(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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CML Microsystems PLC - Maldon, England-based radio frequency semiconductor maker - Plans to move from London Stock Exchange's Main Market to AIM market. Believes shift is in best interests with AIM a "more appropriate regulatory environment" for firm. Adds that there is no immediate need to appoint a financial director and, as a result, Nigel Clark will become executive chair effectively immediately, while retaining overall responsibility for the finance function at board level. Since former financial director departed in February 2020, Clark has held dual role of chair and finance director on interim basis.
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IronRidge Resources Ltd - Australia-based minerals exploration company - Concludes that Cape Coast Lithium Portfolio is "materially undervalued" in IronRidge's current structure and requires a "distinct, separate focus to release its true value". Plans demerger of gold assets in Ivory Coast and Chad into new gold focused entity structured to permit quotation on a recognised stock exchange. "Whilst it is in the intention of the company to progress with a demerger of the company's gold assets, there will be a number of steps and conditions that will need to be addressed as part of finalising the demerger structure and there can be no guarantee that the demerger will complete," it adds.
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Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings PLC - cannabinoid medicine company - On Friday last week enters into a new consultancy agreement with Voisin Consulting Sarl to support and develop a regulatory strategy and roadmap for the UK and the US markets, and provide analysis of Oxford Cannabinoid's development plan to support first time in humans clinical trials.
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Avingtrans PLC - company which provides engineered components - Says its subsidiary Stainless Metalcraft has agreed to exercise the option to enter into the second phase of the contract to provide stainless steel storage boxes for Sellafield Ltd. The three metre cubed box contract is now worth up to GBP70 million and represents a GBP20 million uplift to the original contract awarded in 2015. The agreement to exercise the option marks Metalcraft's transition to the second phase of the three metre cubed box work with Sellafield. The boxes will be used to store intermediate level waste retrieved from silos at legacy locations in Cumbria. As part of this transition, Metalcraft will be producing circa 1,000 boxes over phase two of the programme, which is currently expected to take six years.
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Angle PLC - biopsy company - Reports research by Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, US, into the utility of the Parsortix system to isolate rare cancer cells present in the bone marrow of breast cancer patients. Analysis of disseminated tumour cells in breast cancer patients may help to inform treatment decisions and potentially prevent relapse for patients in remission. The Parsortix system was evaluated alongside multiple other approaches and found to be the most effective for harvesting disseminated tumour cells. Furthermore, the Parsortix system was found to have several other advantages over alternative approaches investigated including ease of operation, minimal handling of samples and easy recovery of viable cells.
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Nuformix PLC - pharmaceutical development company - Confirms it has started the planned studies on its pipeline assets NXP002 and NXP004. For NXP002, additional pre-clinical activities on inhalation feasibility data package commenced, the company says, while, for NXP004, additional research into new physical forms commenced. "We are expecting results later in the year and further updates will be communicated when appropriate data are available," says Chief Executive Anne Brindley.
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Harvest Minerals Ltd - remineraliser producer - Buys at nominal value the mineral rights over an area prospective for the exploration of agriculture limestone, a critical soil input used to neutralise soil acidity by raising its pH levels. Located in the municipality of Iguatama, Minas Gerais, the project is 168 kilometres from Harvest's Arapua fertiliser project. No financial details of the deal were disclosed.
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Ariana Resources PLC - exploration and development company operating in Europe - Reports the commencement of exploration activities in eastern Europe through its investee Western Tethyan Resources Ltd. Ariana says it will hold 75% interest in Western Tethyan, following at least EUR100,000 of exploration funding during the remainder of 2021, with the local team holding the reminder. "As part of the project generative work being undertaken by our in-house specialists, we have already commenced an extensive remote-sensing study utilising ASTER and Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite datasets initially across Kosovo and North Macedonia. This work utilises various image processing algorithms to target key alteration minerals associated with mineral deposits. In addition, geophysical datasets are being acquired and reprocessed, which, when coupled with the remote-sensing studies, will improve exploration targeting," says Ariana Managing Director Kerim Sener.
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Power Metal Resources PLC - metals exploration and development company - Subsidiary Golden Metal Resources Ltd and GR Silver Mining Ltd agree on an option for Golden Metal to earn-in to 100% of the Golconda Summit gold property located in central Nevada, US. Golconda Summit is an early-stage gold exploration project, which is considered prospective for the identification of additional near-surface gold mineralisation. "We recently formed Golden Metal to act as a holding company for new acquisitions of precious and base metal projects located in North America and I am pleased to announce this first transaction within the mining friendly state of Nevada," says Chief Executive Paul Johnson.
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Ironveld PLC - exploration and development company - Says its subsidiary Luge Prospecting & Mining Pty Ltd has had a mining right application accepted in respect of vanadiferous-titaniferous magnetite over the farms Luge 697 LR and Non Plus Ultra 683 LR. Following completion of the standard environmental and water use licence work, as well as community engagement, it is expected that the mining right will be granted in the second half of 2021.
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Savannah Resources PLC - resource development company - Reports increasing interest from groups seeking to strategically undertake investment in its Mina do Barroso project in Portugal. The interest reflects the increasing appetite for exposure to the lithium value chain within the wider investment community. Savannah says it intends to leverage this degree of commercial interest in Mina do Barroso to create an economic platform to support the project's development and to maximise shareholder value. Savannah says it is now evaluating its strategic options. This process may include alternative or supplementary offtake contracts, with or without investment from the offtaker in Savannah or the project directly.
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Scotgold Resources Ltd - company which invests in gold mining industry - Says its Cononish project, located in Scotland, has been producing both gold concentrate and gravity separated gold dore, following the resolution of various outstanding technical issues affecting the processing plant. The company also says it is "pleased" with the quality of ore that has been mined and produced through the process plant. Going forward, Scotgold says its focus is to further enhance safe production through consistency and stability of mine and process plant operations in parallel with the opening of multiple faces of ore in the underground mine itself.
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Avacta Group PLC - Yorkshire-based drug and medical equipment maker - Says it is anticipated that Mologic will receive confirmation of registration of the AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test for the UK market from the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency shortly. Avacta is partnering with Mologic for the test. "The regulatory submissions to both the MHRA and to a competent authority in a European Union member state were sub-contracted by Mologic to an independent regulatory consulting agency. An error made by that agency, for which it was solely responsible, resulted in a delay to the MHRA submission which was finally made on 28 May," says Avacta. Adds that submission of the declaration of conformity has also been made to a competent authority in an EU member state to enable marketing and sale of the AffiDX test in the EU.
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Omega Diagnostics separately notes publication of manuscript which provides positive study data relating to Mologic's lateral flow antigen test for Covid-19. The study concludes that the Mologic test, which has been commercialised by Omega as the Visitect Covid-19 Antigen test, has fulfilled the WHO target diagnostic accuracy with a high sensitivity detecting individuals with high viral load infections. Omega says this is "great news" for the Mologic test.
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Secured Income Fund PLC - specialist secured lending income investment trust - Is undertaking review of its Film Production Financing portfolio, which had a book value for all six loans of GBP9.6 million as of April 30. "The portfolio comprises six film financings and the Fund Manager, KKV, has established that the restrictions and changed operating practices resulting from the Covid pandemic are likely to have a significantly bigger detrimental impact on these assets than originally anticipated," it says. Thus, review of portfolio expected to result in a substantial increase in provisioning against the book values of all six loans.
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Sensyne Health PLC - Oxford, England-based clinical technology using artificial intelligence - Signs production contract with the UK's Department of Health & Social Care to use firm's MagnifEye AI technology for reading Covid-19 lateral flow diagnostic tests as part of the UK government's asymptomatic testing programme. Revenue from contract will be shared with Excalibur Health Systems under the terms of the exclusive agreement between the two companies. "This is a significant commercial milestone in Sensyne's development and underlines the potential of our world-class expertise in clinical AI applied to diagnostic testing. We are delighted to be working with the Department of Health & Social Care to support the UK's national Covid testing programme, which is making a huge impact in helping the nation to recover from the pandemic," says Chief Executive Paul Drayson.
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Marble Point Loan Financing Ltd - investment firm - Reports net asset value per share of USD0.73 as at March-end, up from USD0.71 at end of December 2020.
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CAP-XX Ltd - Australia-based supercapacitors and energy management systems manufacturer - Says Everactive selects the CAP-XX HA230F supercap as the energy storage component for its batteryless Eversensors. "Everactive chose the CAP-XX prismatic supercapacitors for their ability to efficiently collect and store harvested energy and release burst power as required to power the IoT device," it says.
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Trinity Exploration & Production PLC- Trinidad & Tobago-focused oil exploration and production company - Signs memorandum of understanding with the University of the West Indie, St Augustine Campus, to explore and develop new projects to enable energy transition in Trinidad and Tobago, and, potentially, in the wider Caribbean and beyond. "The MoU covers a range of business opportunities, renewables or otherwise, which may be mutually beneficial to the parties. The inaugural output from this partnership will be a Wind Resource Assessment project situated in the southeast of Trinidad," it says.
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Diurnal Group PLC - Cardiff, Wales-based pharmaceutical company focused on hormonal diseases - Triggers payments totalling USD1.3 million from Citrine Medicine Inc, its partner in China, relating to the recent European Commission's approval for Efmody and the attainment by Citrine of certain development milestones in China for Alkindi.
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Asiamet Resources Ltd - focused on the development of copper-gold deposits in Indonesia - Says Value Enhancement works related to transitioning the BKM copper mine development from a heap leach to tank leach processing route is "making solid progress". Asiamet expects to receive revised capital and operating spending estimates by mid-late July 2021 and will then complete an update of the project economics.
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FastForward Innovations Ltd - investor in life sciences and technology businesses particularly within the medical cannabis field - Notes that investee Yooma Wellness Inc plans to seek dual-listing on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market and, in connection with this, plans financing of up to GBP10.0 million to help fund three proposed acquisitions. Shares will be dual-listed on Canadian Securities Exchange and the AQSE Growth Market. FastForward holds 5.1% stake in Yooma.
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TomCo Energy PLC - unconventional hydrocarbon development in US - Has received draft of the Front-End Engineering and Design study that has been previously outlined. Says study will be finalised following company's and Greenfield's review with the third-party verification exercise on the process also nearing completion, with all planned on-site activities having been undertaken. Currently anticipated that the study and the third party verification work will be finalised by early July. "Further to the lifting of the Cessation Order on 25 May 2021 and resumption of operations at the POSP, the rate of production has been increasing such that Greenfield anticipates that it will shortly reach the targeted production level of 250 barrels of oil per day," it says.
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Castillo Copper Ltd - base metal explorer primarily focused on copper across Australia and Zambia - Has geology team has finalised the drilling campaign for the Big One deposit which will comprise 26 drill-holes for 2,828 metres. This includes 108 metres of HQ diamond coring in two drill-holes to collect detailed assay, density, and geotechnical measurements. "In line with the Castillo's strategic intent to evolve into a mid-tier copper group, the board remains optimistic 2021 will be a transformative year," it says.
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Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd - developer of Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Kazakhstan - Reports completion of the initial investment by Vision Blue Resources, triggering receipt of a further investment of USD1.6 million in addition to the USD1.5 million already made, bring total invested by Vision Blue and its coinvestors to date to USD3.1 million. Investment to be made via the issue of 12.8 million shares. Mick Davis to assume role of chair, with current chair, Chris Thomas, to assume the role of non-executive director following Davis's appointment. Davis was previously chief financial officer of Billiton and chair of Billiton Coal.
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Cambium Global Timberland Ltd - plantation forest owner - Says talks over potential sale of financial assets have terminated. "The company is reviewing alternatives in relation to how it will seek to implement its strategy of returns to shareholders following the sale of its forestry assets previously announced," it says.
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Echo Energy PLC - Latin American focused upstream oil & gas company - Says disbursements totalling ARS48.4 million, around USD500,000, owed to subsidiary Eco Energy TA Op Ltd have now been received. "This cash payment demonstrates the continuing successful processing of VAT refunds owed to the Company by the Argentine authority, AFIP, as it resumes normal activity following months of Covid-19 related shut down," it says. Adds that the 2020 PP&E VAT claim of ARD54.8 million for Eco Energy TA Op as been accepted by the Argentine VAT office. Eco Energy CDL Op Ltd has also had its 2020 PP&E VAT claim of ARS8.1 million approved. The Argentine VAT office has also separately now approved the Free VAT application Eco Energy CDL Op Ltd of ARS9.5 million and Echo has completed a sale of this VAT credit in exchange for cash. "The unlocking of the Argentine VAT refund process is, and is expected to continue, to provide material cash funds in the coming months and provides further evidence of the normalisation of in country activities following delays in 2020 caused by Covid-19 restrictions," company says.
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By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com and Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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