Markets
Europe
The FTSE-100 finished Friday's session 0.36% lower at 7,300.49, whilst the FTSE AIM All-Share index was down 0.44% at 1,022.02. In continental Europe, the CAC-40 finished 1.04% lower at 5,316.89 whilst the DAX was down 1.25% at 12,861.49.
Wall Street
Last Friday in New York, the Dow Jones closed 0.17% lower at 24,231.59, the S&P 500 lost 0.2% to end at 2,642.22 and the Nasdaq finished 0.38% adrift at 6,847.59.
Asia
In Asian markets this morning, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.44% at 22,717.54, while the Hang Seng was 0.43% higher at 29,199.16.
Oil
In early trade today, WTI crude was 0.65% lower at $57.98 per barrel and Brent was down 0.49% at $63.42.
Headlines
Facebook creates 800 jobs as it opens new London office
Facebook is opening a new London office that will allow it to create 800 new UK jobs in 2018. By the end of next year about 2,300 people will work for the social media company in the UK. The office will be Facebook's biggest engineering hub outside the US, and opens during its tenth year in the UK. Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's Europe, Middle East and Asia vice-president, said the company was "more committed than ever to the UK". She said Britain's "entrepreneurial ecosystem and engineering excellence" made it an ideal location for technology firms. The seven-floor building at Rathbone Place, near Oxford Circus in central London, was designed by Frank Gehry, the architect best known for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Source: BBC News
Company news
Cora Gold (LON:CORA, 12.75p) – Speculative Buy
Cora Gold, the West African focused gold exploration company, announced today that it has commenced a six-month drill programme at its flagship Sanankoro deposit in southern Mali. A multi-purposed rig has been mobilised and drilling has begun on the first phase of a 15,000m drill programme. Phase 1 will focus on 3,000m of mixed AC (Air Core) and RC (Reverse Circulation). Previous drilling at Sanankoro has identified two parallel and mineralised structures. Most of the previous work was done on the Eastern Structure with the best drill intercepts returning 3m grading 2.7g/t Au, 27m grading 1.7g/t Au and 3m grading 9.0g/t Au, while the Western Structure has seen limited drilling. The current drill campaign will focus on the 1.5km long Target 1 towards the north of Sanankoro as well as Zone A and Zone B which indicates the presence of east-west trending gold bearing quartz veins. Phase 1 is expected to be completed by yearend and the full drill programme by Q2 2018.
Our view: Today's announcement sets out the drill programme for the highly prospective Sanankoro project. Target 1 will follow up on shallow historical drilling that returned significant mineralisation as well as infill and confirmatory drill holes on Zones A & B testing for extensions along strike. Although Cora's Sanankoro project currently lacks a compliant resource, the above phased approached and multi-purpose drill rigs for 15,000m should go a long delineating a potential resource estimate. We look forward to results for the Phase 1 drilling programme. In the meantime, we have a Speculative Buy recommendation on the stock.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Cora Gold plc
Galileo Resources (LON:GLR, 1.28p) – Speculative Buy
Galileo Resources announced an update on its 51% owned Star Zinc project in Zambia. The Company expects a 1,750m drill campaign to begin shortly managed by Zambian based GeoQuest. Galileo has also appointed GSA Global to collaborate with GeoQuest and prepare a JORC (2012) mineral resource estimate. Following a review of a previous conceptual study (using current zinc prices) on the Star Zinc project Galileo has decided to initiate a fast track an exploration programme. Galileo owns a 51% interest in the Star Zinc with BMR Group owning the remaining 49%. The Star Zinc project is a historical small-scale open pit that operated intermittently between 1950s and 1990s and has adequate infrastructure including power, water, rail and telecommunications.
Our view: We are encouraged with the decision to fast-track the exploration programme at Star Zinc project and look forward to results from the upcoming drill programme. We note that zinc prices continue to be well supported on the back of dwindling inventories. The availability of primary zinc deposits is diminishing and the Star Zinc project has a non-JORC compliant resource of 0.3Mt grading 20.2% Zn which remains open along strike and at depth. We maintain a speculative buy on the stock.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Galileo Resources PLC
Solo Oil (LON:SOLO, 4.00p) – Speculative Buy
Solo Oil and Helium One have published an update describing progress at the helium exploration project in Tanzania. The key points are (1) Solo is assisting Helium One through a technical services agreement which will result in Solo increasing its ownership from 10% to 15% by end 2H18 (2) technical work over the last few months, in particular better seismic imaging, has enabled much better structural and stratigraphic mapping (3) full prospect ranking will be completed over the next 6 months or so, prior to drilling later in 2018.
Our view: It is good to see progress at Helium One's Rukwa Project in Tanzania. Solo's 10% interest is at the Helium One (corporate) level and this should be 15% by mid 2018. First drilling at Rukwa should be a significant catalyst and we look forward to drill targets being developed during 2018, culminating in the first exploration well. We have a Speculative Buy recommendation.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Solo Oil PLC