Small caps news round-up

Oil and gas explorer Hurricane Energy said it had raised £52.1m through a share placing in a deal that will see private equity firm Kerogen Capital help finance drilling at two wells on the Lancaster field in England's north-west. Hurricane also reported a narrowing of its full year pre-tax losses to £5.5m from £9m. Operating expenses fell by 37% to £5.4m. It has not generated any revenue.

SolGold worked to assure the market it was left unscathed by a large earthquake in Ecuador on Monday, and promised a sum of money to assist those who were affected. At least 272 people were killed and more than 2,500 injured after a magnitude 7.8 tremor struck the country’s coast on Saturday.

Mosman Oil & Gas announced on Monday it was seeking shareholder approval to finalise its withdrawal from a major early stage exploration project in Australia. The AIM-traded, New Zealand and Australia focused oil exploration and development company announced on 18 January that it intended to withdraw its 25% interest in the Officer Basin application, under the terms of the original acquisition agreement.

Tungsten, copper and gold exploration and development company W Resources revealed strong metal recovery results for its La Parrilla Fast Track Mine in Spain on Monday, from extensive test work conducted over the last quarter. The AIM-traded firm said the results confirmed that the coarse grain nature of the tungsten and tin mineralisation at La Parrilla allows efficient gravity recovery of the concentrate at low cost.

Northbridge Industrial Services was looking to shore up its funds on Monday, announcing a proposed placing of ordinary shares to raise between £4m and £4.5m. The AIM-traded company said that, in addition, a further £1.1m was expected to be raised through an underwritten open offer to existing shareholders on the basis of two new ordinary shares for every 25 existing ordinary shares held by shareholders.

City of London Group announced some high level changes on Monday, including the appointment of Jason Granite as an executive director with immediate effect. At the same time, the AIM-traded company said John Kent was standing down as chief executive with effect from 30 April.

Watchstone Group, the insurance technology firm formerly known as Quindell, noted the recent jump in its share price and confirmed it has received a draft and highly conditional, non-cash proposal from a private company for all of its assets, excluding the actual and contingent liabilities.

BlueRock Diamonds announced some management changes on Monday, primarily the appointment of Adam Waugh as CEO of the group. The appointment followed the announcement of the AIM-traded firm’s strategic review on 31 March. Its board said it was part of the strengthening of the management team, required to meet the demands of an enlarged business.

Eurasia Mining celebrated a major milestone on Monday, receiving the last of the necessary permits to begin mining at its West Kytlim alluvial platinum project in Russia’s Ural Mountains. The AIM-traded platinum development company confirmed it had received notice that RostekhNadzor - the federal service for ecological, technological and nuclear supervision - had approved the Technical Design Report and the mine plan.