Phoenix Copper Limited shares gained altitude in late afternoon, climbing 8% to 74 after it expanded the land position at its Navarre Creek gold project in Idaho to 3,577 acres from 2,420.
The firm said 56 new unpatented claims have now been staked as a result of the expansion, adding that electromagnetic surveys for the project have been completed and 2,300 metres of drilling are planned for later this year.
Elsewhere, Quadrise Fuels bobbed up 7.5% to 3.6p as the firm said testing of its new low carbon alternative to heavy fuel bioMSAR oil has revealed a greater-than-expected reduction in CO2 emissions.
The CO2 reductions are in the region of 26-28% versus conventional liquid fuels, whereas savings offered by existing fuels are more typically in the 10-15% range.
Engine efficiency was also shown to be improved by up to 7% by the comprehensive suite of tests on a Wärtsilä 4-stroke engine at the VTT facility in Finland.
1.00pm: Xeros washed out as it delays entry into Indian laundry market
Xeros Technology Group PLC (AIM:XSG) shares were underwater in lunchtime trading, dropping 9.2% to 188.4p as the washing machines maker said the COVID-19 pandemic had forced it to delay its entry into the Indian domestic laundry market.
The company said following discussions with its licensee, it now expected its entry into the market to occur toward the end of the first quarter of 2022, compared to the previous expectation of late 2021.
As a result, Xeros said its licensing revenues for the year are now expected to be reduced.
In the risers, Inspiration Healthcare Group PLC (AIM:IHC) surged 9.8% to 134p as it said the financial year had started well, with the med-tech group trading in line with management expectations.
It said revenues for the six months to the end of July were 47% ahead of the same period last year as it benefited from an uplift from the SLE neonatal ventilator specialist it bought in 2020.
It added it was seeing “growth and new opportunities” across the business along with an increased level of interest in the SLE range.
11.15am: Goodwin grows following dividend hike
Shares in engineering group Goodwin climbed 3.7% to 3,100p in late morning trading as the company hiked its dividend payout after profits jumped by over a third.
In its results for the year to April 30, the firm reported a pre-tax profit of £16.5mln, up 36% year-on-year despite revenues sliding to £131mln from £145mln in 2020.
Elsewhere, EQTEC PLC (AIM:EQT) jumped 9.2% to 1.4p after the firm said it has completed the acquisition of a 1.2 MWe waste-to-energy gasification plant in Beliše, Croatia.
The deal was carried out through Synergy Projects, a joint venture between the gasification solutions company and its Croatian project development partner Sense ESCO.
EQTEC said the project will generate annual underlying earnings (EBITDA) of over €850,000.
9.00am: Pipehawk flies higher as revenues rebound from pandemic
PipeHawk PLC (AIM:PIP) was one of the key risers in early trading, soaring 25.8% to 8.5p after the ground radar specialist reported that its half-year turnover had returned to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic.
In a trading update for the six months to June 30, the company reported turnover for the period of £4.1mln, up from £2.6mln a year ago, as a result of improved trading in its QM Systems and Thomson Engineering Design businesses.
The group also said order intake across its three main subsidiaries, QM, Thomson and Adien were “very healthy” and that it was currently negotiating to move two of its brands to larger manufacturing facilities.
In the FTSE 100, antivirus software group Avast PLC (LSE:AVST) climbed 3.4% to 587.8p as it agreed to a merger with NortonLifeLock Inc that valued the company at £6.2bn.
The pair want to expand operations in the consumer cyber safety realm, combining Avast's expertise in privacy and NortonLifeLock's strength in identity.
Elsewhere, Minds + Machines Group Ltd rose 14.1% to 8.1p after it completed a sale of its top-level domains (TLDs) and related assets to an affiliate of US domain registry giant GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) Inc following the signing of a purchase agreement in early April.
The company said it has received US$113.8mln on completion of the sale, with a further US$13.3mln paid into escrow pursuant to the asset purchase agreement.