Solgold PLC (LON:SOLG) reacted angrily to the almost instant rejection of its takeover approach to Cornerstone, its partner on the Cascabel copper project in Ecuador.
The Canadian group turned down the approach less than three hours after SolGold announced its intention to bid.
SolGold said it was "surprised and disappointed" that Cornerstone has dismissed the offer so quickly and questioned whether Cornerstone had time either to hold a board meeting or contact shareholders before issuing its rejection.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) expects to produce 82-86,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2019, which would be a new record for the junior at the top of the forecast.
Increased copper production will boost output said the Azerbaijani miner, with between 3,100 and 3,300 tonnes forecast – or double 2018’s total.
Korea-focused gold explorer Bluebird Merchant Ventures (LON:BMV) applied for a grant to pay for 70% of a drilling programme at its Kochang project.
Bluebird said it was invited to apply for the grant by KORES, a company owned by the South Korean government that has already funded two programmes in the area surrounding Kochang.
BlueRock Diamonds PLC (LON:BRD) announced the recovery of an exceptional 8.97-carat diamond on Friday 1 February from its Kareevlei mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa.
The AIM-listed diamond producer, which owns and operates the mine, pointed out that this will be the third stone independently valued in excess of $50,000 recovered from Kareevlei.
AfriTin Mining Limited (LON:ATM) hailed the discovery of significant grades of lithium, in addition to tin, in pegmatites in the ML 133 License, located in the Nainais area of Nambia.
The AIM company with a portfolio of near-production tin assets in Namibia and South Africa noted that the ML 133 license is outside of the current development area at the Uis tin mine.
AfriTin said recent test work indicates that the most abundant lithium-bearing mineral present is petalite, with lesser lithian-muscovite, montebrasite and cookeite.