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Market Movers, including Ferrex, Metminco, Trapoil, Jupiter Energy, Petroceltic, Arian Silver

Last updated: 03:01 07 Jan 2013 EST, First published: 04:01 07 Jan 2013 EST

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Iron ore miner Ferrex (LON:FRX) got the ball rolling on a relatively quiet start to the week with an impressive set of numbers from its Malelane iron ore project in South Africa.

Ferrex said that a scoping study update has significantly boosted the economics of Malelane.

Among the encouraging figures is an updated net present value, which now stands at US$523mln, up 65%, while the internal rate of return has been raised by 44% to 72%.

Ferrex said the enhanced economics were primarily a result of improved fines recovery that it has been investigating for the last six months.

Managing director Dave Reeves said the project can now count itself among the top iron ore projects in the world.

Metminco (LON:MNC) jumped on the bandwagon with good news from its Los Calatos project in Peru.

The company says that 7.7 million tonnes of copper can be mined from an open pit at the project.

It comes as the company revealed the findings of optimisation studies which conclude that the preferred mining scenario at Los Calatos would see an initial open pit followed by an underground bulk mining operation.

The underground operation could access mineral resources in the order of 1.06bn tonnes.

Metminco unveiled a new resource estimate for Los Calatos alongside the key optimisation studies.

It now estimates that the flagship project hosts mineral resources totalling 1.3bn tonnes, with a copper equivalent grade of 0.57%.

As for junior oil news this morning, Trapoil (LON:TRAP) has struck a deal with Summit Petroleum to take an additional 45% stake in the Orchid oil discovery in the North Sea.

It will pay £1.5mln to buy the stake which gives it a total interest of 60% and potentially makes it the operator of the project.

The company said it marks another step towards becoming a well-established and recognised operator in the UK North Sea.

Also in the news was Jupiter Energy (LON:JPRL), which has agreed a US$3mln unsecured loan with Mobile Energy.

The funds will be provided via three promissory notes, and the loan must be repaid by the end of the year, or following a fundraising in excess of US$20mln.

The cash will be used to fund the drilling of the J-59 well, which spudded on December 31.

The New Year marks the start of an exciting year for Petroceltic International (LON:PCI).

That’s according to boss Brian O’Cathain, who has high hopes following October’s merger with Melrose.

Today it made a forecast for 2013’s production, with an estimated average in the range of 25,000 to 27,000 barrels of oil per day, which O’Cathain said gives an idea of the scale of the new set-up.

Petroceltic is also moving into development of the world-class Ain Tsila gas-condensate project, while attention will soon turn to the potentially high impact exploration drilling in Kurdistan.

DiamondCorp (LON:DCP) shares sparkled in early trade after the company formally agreed the terms of a US$6mln loan from a subsidiary of Tiffany & Co.

In exchange, the upmarket jeweller has secured an off-take agreement for production from the Lace Mine in South Africa’s Free State.

The terms of loan are unchanged from those outlined when the deal with the upmarket jeweller was first unveiled last November.

There were also a couple of appointments worth noting this morning.

Elsewhere, Gemfields (LON:GEM) got formal backing at its AGM of its £89mln deal to buy iconic name in jewellery Faberge.

Chief executive Ian Harebottle said the votes concluded the major outstanding conditions and was "clearly indicative of the fact that our vision to transform the coloured gemstone sector is well understood and supported by our shareholders".

Arian Silver (LON:AGQ) has appointed John Mayfield as its new chief financial officer as of today ahead of what it is calling a pivotal stage in the Mexican silver company’s transformation into a larger scale producer.

And there was a board appointment at specialist medical technology company ANGLE (LON:AGL), which signed up Brian Howlett as a new non-executive director effective immediately.

The companies said the signings come with over 20 years’ experience in their respective fields.

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