Small cap round-up: International Ferro, Norseman Gold, Atlantic Coal...

27th Sep 2010 18:32

International Ferro Metals increased its sales of ferrochrome by 87% to 190,432 tonnes in the year to June 2010. Revenues grew from Rand782,000 to Rand1.43m. IFM returned to profit in the second half but lost Rand157,000 in the year to June 2010, down from a Rand456,000 loss the year before. A new electricity plant using waste gases will help to reduce costs this year and IFM is expected to report a profit for the 12 months to June 2011. Trading in Norseman Gold shares has been halted on the ASX because of potential capital raising. The shares continue to trade on AIM and they are expected to resume trading on the ASX tomorrow. US coal miner Atlantic Coal has cut its first half loss from $2.64m to $1.49m. Revenues increased from $3.42m to $4.83m in the six months to June 2010. The Stockton mine in Pennsylvania has a reserve of 4.2m tonnes of coal. Atlantic hopes to become a consolidator in the region. Sub-Saharan Africa-focused oil and gas explorer Tower Resources reported an increased interim loss of $821,000, up from $265,000 in the first half of 2009. Tower hopes to find a location for its Ugandan well by the middle of 2011 and the costs of the exploration could be paid by a farm-in partner. A well could be drilled on Tower's Namibian licence area in 2012.Shares in gold explorer Ariana Resources fell after it posted a pre-tax loss of £183,000 for the six month to June 30, broadly in line with the £191,000 deficit incurred in the same period the previous year.Ariana, which aims to establish a gold-silver mine in Turkey, expects to complete a feasibility study by the third quarter of 2011.