Small caps news round-up

Natural resources investment company Polo Resources announced on Thursday thatBlackham Resources Limited has reported the successful achievement of another milestone towards gold production, with the commencement of open pit mining operations and underground development work at the company's Matilda Gold Project. The AIM-traded firm said contractors have commenced mining at the Matilda M10 open pit and underground development work at the high grade Golden Age orebody.

Renewable and carbon neutral gas supplier Good Energy Group posted a trading update for the first six months ended 30 June on Thursday, reporting strong growth in overall customer meter points up 36% to 239,750. The AIM-traded firm also claimed to have achieved “industry-leading” customer advocacy scores, in a period in which it also held a significantly oversubscribed share offer, raising £3.1m.

Diversified mineral development and production company Strategic Minerals announced on Thursday that it has accepted a settlement offer in relation to its claim over rail works for the Cobre Mine in the US. The AIM-traded firm said the settlement totalled $0.675m, to be paid in instalments of $0.1m in August, $0.4m in January 2017 and $0.175m in June 2017.

Mission Marketing Group, a marketing communications and advertising company, have issued a positive trading update for the first half on Thursday. The board expects double digit growth in both revenue and profit compared to the previous year for the same period ending 30 June.

Defence company Chemring has secured a further research and development contract on the Next Generation Chemical Detection Program of Record in the US and has progressed to the prototype phase on all three variants. Work will be carried out at the Chemring Sensors & Electronic Systems' facility in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tanzania-based budget airline Fastjet announced a placing and open offer to raise £19.2m and said it plans to be in a cash-flow break-even position by the end of next year. The issue price of 50p represents a significant premium of around 116% to the closing price of the shares on 20 July.

Close-ended investment company Qannas Investments announced on Thursday that it has realised a partial exit of a €7m senior secured term loan provided to Integrated Eastern European Fund. The AIM-traded firm said the original loan was provided in August 2014 to allow IEEF to complete the acquisition of two land plots in high growth tourist areas of Bulgaria and Montenegro.

Rare Earth Minerals reported on Thursday that European Metals Holdings, in which it owns a 16.4% shareholding, has appointed Ausenco Services as the lead engineer to the pre-feasibility study of the Cinovec Lithium/Tim Project in the Czech Republic. The AIM-traded firm said the study, which is expected to be completed early next year, will build on the positive scoping study that was released last year.