connemara Mining Company PLC’s (LON:CON) private placing, taking up some of the shares on offer. It has purchased 4.8mln Connemara shares which were priced at 4.15p each, a modest discount to the current share price of 4.38p, which was down 1.7% on Monday's closing price.
WideCells Group PLC (LON:WDC) has taken a “significant step” towards becoming an end-to-end stem cell service company, according to chief executive João Andrade. His comments followed the grant of a licence by the UK's Human Tissue Authority, which allows the company import, export, process, store and distribute for treatment umbilical cord blood and tissue.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has secured access and approvals for trial mining to commence at the Regua tungsten project in Portugal. Chairman Michael Masterman referred to W's La Parrilla project in Spain as the "flagship" and to Regula as the "quiet achiever."
Stratex International plc (LON:STI) ended the year to December 2017 with £2mln in the bank, after booking losses on the sale of its stake in Goldstone Resources and costs relating to the aborted acquisition of Crusader Resources. US$8mln in profit was made on the sale of an interest in the Altintepe mine in Turkey. Overall, the net loss after tax rang in at £5.4mln.
Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC) has outlined a substantial programme of works for 2018 at its Kun-Manie nickel sulphide project in Russia. The programme includes significant conceptual development work, as Kun-Manie now moves beyond the exploration phase. In addition, Amur will consider options for the production of a product designed for the electric vehicle market.
G3 Exploration Ltd (LON:G3E) highlighted its progress with exploration and development activities at the Baotian-Qingshan (or GGZ) block, in China’s Guizhou Province. The company, in a statement regarding the period to the end of December, noted that it drilled 45 coal bed methane (CBM) production wells at GGZ, and in doing so it de-risked 30bn cubic feet of gas which were valued at US$300mln.
Pan African Resources has confirmed a news release from South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Sunday which said the group is considering cutting jobs at its Evander Gold Mine in the country’s Mpumalanga province. The NUM statement said the company would cut 1,722 jobs, out of a total workforce of 1,812 people at the mine.
Metminco Limited (LON:MNC) (ASX:MNC) said it has cancelled its extraordinary general meeting at the request of Redfield Asset Management and is in talks about raising capital to boost its cash position. Last year Metminco agreed a convertible note facility of AU$0.75mln with Redfield to advance the Miraflores gold project in Colombia. Redfield, which has a 9.83% stake in Metminco, now wishes to redeem its notes under the unsecured convertible note deed.
Marketing and media analytics consultancy Ebiquity plc (LON:EBQ) has named Rob Woodward as its chairman-designate with effect from 1 March 2018. The AIM-listed company said Woodward - appointed a non-executive director from that same date - will succeed Michael Higgins, the company’s chairman for the past 12 years, who will step down from the board after the group's annual general meeting on 9 May 2018.
Eckoh PLC (LON:ECK) said it has received notification that on 26 February 2018 its chief executive, Nik Philpot purchased 50,000 ordinary shares of the company at a price of 39.4p each. In addition, Philpot has transferred 50,000 ordinary shares of his own beneficial holding to his Self Invested Pension (SIPP), together with the newly purchased shares, also at a price of 39.4p each.
Furthermore, Eckoh said it has also been notified that on 26 February 2018 its non-executive chairman Christopher Humphrey also purchased a total of 50,000 Ordinary Shares at a price of 39.349p each. As a result of his share purchase, Philpot’s holding in Eckoh is a total of 6,926,285 ordinary shares, representing 2.74% of the issued share capital, and Humphrey’s holding is a total of 400,000 ordinary shares, representing 0.16%. of the issued share capital.
Alba Mineral Resources PLC (LON:ALBA) announced that it has released an updated corporate presentation that can be downloaded from the company's website.