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08/03/10 Dacha Capital Rare Earth Power Breakfast Presentation - March 8th 2010
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08/03/10 Great Western Minerals Group Rare Earth Power Breakfast Presentation - March 8th 2010
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08/03/10 Lynas Corporation Rare Earth Power Breakfast Presentation - March 8th 2010
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22/06/09 Moly Mines talks to Proactiveinvestors
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24/02/09 Kootenay Gold Audio Interview with Jim McDonald
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SmartFocus, Amphion Innovations and National Milk Records confirmed for March 18 Forum: Proactive Investors One2One Forums The directors of smartFOCUS Group (STF), Amphion Innovations (AMP) and National Milk Records (NMRP) will be presenting Thursday, 18th March 2010 at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel, 35 Charles Street, Mayfair, W1J 5EB. The presentations will start at 6:00pm and finish at approx 7:30pm. After the presentations are complete the directors will also be available to take questions during a free canapé and wine reception. Details on the presenting companies can be found below.This event is suitable for the following: Sophisticated & private investors, private client brokers, fund managers, financial institutions, hedge funds, buy & sell side analysts and journalists.The event is not suitable for people pursuing commercial opportunities. Register Here. If you have any problems registering or queries please email action@proactiveinvestors.com For more information on the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel and to take advantage of Proactive’s special negotiated rates click here smartFOCUS Group (AIM:STF) smartFOCUS is a leading international provider of high performance multi-channel marketing software. Combining intelligence and speed the software drives high performance multi-channel campaigns to generate more valuable customer relationships. Its marketing solutions integrate offline and online data, analysis, campaign and performance management to deliver better targeted, more timely and relevant communications that improve customer insight. smartFOCUS has a customer base of over 700 businesses and partners worldwide using its marketing software including ASOS, Center Parcs, EasyJet, Epson Europe, Harrods, Hilton International, Manchester United FC, Rabobank, Sony Europe, Société Générale, Eurocamp, RCI-GVN, Landal Green Park, and QVC. smartFOCUS is headquartered in the UK, with offices in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. Amphion Innovations (AIM:AMP) Amphion builds shareholder value in high growth companies in the medical and technology sectors, by using a focused, hands-on company building approach, based on decades of experience in both the US and UK. Amphion has a significant shareholding in 8 Partner Companies developing proven technologies targeting substantial commercial marketplaces, each in excess of $1 billion. Each Partner Company is chosen with the goal of achieving an exit valuation in excess of $100 million. National Milk Records (PLUS:NMRP) National Milk Records roots are in the Milk Marketing Board, providing analysis of the individual cow’s milk to dairy farmers, enabling decisions on herd management that maximise efficiency. Complementary subsidiaries, National Milk Laboratories and National Livestock Records analyse most of the liquid milk produced in the UK for the milk buyers, and provide information to the red meat industry. Current turnover £15m; the group invests in developing new services and is well placed to meet the demand from government, retailers and consumers for produce that can be traced to producers with the highest welfare standards from animals free of disease.
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in/ga/d
FTSE 100 climbs as UK unemployment falls, commodities extend gains: Overview: the FTSE 100 moved in line with pre-trade projections, tacking on 0.5% after UK inflation data that came out today showed a lower than expected rate of 7.8% for the final quarter of 2009. In other news, minutes from the latest Bank of England policy meeting revealed that the members of the Policy Committee voted unanimously to free interest rates and keep the £200 billion quantitative easing programme on hold in March. Yesterday, the US Federal Reserve left its ultra low interest rates unchanged. Software developer Autonomy Corporation (LSE: AU) led the blue chips with a 3.4% advance. Miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and insurance focused investor Resolution (LSE: RSL) followed with gains of over 3%. Other notable risers included retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) and clothing retailer Next (LSE: NXT), which added 2%. Security services company G4S (LSE: GFS) and hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG) were the heaviest fallers in the index with losses of 4%. Tour company Thomas Cook (LSE: TCG) was down 3%, airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) declined 2.3% and satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT) dropped 1.9%. Another retailer Marks and Spencer (LSE: MKS), communications services group WPP (LSE: WPP) and pharmaceutical company Shire (LSE: SHP) also lost nearly 2%. US stocks opened higher as the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4%, the broader S&P 500 index advanced 0.6% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite tacked on 0.55%. Commodities Oil prices climbed today after OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) expectedly left its production quotas unchanged, expecting a healthy demand this year while crude prices are steady at slightly above US$80/barrel, which is believed to be a comfortable level for the organization. Last week, both OPEC and EIA (Energy Information Administration) upped their respective crude demand forecasts for this year by 0.9 mmbbls/d (million barrels per day) to 85.24 mmbbls/d and by 1.6 mmbbls/d to 86.6 mmbbls/d. May Brent Crude improved to US$81.46/barrel, while US light, sweet crude rose to US$82.17/barrel. All blue chip oil and gas producers moved up, yet not by much. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) was in the lead, climbing 1.8%, while BG Group (LSE: BG) and Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) followed with marginal gains. Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) both added nearly 1%. Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) also posted small gains. Midcaps generally did better with all stocks posting gains of over 1% with the exception of JKX Oil & gas (LSE: JKX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA), which added less than 1% and Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR), which lost 1.5%. Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) rose 3.3% to take the lead, while Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) followed, adding nearly 2%. Melrose Resources (LSE: MRS) and Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) moved up 1.4% and 1.1% respectively. Service companies did well as Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) and Wood Group (LSE: WG) added 2.7% and 2.4% respectively. Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) and oil and gas company with assets in Iraq, Syria and Gulf of Mexico, Gulfsands Petroleum (AIM: GPX) led the juniors, advancing 8% and 4% respectively. Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) added nearly 4%. Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) slipped 4%. Gold rallies to lift miners Gold stabilised at about US$1,125/oz after reaching US$1,133/oz on weakness in the US dollar, which declined on the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave the interest rates at the current ultra low levels of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed said that the strength of the ongoing economic recovery did not warrant a rate increase, while inflation was likely to stay at a low level and the job market was slow to recover. This was in line with the Fed’s repeated pledge to keep the rates exceptionally low for an extended period of time. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and a riskier alternative to the safe haven US dollar. The yellow metal normally moves inversely to the greenback, which fell against other major currencies following the Fed’s policy meeting. Gold has been on the rise so far this week, climbing from US$1,100/oz as the euro firmed against the US dollar on easing concerns over the ongoing debt crisis in several euro zone countries including Greece and Portugal. Other precious metals also retreated after making gains with silver sliding to US$17.42/oz, while platinum declined to US$1,631/oz. All major mining stocks were on the rise today with the sole exception of silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC), which went against the tide for the second day in a row with a decline of less than 1%. Silver and gold miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) was in the lead with a 3% advance, while gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) followed with a small gain. Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) added less than 1%. Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) led the sector in the FTSE 250, climbing 4%, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) rose 2.3%. Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold explorer KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEF) and Western Australia operating Norseman Gold (AIM: NGL) followed, climbing 8% and 5.7% respectively. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Philippines focused Metals Exploration (AIM: MTL) headed in the opposite direction, slipping 8% and 5% respectively. Miners rise as copper and nickel extend gains Base metals also rose today with copper and nickel reaching US$3.39/lb and US$9.99/lb respectively, while zinc improved to US$1.05/lb. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) was in the lead, advancing 2.3%, while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) both added 2%. Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) tacked on 1.9%, while BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) and Xstrata (LSE: XTA) both added 1.5%. Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) tacked on nearly 1%. London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) moved with the sector, climbing 1.4%. Tantalum concentrate supplier with assets in Mozambique Noventa (AIM: NVTA) and zinc miner Connemara Mining (AIM: CON) led the juniors with gains of 8% and 6% respectively. Nickel and iron ore exploration junior Landore Resources (AIM: LND) and copper and nickel explorer Regency Mines (AIM: RGM) slipped 4%. Banks, insurance, private equity Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) led the banking stocks with a 1.7% climb. Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) added 1.2%, while fellow part-nationalised bank Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) was flat, as was Barclays (LSE: BARC). HSBC (KSE: HSBA) tacked on nearly 1%. Legal & General (LSE: LGEN), Aviva (LSE: AV) and Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) were the top performing insurers with gains of 1.6%, 1.3% and 1% respectively. Old Mutual (LSE: OML), Prudential (LSE: PRU) and RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) added less than 1%. Standard Life (LSE: SL) was at the bottom of the pile with a 3.6% decline. Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) added almost 1%. Small Cap Movers Other notable movers among the small caps included developed of vision based industrial systems Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE), which soared 33% after landing a contract from subsidiaries of the world’s largest miner BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT). Large and Mid Cap News Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) has filed suit against Minera Andes Inc (TSX: MAI; OTC: MNEAF) of Alberta, Canada and its subsidiary Minera Andes SA in the New York State Supreme Court, asking that Minera Andes be required to execute formal loan agreement documents for the $65m project financing loan which was provided by Hochschild to the San José gold and silver project in Argentina. Small Cap News ECO Animal Health Group PLC (AIM: EAH) said ECO Animal Health Ltd has formed a joint venture with Pharmgate LLC of Ramsey, New Jersey, aimed at distributing the partners’ veterinary products in the North American livestock and poultry markets. University IP commercialisation specialist Fusion IP (AIM: FIP) said its partner company Abcellute Holdings has gained a favourable opinion from a NHS Research Ethics Committee for its Abcellute Tissue Bank unit to operate as a Research Tissue Bank under NRES guidelines (National Research Ethics Service). Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH) told investors that it has completed the transfer of a distribution agreement with Biovail Laboratories for the tetrabenazine drug, part of the recently acquired Cambridge Laboratories portfolio. Under the terms of the acquisition, completed in February, the product’s transfer was deferred subject to the successful transfer of the distribution deal. Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE) landed its biggest contract to date for its DSS product suite in the mining sector, agreeing to supply it to BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT, ASX: BHP) subsidiaries BHP Navajo Coal Company and San Juan Coal Company, which are part of BHP’s Energy Coal business unit. Gemfields (AIM: GEM) has held its first rough emerald and beryl auction of 2010 in Jaipur, India, from 11-15 March, selling 89% of material by value for US$7.2 million and setting what the company said was a world record in terms of the volume for Zambian emerald and beryl on offer by weight, at 5.78 tonnes of material on offer. Strategic Natural Resources (AIM: SNRP) (SNR) said it is raising £2.9m through a placing of 19.1m new shares at 15p, and plans to use net proceeds to fund the development and commercialisation its mining assets in the Eastern Cape of the Republic of South Africa, and to enable it to repay a short term debt facility. African Aura Mining (AIM: AAAM, TSX-V: AUR) said its Putu iron ore project was fully on track as the target of at least 1 billion tonnes of NI 43-101 compliant resource has already been achieved, with a “significantly larger” resource anticipated by the company and its joint venture partner Severstal. Forte Energy (AIM, ASX: FTE) has had a busy first half in which it undertook extensive exploration. During the period to end-December 2009, the company completed the second tranche of a US$12 million capital raising to help fund its accelerated exploration activities in West Africa. The company had cash of US$5.9 million at the end of the period compared to US$4.2 million a year earlier and US$6.6 million at 30 June 2009. Range Resources (AIM: RRL, ASX: RRS), the diversified oil and gas junior with assets in Somalia, Georgia and the United States, narrowed its net loss in the first half to end-December 2009 to US$1.7m compared to US$5.59m in the comparable period of 2008. In terms of its operations, the company noted considerable progress during the period. Aminex (AIM: AEX) said that wireline logs from the Olympia Minerals-1 (OM-1) well at Shoats Creek, Louisiana, have identified several potential oil and gas bearing intervals in Cockfield sands between 8,200 and 9,335 ft, which closely match the prognosis obtained by interpretation and mapping of new 3D seismic over the property. Through their respective notes to investors, London-based stockbrokers, FinnCap and Arbuthnot securities commented on smartFOCUS Group (AIM: STF), which earlier today reported solid results for FY 2009. In the 12-months ended 31 December 2009, the company said it continued to shift its revenue model towards ‘Software as a Service’, commonly referred to as ‘SaaS’. smartFOCUS Group (AIM:STF) reported solid results for the 12 month period ended 31 December 2009 (FY 2009) as it continued to shift its revenue model towards ‘Software as a Service’, more commonly referred to as ‘SaaS’. The company provides marketing software to a wide range of blue chip companies – including Rank (LSE:RANK), Carnival Group (LSE:CCL) and Easyjet (LSE:EZJ) - which help improve customer responsiveness and retention, hence a number of smartFOCUS’s clients operate in sectors where effective communication with their customers is a key corporate objective (retailers, finance, media, gambling, leisure, tourism).
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rl/ea/e
FTSE 100 adds 0.5% as Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ rise early: Overview: the FTSE 100 moved in line with pre-trade projections, tacking on 0.5% after UK inflation data that came out today showed a lower than expected rate of 7.8% for the final quarter of 2009. In other news, minutes from the latest Bank of England policy meeting revealed that the members of the Policy Committee voted unanimously to free interest rates and keep the £200 billion quantitative easing programme on hold in March. Yesterday, the US Federal Reserve left its ultra low interest rates unchanged. Software developer Autonomy Corporation (LSE: AU) led the blue chips with a 3.4% advance. Miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and insurance focused investor Resolution (LSE: RSL) followed with gains of over 3%. Other notable risers included retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) and clothing retailer Next (LSE: NXT), which added 2%. Security services company G4S (LSE: GFS) and hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG) were the heaviest fallers in the index with losses of 4%. Tour company Thomas Cook (LSE: TCG) was down 3%, airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) declined 2.3% and satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT) dropped 1.9%. Another retailer Marks and Spencer (LSE: MKS), communications services group WPP (LSE: WPP) and pharmaceutical company Shire (LSE: SHP) also lost nearly 2%. US stocks opened higher as the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4%, the broader S&P 500 index advanced 0.6% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite tacked on 0.55%. Commodities Oil prices climbed today after OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) expectedly left its production quotas unchanged, expecting a healthy demand this year while crude prices are steady at slightly above US$80/barrel, which is believed to be a comfortable level for the organization. Last week, both OPEC and EIA (Energy Information Administration) upped their respective crude demand forecasts for this year by 0.9 mmbbls/d (million barrels per day) to 85.24 mmbbls/d and by 1.6 mmbbls/d to 86.6 mmbbls/d. May Brent Crude improved to US$81.46/barrel, while US light, sweet crude rose to US$82.17/barrel. All blue chip oil and gas producers moved up, yet not by much. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) was in the lead, climbing 1.8%, while BG Group (LSE: BG) and Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) followed with marginal gains. Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) both added nearly 1%. Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) also posted small gains. Midcaps generally did better with all stocks posting gains of over 1% with the exception of JKX Oil & gas (LSE: JKX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA), which added less than 1% and Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR), which lost 1.5%. Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) rose 3.3% to take the lead, while Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) followed, adding nearly 2%. Melrose Resources (LSE: MRS) and Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) moved up 1.4% and 1.1% respectively. Service companies did well as Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) and Wood Group (LSE: WG) added 2.7% and 2.4% respectively. Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) and oil and gas company with assets in Iraq, Syria and Gulf of Mexico, Gulfsands Petroleum (AIM: GPX) led the juniors, advancing 8% and 4% respectively. Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) added nearly 4%. Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) slipped 4%. Gold rallies to lift miners Gold stabilised at about US$1,125/oz after reaching US$1,133/oz on weakness in the US dollar, which declined on the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave the interest rates at the current ultra low levels of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed said that the strength of the ongoing economic recovery did not warrant a rate increase, while inflation was likely to stay at a low level and the job market was slow to recover. This was in line with the Fed’s repeated pledge to keep the rates exceptionally low for an extended period of time. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and a riskier alternative to the safe haven US dollar. The yellow metal normally moves inversely to the greenback, which fell against other major currencies following the Fed’s policy meeting. Gold has been on the rise so far this week, climbing from US$1,100/oz as the euro firmed against the US dollar on easing concerns over the ongoing debt crisis in several euro zone countries including Greece and Portugal. Other precious metals also retreated after making gains with silver sliding to US$17.42/oz, while platinum declined to US$1,631/oz. All major mining stocks were on the rise today with the sole exception of silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC), which went against the tide for the second day in a row with a decline of less than 1%. Silver and gold miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) was in the lead with a 3% advance, while gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) followed with a small gain. Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) added less than 1%. Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) led the sector in the FTSE 250, climbing 4%, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) rose 2.3%. Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold explorer KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEF) and Western Australia operating Norseman Gold (AIM: NGL) followed, climbing 8% and 5.7% respectively. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Philippines focused Metals Exploration (AIM: MTL) headed in the opposite direction, slipping 8% and 5% respectively. Miners rise as copper and nickel extend gains Base metals also rose today with copper and nickel reaching US$3.39/lb and US$9.99/lb respectively, while zinc improved to US$1.05/lb. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) was in the lead, advancing 2.3%, while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) both added 2%. Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) tacked on 1.9%, while BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) and Xstrata (LSE: XTA) both added 1.5%. Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) tacked on nearly 1%. London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) moved with the sector, climbing 1.4%. Tantalum concentrate supplier with assets in Mozambique Noventa (AIM: NVTA) and zinc miner Connemara Mining (AIM: CON) led the juniors with gains of 8% and 6% respectively. Nickel and iron ore exploration junior Landore Resources (AIM: LND) and copper and nickel explorer Regency Mines (AIM: RGM) slipped 4%. Banks, insurance, private equity Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) led the banking stocks with a 1.7% climb. Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) added 1.2%, while fellow part-nationalised bank Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) was flat, as was Barclays (LSE: BARC). HSBC (KSE: HSBA) tacked on nearly 1%. Legal & General (LSE: LGEN), Aviva (LSE: AV) and Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) were the top performing insurers with gains of 1.6%, 1.3% and 1% respectively. Old Mutual (LSE: OML), Prudential (LSE: PRU) and RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) added less than 1%. Standard Life (LSE: SL) was at the bottom of the pile with a 3.6% decline. Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) added almost 1%. Small Cap Movers Other notable movers among the small caps included developed of vision based industrial systems Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE), which soared 33% after landing a contract from subsidiaries of the world’s largest miner BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT). Large and Mid Cap News Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) has filed suit against Minera Andes Inc (TSX: MAI; OTC: MNEAF) of Alberta, Canada and its subsidiary Minera Andes SA in the New York State Supreme Court, asking that Minera Andes be required to execute formal loan agreement documents for the $65m project financing loan which was provided by Hochschild to the San José gold and silver project in Argentina. Small Cap News ECO Animal Health Group PLC (AIM: EAH) said ECO Animal Health Ltd has formed a joint venture with Pharmgate LLC of Ramsey, New Jersey, aimed at distributing the partners’ veterinary products in the North American livestock and poultry markets. University IP commercialisation specialist Fusion IP (AIM: FIP) said its partner company Abcellute Holdings has gained a favourable opinion from a NHS Research Ethics Committee for its Abcellute Tissue Bank unit to operate as a Research Tissue Bank under NRES guidelines (National Research Ethics Service). Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH) told investors that it has completed the transfer of a distribution agreement with Biovail Laboratories for the tetrabenazine drug, part of the recently acquired Cambridge Laboratories portfolio. Under the terms of the acquisition, completed in February, the product’s transfer was deferred subject to the successful transfer of the distribution deal. Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE) landed its biggest contract to date for its DSS product suite in the mining sector, agreeing to supply it to BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT, ASX: BHP) subsidiaries BHP Navajo Coal Company and San Juan Coal Company, which are part of BHP’s Energy Coal business unit. Gemfields (AIM: GEM) has held its first rough emerald and beryl auction of 2010 in Jaipur, India, from 11-15 March, selling 89% of material by value for US$7.2 million and setting what the company said was a world record in terms of the volume for Zambian emerald and beryl on offer by weight, at 5.78 tonnes of material on offer. Strategic Natural Resources (AIM: SNRP) (SNR) said it is raising £2.9m through a placing of 19.1m new shares at 15p, and plans to use net proceeds to fund the development and commercialisation its mining assets in the Eastern Cape of the Republic of South Africa, and to enable it to repay a short term debt facility. African Aura Mining (AIM: AAAM, TSX-V: AUR) said its Putu iron ore project was fully on track as the target of at least 1 billion tonnes of NI 43-101 compliant resource has already been achieved, with a “significantly larger” resource anticipated by the company and its joint venture partner Severstal. Forte Energy (AIM, ASX: FTE) has had a busy first half in which it undertook extensive exploration. During the period to end-December 2009, the company completed the second tranche of a US$12 million capital raising to help fund its accelerated exploration activities in West Africa. The company had cash of US$5.9 million at the end of the period compared to US$4.2 million a year earlier and US$6.6 million at 30 June 2009. Range Resources (AIM: RRL, ASX: RRS), the diversified oil and gas junior with assets in Somalia, Georgia and the United States, narrowed its net loss in the first half to end-December 2009 to US$1.7m compared to US$5.59m in the comparable period of 2008. In terms of its operations, the company noted considerable progress during the period. Aminex (AIM: AEX) said that wireline logs from the Olympia Minerals-1 (OM-1) well at Shoats Creek, Louisiana, have identified several potential oil and gas bearing intervals in Cockfield sands between 8,200 and 9,335 ft, which closely match the prognosis obtained by interpretation and mapping of new 3D seismic over the property. Through their respective notes to investors, London-based stockbrokers, FinnCap and Arbuthnot securities commented on smartFOCUS Group (AIM: STF), which earlier today reported solid results for FY 2009. In the 12-months ended 31 December 2009, the company said it continued to shift its revenue model towards ‘Software as a Service’, commonly referred to as ‘SaaS’. smartFOCUS Group (AIM:STF) reported solid results for the 12 month period ended 31 December 2009 (FY 2009) as it continued to shift its revenue model towards ‘Software as a Service’, more commonly referred to as ‘SaaS’. The company provides marketing software to a wide range of blue chip companies – including Rank (LSE:RANK), Carnival Group (LSE:CCL) and Easyjet (LSE:EZJ) - which help improve customer responsiveness and retention, hence a number of smartFOCUS’s clients operate in sectors where effective communication with their customers is a key corporate objective (retailers, finance, media, gambling, leisure, tourism).
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ie/er/ov
Lydian International’s Amulsar Gold Project should achieve 90% recoveries: There are a number of key characteristics that will decide if a gold discovery ever becomes a mine. Location, permitting, capital expenditure, grade, tonnage, overburden and dozens of other factors all come under scrutiny, but one of the crucial factors is always the metallurgy. Why? Simply put, the way in which you extract the mineral from the source material has a knock on effect on the wider economics of the project. This is why mining exploration companies’ place quite a bit of emphasis on metallurgical test-work results. You can find a large gold deposit, but if the ore requires intensive, complex processing, it can still sink. On the flip side, small, low-grade or even remote deposits can still generate serious cash-flow if the metallurgy is simple, requiring minimal processing. Lydian International’s Amulsar Gold Project certainly isn’t small; it already hosts an inferred resource of 1.4 million ounces, and with another 16,000 meters of drilling planned in 2010, this number is going to increase. But the deposit is a relatively low grade, bulk tonnage type deposit. Hence the delight in Lydian’s statement this morning that additional metallurgical test work at Amulsar has continued to show that the ore is amenable to low cost heap leaching, with tests showing that 90% recoveries are very achievable. Three different column leach tests on 19mm ore composites returned gold extractions of 81.5%, 78.7% and 66.5% over a 14 day leach period and 89.1%, 88.6% and 76.5% over a 70 day leach period. “With recovery trajectories indicating gold was still being extracted in all composites with two of them likely to exceed 90% extractions after a short period of further leaching,” Lydian noted. The head assay grades of the three composites were 1.17 g/t gold, 1.09 g/t gold and 1.52 g/t gold. The recovery grades reported for the column leach tests were based on the back-calculated head assays to ensure that they are the most conservative values, Lydian added. “We are pleased with these results which imply recoveries of around 90% and a low-cost gold leaching operation at Amulsar”, said Tim Coughlin, Lydian’s President and CEO. “Cheap processing is of course very important for bulk tonnage operations. Further column leach experimental work will be completed this year to test different parts of the expanding resource and to test recoveries from newly identified prospect areas such as Erato where we drilled 229m at 1g/t gold in the last hole of the 2009 drilling season. The next stage will be to simulate a run-of-mine leaching operation which does not require crushing and can amount to cost savings in the order of 20%.”. Amulsar sits within the Tethyan fold belt, one of the principal geological features in the northern hemisphere. Extending from Central Europe and northern Africa across Turkey and the Middle East to the Himalayas and then on to the Far East and Indonesia, it marks the point where Africa, Arabia and India collided with the Eurasian plate on their drift northwards and closed up the Tethys Ocean that lay between them in Triassic times. Stretching as it does across so many countries and cultures, many of which have been centres of political and geological upheaval over the centuries, the Tethyan belt is perhaps the least explored of all the earth’s major geological systems.Lydian has already secured a 25-year Special Mining License and all the necessary permits to build a starter pit at Amulsar, and is planning to complete additional components required for a feasibility study this year. Production is expected to commence in 2013.
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$8/s /he
BP, Shell, Tullow Oil, Cairn Energy and BG Group climb as US crude reaches $82: Oil prices climbed today after OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) expectedly left its production quotas unchanged, expecting a healthy demand this year while crude prices are steady at slightly above US$80/barrel, which is believed to be a comfortable level for the organization. Last week, both OPEC and EIA (Energy Information Administration) upped their respective crude demand forecasts for this year by 0.9 mmbbls/d (million barrels per day) to 85.24 mmbbls/d and by 1.6 mmbbls/d to 86.6 mmbbls/d. Crude also benefitted from a weaker US dollar, which declined after the Federal Reserve left the interest rates at the current ultra low levels of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed said that the strength of the ongoing economic recovery did not warrant a rate increase, while inflation was likely to stay at a low level and the job market was slow to recover. This was in line with the Fed’s repeated pledge to keep the rates exceptionally low for an extended period of time. A stronger American currency makes dollar-denominated commodities such as crude more expensive for holders of other currencies, curbing demand and pushing down the prices. May Brent Crude improved to US$81.46/barrel, while US light, sweet crude rose to US$82.17/barrel. All blue chip oil and gas producers moved up, yet not by much. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) was in the lead, climbing 1.8%, while BG Group (LSE: BG) and Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) followed with marginal gains. Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) both added nearly 1%. Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) also posted small gains. Midcaps generally did better with all stocks posting gains of over 1% with the exception of JKX Oil & gas (LSE: JKX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA), which added less than 1% and Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR), which lost 1.5%. Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) rose 3.3% to take the lead, while Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) followed, adding nearly 2%. Melrose Resources (LSE: MRS) and Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) moved up 1.4% and 1.1% respectively. Service companies did well as Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) and Wood Group (LSE: WG) added 2.7% and 2.4% respectively. Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) and oil and gas company with assets in Iraq, Syria and Gulf of Mexico, Gulfsands Petroleum (AIM: GPX) led the juniors, advancing 8% and 4% respectively. Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) added nearly 4%. Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) slipped 4%.
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Dekel Golan, CEO of Chaarat Gold, talks about many million of ounces over the coming decade: Dekel Golan, CEO of Chaarat Gold, talks about 4 million ounces of gold, drilling 1.2 kilometres of a 10 kilometre ore body, every hole drilled intersecting mineralisation for the last two years, many million ounces over the coming decade, and a strong technical and financial partner.
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Oil prices rise as OPEC upholds production quotas, US dollar falls: Oil prices climbed today after OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) expectedly left its production quotas unchanged, expecting a healthy demand this year while crude prices are steady at slightly above US$80/barrel, which is believed to be a comfortable level for the organization. Last week, both OPEC and EIA (Energy Information Administration) upped their respective crude demand forecasts for this year by 0.9 mmbbls/d (million barrels per day) to 85.24 mmbbls/d and by 1.6 mmbbls/d to 86.6 mmbbls/d. Crude also benefitted from a weaker US dollar, which declined after the Federal Reserve left the interest rates at the current ultra low levels of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed said that the strength of the ongoing economic recovery did not warrant a rate increase, while inflation was likely to stay at a low level and the job market was slow to recover. This was in line with the Fed’s repeated pledge to keep the rates exceptionally low for an extended period of time. A stronger American currency makes dollar-denominated commodities such as crude more expensive for holders of other currencies, curbing demand and pushing down the prices. May Brent Crude improved to US$81.46/barrel, while US light, sweet crude rose to US$82.17/barrel. All blue chip oil and gas producers moved up, yet not by much. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) was in the lead, climbing 1.8%, while BG Group (LSE: BG) and Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) followed with marginal gains. Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) both added nearly 1%. Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) also posted small gains. Midcaps generally did better with all stocks posting gains of over 1% with the exception of JKX Oil & gas (LSE: JKX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA), which added less than 1% and Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR), which lost 1.5%. Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) rose 3.3% to take the lead, while Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) followed, adding nearly 2%. Melrose Resources (LSE: MRS) and Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) moved up 1.4% and 1.1% respectively. Service companies did well as Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) and Wood Group (LSE: WG) added 2.7% and 2.4% respectively. Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) and oil and gas company with assets in Iraq, Syria and Gulf of Mexico, Gulfsands Petroleum (AIM: GPX) led the juniors, advancing 8% and 4% respectively. Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) added nearly 4%. Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) slipped 4%.
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Hochschild Mining files suit against Minera Andes seeking repayment of San José mine project loan: Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) has filed suit against Minera Andes Inc (TSX: MAI; OTC: MNEAF) of Alberta, Canada and its subsidiary Minera Andes SA in the New York State Supreme Court, asking that Minera Andes be required to execute formal loan agreement documents for the $65m project financing loan which was provided by Hochschild to the San José gold and silver project in Argentina. The company said that the lawsuit has no impact on the running of the Hochschild-operated San José mine. The San José mine initiated operations in 2007 with a plant capacity of 265ktpa (thousand tonnes per annum), and following a successful expansion in 2008, it doubled plant capacity to 530ktpa. In 2009, the mine produced approximately 5 million ounces of silver and 77,000 ounces of gold.The complaint alleges that Minera Andes and its unit have unduly delayed the execution of formal loan documents and repayment of the loan by the co-venture entity, known as Minera Santa Cruz. Hochschild said it has made repeated attempts to finalize the formal loan agreement documents, but the suit alleges that Minera Andes and its unit have made demands which were never contemplated by the original letter agreements.The mine, a co-venture between Hochschild and Minera Andes, has been in operation since June 2007. Under the terms of agreements between the parties, executed in October 2006, Hochschild alone provided the full amount of the project financing, totalling $65m in instalments between October 2006 and July 2007.The lawsuit lists several separate causes of action.It seeks a decree by the court requiring Minera Andes and its unit to execute formal loan agreement documents with Hochschild, consistent with the previous agreements between the two companies. It asks that both entities be enjoined from further interference in the repayment of the project finance loan. It asks the court to order payment to Hochschild of benefits derived by Minera Andes and its unit as a result of the loan. And it also requests an order declaring that other shareholder loans are subordinate to the project finance loan.
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Randgold, Petropavlovsk, Fresnillo and Lonmin climb as gold rises on weaker US dollar: Gold stabilised at about US$1,125/oz after reaching US$1,133/oz on weakness in the US dollar, which declined on the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave the interest rates at the current ultra low levels of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed said that the strength of the ongoing economic recovery did not warrant a rate increase, while inflation was likely to stay at a low level and the job market was slow to recover. This was in line with the Fed’s repeated pledge to keep the rates exceptionally low for an extended period of time. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and a riskier alternative to the safe haven US dollar. The yellow metal normally moves inversely to the greenback, which fell against other major currencies following the Fed’s policy meeting. Gold has been on the rise so far this week, climbing from US$1,100/oz as the euro firmed against the US dollar on easing concerns over the ongoing debt crisis in several euro zone countries including Greece and Portugal. Other precious metals also retreated after making gains with silver sliding to US$17.42/oz, while platinum declined to US$1,631/oz. All major mining stocks were on the rise today with the sole exception of silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC), which went against the tide for the second day in a row with a decline of less than 1%. Silver and gold miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) was in the lead with a 3% advance, while gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) followed with a small gain. Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) added less than 1%. Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) led the sector in the FTSE 250, climbing 4%, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) rose 2.3%. Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold explorer KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEF) and Western Australia operating Norseman Gold (AIM: NGL) followed, climbing 8% and 5.7% respectively. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Philippines focused Metals Exploration (AIM: MTL) headed in the opposite direction, slipping 8% and 5% respectively.
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Gold extends gains as Fed leaves low interest rates unchanged, mining stocks climb in London: Gold stabilised at about US$1,125/oz after reaching US$1,133/oz on weakness in the US dollar, which declined on the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave the interest rates at the current ultra low levels of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed said that the strength of the ongoing economic recovery did not warrant a rate increase, while inflation was likely to stay at a low level and the job market was slow to recover. This was in line with the Fed’s repeated pledge to keep the rates exceptionally low for an extended period of time. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and a riskier alternative to the safe haven US dollar. The yellow metal normally moves inversely to the greenback, which fell against other major currencies following the Fed’s policy meeting. Gold has been on the rise so far this week, climbing from US$1,100/oz as the euro firmed against the US dollar on easing concerns over the ongoing debt crisis in several euro zone countries including Greece and Portugal. Other precious metals also retreated after making gains with silver sliding to US$17.42/oz, while platinum declined to US$1,631/oz. All major mining stocks were on the rise today with the sole exception of silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC), which went against the tide for the second day in a row with a decline of less than 1%. Silver and gold miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) was in the lead with a 3% advance, while gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) followed with a small gain. Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) added less than 1%. Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) led the sector in the FTSE 250, climbing 4%, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) rose 2.3%. Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold explorer KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEF) and Western Australia operating Norseman Gold (AIM: NGL) followed, climbing 8% and 5.7% respectively. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Philippines focused Metals Exploration (AIM: MTL) headed in the opposite direction, slipping 8% and 5% respectively.
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Proactive Investors United Kingdom
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FTSE 100 climbs as UK unemployment falls, commodities extend gains
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BP, Shell, Tullow Oil, Cairn Energy and BG Group climb as US crude reaches $82
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Oil prices rise as OPEC upholds production quotas, US dollar falls
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Hochschild Mining files suit against Minera Andes seeking repayment of San José mine project loan
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Randgold, Petropavlovsk, Fresnillo and Lonmin climb as gold rises on weaker US dollar
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Gold extends gains as Fed leaves low interest rates unchanged, mining stocks climb in London
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