Canadian miner SilverCorp Metals Inc is bidding A$0.03 (1.6p) a share in cash and shares for Celsius Resources Ltd (LON: CLA). This values the company at £30.2m. The share price jumped by one-third to 1.3p. SilverCorp Metals is interested in the Makilala-Caigutan-Biyog (MCB) copper gold project in the Philippines. As part of the deal, Celsius shareholders will receive shares in a spin-off that owns the Sagay and Opuwo cobalt projects. This will be on the basis of one share in the new company for every ten Celsius shares. The new company will be quoted on ASX or AIM. Celsius joined AIM in January when it raised £2.4m at 0.8p a share.
Some better news for IOG (LON: IOG). The control event at the Blythe H2 well in the North Sea has been successfully isolated. The first gas from this well should be produced by the end of June. The share price rebounded 15.4% to 6p.
Lexington Gold (LON: LEX) is acquiring White River Exploration, which has five gold projects in the Witwatersrand, which is a major gold region in South Africa. This brings a joint venture with Harmony Gold, which has a non-compliant resource of three million ounces of gold. Lexington Gold will own 76% of White River with the rest owned by black economic empowerment partners. It will loan £300,000 to White River and issue £6.4m of shares to cover loans made to the company. The share price improved 8.82% to 9.25p.
Scotgold Resources (LON: SGZ) has raised £2m from the placing and open offer at 15p a share with excess applications scaled back. Long hole drilling has commenced and a lower than expected average grade of 4g/t gold is reported. The quantity and grade of ore mined is imported for the commerciality of the mine. The share price recovered 10.6% to 18.25p.
The authorities have denied a request by Orcadian Energy (LON: ORCA) to extend phase A of licence P2320 and the licence has expired, which means that potential disposals of sub-areas will not happen. Orcadian Energy plans to make an application for a new licence. More cash is required for working capital and to pay back a £1m loan from Shell. The share price has fallen by one-fifth to 5p. It is down by two-thirds since the beginning of the year. The July 2021 placing price was 40p.
Scientific instruments developer Microsaic Systems (LON: MSYS) says that its audit is taking longer than expected, but the 2022 accounts should be published by the end of June. The share price declined 13.3% to 0.0325p.
Price rises and cost savings are benefiting documents management services provider Restore (LON: RST), while year-on-year sales are 4% higher in the first four months. On the negative side, technology recycling volumes are not recovering as fast as anticipated due to low sales of new IT. This has led to a cut in forecasts. Canaccord Genuity has reduced its 2023 pre-tax profit forecast from £45m to £41m. This knocked 11.2% off the share price leaving it at 261p.
There was a sharp fall in revenues and profit at Caledonia Mining Corporation (LON: CMCL) in the first quarter. Gold production declined by 13% to 16,100 ounces, while unit cash cost rose by 71% to $1,196/ounce. There was a £800,000 loss in the first quarter, but the dividend is maintained at 14 cents a share. Net cash is $3.2m. The share price fell 4.21% to 1025p.
