Small caps round-up: Aukett Fitzroy, IGas, North River

2nd Feb 2011 11:21

Architect and interior designer Aukett Fitzroy Robinson has more than halved its full-year loss to £789,000, a performance it calls "creditable" given the negative environment."Although we see encouraging signs of recovery in some areas of our markets we remain of the view that it will be 2012 at the earliest before any material improvement is evident on a wider basis and management will consequently maintain its cautious outlook with careful control of costs," chairman Tim Hodgson said.UK focused IGas Energy has entered into a heads of agreement (HoA) to set up a commercial joint venture with Meehan Drilling, giving it immediate direct access to at least 120 days drilling capacity in 2011 and further capacity if needed."This joint venture will have significant strategic and tactical importance as the company continues to grow," says chief operating officer John Blaymires. "This joint venture secures for IGas the ability to fulfill the 2011 objective of delivering a commercial production site, whilst widening the scope of our activity and will be a critical element of the 2012+ delivery capability." North River Resources has signed a joint venture HoA with southern Africa focused minerals explorer Jacana Resources linked to North River's Mavuzi licences in Mozambique.Jacana will fund an initial exploration programme in the Tete province where North River is mining for uranium and rare earth elements. If it gets to the bankable feasibility study stage, Jacana will own 80% of the project.Kazakhstan-focused gold and copper miner Frontier Mining is confident that the Benkala oxide copper project will come on stream this year, completing the company's shift from a development outfit into a copper and gold producing company.First production from Benkala is anticipated for September 2011. The production target for the project in 2011 has been set at 3,000 tons of LME (London Metals Exchange) grade copper with increasing targets of 7,000 tons in 2012, and 20,000 tons in 2013.