Small caps news round-up

Serabi Gold continued its growth trajectory in the first quarter of 2016, it reported on Wednesday, with some solid numbers coming out of both its Palito and Sao Chico mines. The AIM-traded, Brazil focused gold mining and development firm produced 9,771 ounces of gold during the quarter, compared with 7,924 ounces a year earlier.

88 Energy confirmed on Wednesday that it was looking to raise between AUS$10m (£5.3m) - $10M (£8m) cash through a placing of new shares at 3.5 cents each. Earlier in the day it had said trading in its Australian securities had been suspended, but that trading on AIM would continue.

Goldplat updated the market on its third quarter operations on Wednesday, highlighting strong performance in South Africa and Ghana, though its Kenyan division was still dragging. The AIM-traded African gold producer saw production of 4,864 ounces of gold at its South African arm, of which 3,365 ounces were sold for own account and 975 ounces were returned to clients by way of metal transfers.

Rare Earth Minerals received positive news from one of its investments on Wednesday, receiving the latest analytical results from the Cinovec Lithium-Tin-Tungsten Project. The AIM-traded company holds a stake in the project through a 19.8% holding in European Metals Holdings.

Noricum Gold said it had set its sights on gold production in the third quarter of 2016 as it narrowed full year pre-tax losses to £0.653m compared with £1.4m. The performance was helped by a non-repetition of impairment and corporate charges which came to £0.9m in 2014.

PCG Entertainment reported an increase in revenue and earnings for the first quarter on Wednesday, though it was struggling to convince the market in afternoon trading. The AIM-traded Asia Pacific online gaming and media company said unaudited figures, extracted from its management accounts, showed the group’s operating profit in the first quarter rose to $0.87m, from $0.82m in the previous quarter.

Aim-listed gold, silver and copper miner Great Western Resources said it had narrowed full year pre-tax losses to €0.34m from €0.37m. The company said it had made “good progress” in its Nevada operations during the year and was now “gearing up to develop a pilot production plant as the first stage in commercialising the copper and gold resource that has been established”.

Rame Energy announced a contract win on Wednesday, signing a consultancy agreement with senior gold producer Goldcorp. The AIM-traded independent power project developer and producer said the deal was for a seven month period, and involved the development of a possible wind farm at Goldcorp’s Cerro Negro mining project.

Outsourcing and recruitment services group Servoca said its first-half trading has improved "significantly" thanks to the UK teacher shortage and strong demand for nurses from the NHS and private hospitals.The AIM-listed group, which is chaired by serial entrepreneur Bob Morton, said that trading performance "has shown excellent progress and results for the first six months will be significantly ahead of the corresponding period last year".