Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) said on Tuesday that sales volumes at the Cobre magnetite operations in New Mexico, US, remain strong.
The mineral company sold 10,304 tonnes of magnetite ore for US$598,000 in the three months to September. That brings its total sales for the 12 months to September to 74,364 tonnes for US$4.8mln, up from 57,279 tonnes for US$3.7mln last year.
Later in the week, it said it had started drilling to expand the resource at Leigh Creek in South Australia.
John Peters, Strategic Mineral’s managing director, said it is the first exploration to be undertaken at the former copper mine for forty years.
Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) has released results for a further 2,846 metres of drilling from the Blueberry project in Western Romania, in which it holds a 29.41% stake.
To date, a total of 3,581 metres of assay results have been received from the 6,802-metre drill programme, representing 52.6% of total assays, the company said, adding that there was “continued progress” towards defining a maiden JORC resource estimate by the end of the year.
Pembridge Resources PLC (LON:PERE) will renegotiate its acquisition terms for the Minto copper-gold-silver mine in the Yukon with Capstone Mining Corporation as a result of “increasingly difficult” market conditions.
The company said that since securing US$30mln to finance the purchase of Minto in June, market conditions had made it more difficult to close the equity financing element of the deal “on terms that would be favourable to all concerned parties”.
Results from the second batch of rock chip samples have confirmed gold mineralisation at ECR Minerals PLC’s (LON:ECR) Bailieston project in Australia.
From a further 75 samples collected, 29 contained gold with grades ranging from 0.56 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) to 22.9 g/t Au. Twelve of the higher-grade samples were re-tested, returning similar results.
Africa-focused mining contractor Capital Drilling Limited (LON:CAPD) saw another up-tick in activity in its latest quarter as exploration picked up.
Capital Drilling has just started work on its first exploration contract in Tanzania for two years (for Graphex), which helped fleet utilisation rise to 53%.
New projects also included work for De Beers in Botswana and for Hummingbird in Mali.
Zinc and gold explorer Erris Resources PLC (LON:ERIS) has appointed Anton du Plessis as its new chief executive after the resignation of Merlin Marr-Johnson.
Du Plessis has twenty years experience of finance and transactions in the mining sector and has worked on deals for such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton at bulge bracket banks.
Wolf Minerals Limited (LON:WLF) said its UK subsidiary has entered voluntary administration after failing to reach an agreement with financial stakeholders to secure the funds needed to continue operations at its Drakelands tungsten mine in Devon.
The company said it was unable to “satisfactorily conclude its discussions with its key financial stakeholders and therefore is not in a position to meet its short-term working capital requirements” for the open pit mine.
Rockfire Resources Plc (LON:ROCK) updated investors on its ongoing exploration efforts at the Copperhead project, in Queensland Australia, where newly identified historic data has shown a very strong induced polarisation (IP) anomaly.
The company said the discovery of historical data has saved the company significant time and costs.
Kibo Energy PLC (LON:KIBO) told investors that it has completed its acquisition of a 60% interest in Mast Energy Developments (MED), a privately owned UK flexible power firm.
MED aims to develop a portfolio of small-scale power generation assets, and, it has a number of ‘shovel ready’ sites identified in the UK. The projects are expected to be capable of sustaining gas-fired power generators and ancillary structures from 20MW upwards.
As at 30 June, 2018 Base Resources LTD (LON:BSE) had a total resource at the producing Kwale project in Kenya of 134mln tonnes of ore.
That was down somewhat on the comparative number for the corresponding period a year ago, as the project is being successfully mined.
In the financial year to 30 September 2018, Tharisa plc (LON:THS) produced 152,200 ounces of platinum group metals and just under 1.5mln tonnes of chrome concentrate from its operations in South Africa.
That’s a significant increase on the previous year and sets new records.
BlueRock Diamonds PLC (LON:BRD) achieved record production numbers from its Kareevlei diamond mine in South Africa last quarter.
Despite issues with the crushing circuit, the miner reported production volume of 63,621 tonnes in the three months ended September 30, taking total production for the year up to 133,050 tonnes, compared to 103,506 this time last year.
Cradle Arc Plc (LON:CRA) shares jumped in late-afternoon trading Monday after it secured a loan facility to improve processing facilities at its Mowana copper project in Botswana.
The miner said it had obtained a loan of US$2mln from its largest shareholder, PenMin Botswana Proprietary Limited controlled indirectly by Cradle’s chief executive Kevin van Wouw, to create an inventory of spare parts and improve and rehabilitate the processing facilities at Mowana.
Arc Minerals Limited’s (LON:ARCM) recent drilling at its Zamsort project has hit wide zones of copper and cobalt similar to other large deposits in Zambia.
The junior is drilling 11,000m at the Kalaba target at Zamsort and all 46 holes so far have hit metal, it said, with thicknesses up to 144m and an average between 60m to 80m.
Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) has commenced the settlement of the second, and final, deferred consideration tranche in accordance with the terms of the acquisition of the company's portfolio of Portuguese projects, which includes the flagship Mina do Barroso lithium project.
In accordance with the agreement dated 24 May 2017, Savannah has commenced the settlement of the deferred consideration of A$1.5mln cash and the issue of 20mln new ordinary shares.
KEFI Minerals plc (LON:KEFI) has secured approval from local, zonal and regional authorities for the resettlement of local people at the Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia.
Preparatory activities for the resettlement will now turn to a community communication and consultation program on the various aspects of the home and livelihood restoration plans down to the individual household level.
Bacanora Lithium PLC (LON:BCN) has boosted the resource base at its 50%-owned Zinnwald lithium project in south-eastern Germany.
The measured and indicated resource now stands at 124,974 tonnes of contained lithium, a 30% increase.
Horizonte Minerals Plc (LON:HZM) has started work on ore from Vermelho in Brazil to test its suitability either for batteries or as a potential satellite to its flagship Araguaia project.
Vermelho, a nickel-cobalt project in the eastern part of the Carajás mining district was acquired by Horizonte in December.
Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) shares surged on Wednesday afternoon after the explorer was granted an important formal award giving it the right to mine at its Baita Plai polymetallic mine in Romania.
Approval from Romania’s National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) was the only thing left standing between Vast and re-opening the mine.
Shanta Gold Limited (LON:SHG) said drilling at Bauhinia Creek (BC) East has converted 27,240 ounces into indicated resources from 33,746 ounces of inferred resources.
The East Africa-focused miner said a total of 21,081 ounces of indicated resources at 3.43 grams per tonne (g/t) have been added to the life of mine plan at the New Luika gold mine at an implied conversion cost of US$8 per ounce.
Azerbaijan-based gold, silver and copper miner Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) expects production to be at the upper end of guidance following another strong quarter.
Anglo Asian has forecast production this year of between 78,000 to 84,000 gold equivalent ounces.