Mining Week: 26 February

The latest news, moves, deals, drilling, surveys and speculation from small cap miners

This week, African Diamonds (AFD), the exploration group run by Irish entrepreneur John Teeling, said it was on track to launch production from its AK6 diamond discovery in Botswana in late 2011. The news came as reassessments of the carat valuation at AK6 boosted the figure to somewhere pushing US$200.

Avocet Mining (AVM) made it first shipment of gold from its Inata mine in Burkina Faso.

Australian group Berkeley Resources (BKY) reported a doubling of the total JORC-compliant resources at its Salamanca uranium project in Spain to over 52 million pounds of the uranium ore, U3O8.

Churchill Mining (CHL), the company behind the development of the East Kutai Coal Project (EKCP) in Indonesia, said it would reveal the details of a feasibility study of the project during the second quarter of this year.

Uranium exploration company Forte Energy (FTE) reported “excellent results” from the first batch of laboratory assays received from the recently completed +5,800m resource drilling programme at its Bir En Nar Uranium Project in the Republic of Mauritania, West Africa.

Gemstone producer Gemfields (GEM) unearthed a whopping 6,225 carat rough emerald at its Kagem mine in Zambia.

Demetri Manolis, the chief executive of gold producer Goldplat (GDP), said the company was actively seeking new opportunities as it looks to build its portfolio. He said 2010 would be a period of growth for the company as it channels cash from its two gold recovery projects into developing new production assets.

Russian miner Highland Gold (HGM) acquired a license for exploration and mining rights for the Blagodatnoye prospect in the Khabarovsk Region. The deal is part of a strategy at Highland to expand its asset portfolio by snapping up prospective licences close to its existing operations at Mnogovershinnoye and Belaya Gora.

Karelian (KDR), the Finland focused diamond explorer led by Prof. Richard Conroy, said it was planning to limit expensive exploration work because of the limited interest being shown by investors toward junior explorers.

London Mining (LOND) confirmed that construction was underway on a 1.5 million tons per annum tailings operation at its flagship Marampa project in Sierra Leone.

Mariana Resources (MARL), the mineral exploration group working in Argentina and Chile, reported the results from early stage exploration on its Los Amigos project in the Deseado Massif region in Santa Cruz province, southern Argentina. More work is planned throughout 2010.

Medusa Mining (MML), the Australian group behind the development of the Co-O gold mine in the Philippines, posted a record set of interim results including a 200% rise in net profits after tax of US$28.3 million.

Latin American mining group Minera IRL (MIRL) signed an option agreement to buy the Quilavira gold exploration project in Peru. The company described the move as a strategic, longer term exploration opportunity in a highly prospective area.

Australian gold producer Norseman Gold (NGL) saw year-on-year revenues slip by 11% to A$37.9 million in the six months to December 31, 2009. The lower figures were caused by missed production targets at the company’s Bullen and Harlequin Declines at the flagship Norseman gold project. A better performance is expected in the second half of the year.

Diamond production group Pangea DiamondFields (PDF) agreed a deal to merge its activities with Oslo-listed International Gold Exploration in an all-share deal that will see Pangea end up with a 38.4% stake in the enlarged group.

Shares in Red Rock Resources (RRR) were up after the mining group reported that trading in shares in its 25.1%-held associate company Jupiter Mines had been temporarily halted ahead of an announcement about a “significant transaction”. In an interview with SmallCapNews earlier this week, Red Rock’s chairman Andrew Bell hinted that things were about to get interesting at Jupiter.

Australian mining group Scotgold (SGZ) began trading on London’s AIM market at the same time as raising £0.7 million in a 4.6p per share placing in order to fund gold exploration in central Scotland.

The latest test work at Shanta Gold’s (SHG) Chunya project in southern Tanzania extended the size of previously known mineralised structures and identified new targets on the same licence area.

Australian group Thor Mining (THR) embarked on an expanded exploration and acquisition strategy with a proposed deal to buy the Dundas gold exploration project in the broader Norseman area south-east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Weatherly International (WTI) received approval from the Namibian Competition Commission to sell its Tsumeb smelter business to Dundee Precious Metals Inc.

http://www.smallcapnews.co.uk/article/Mining_Week_26_February/8484.aspx

 

Category: ResourceAsia