Small caps round-up: London Mining, Iofina, Petroneft...

20th May 2010 11:59

London Mining has said today it Marampa hard rock resource in Sierra Leone has grown by more than 300% following the inclusion of the Masaboin Hill deposit."We are very pleased to report the upgrade to the resource base at Marampa to over 400Mt," said boss Graeme Hossie. "We are on track at Marampa to begin export of 1.5Mtpa from Q2 2011 and expand quickly to 3Mtpa." Broker Ambrian has upgraded its price target to 373p from 334p and kept its 'buy' recommendation.Iodine and natural gas group Iofina has done a deal with a private company to recover iodine from one of their co-produced brine water disposal sites in the Anadarko Basin of Western Oklahoma. All iodine extracted will be exclusively marketed to Iofina at a market rate. Production is expected to begin in the first week of June.Regional airline Skywest has accepted an offer by the Western Australian Government to extend the licence period for the coastal network licence it operates. The licence, which had been due to expire on 30 June, will now run to 27 February 2011.Chaarat Gold's loss attributable to shareholders narrowed to $7.45m in 2009 from $11.36m the year before as exploration expenses fell by $3.5m.Earlier this week, the gold explorer focused on the Kyrgyz Republic said findings from a pre feasibility study indicate the potential of implementing an initial high grade, low-cost, open pit mine within the T0700 project area.PetroNeft Resources lost $6.47m in 2009, down from $7.91m last time following a $2.47m decline in foreign exchange losses on intra-group loans.The firm, owner and operator of Licences 61 and 67 at Tomsk Oblast in Russia, said it is now on course to begin year-round production in 2010, allowing it to generate "significant" cash in the coming years.Oil and gas group Borders & Southern Petroleum is to join the rush to find oil near the Falkland Islands after raising funds last year.'Our successful capital raise in November allows us to comfortably fund a drilling programme on our exciting prospects in the South Falkland Basin without diluting our 100% ownership of our acreage,' the company said.In the year to December 31, the company made a pre-tax profit of $3.15m, compared with a pre-tax loss of $4.73m the previous year.The announcement comes the day after fellow Falklands-focused oil group Rockhopper said it will know the size of its discovery in the North Falkland Basin in 10 to 15 days.Caza Oil and Gas has signed an agreement with US oil giant Devon Energy to jointly test and develop a prospect in Crane an Upton counties, Texas.Cheery comments from its chairman Martyn Ratcliffe sent shares in Sagentia, the technology consultant, higher.'The actions taken by Brent Hudson, chief executive officer, and his team in 2009 are proving successful and the current year has started well, with revenue and profitability ahead of the board's expectations,' he was due to say at today's annual meeting.