Kazakhstan-focused oil firm Max Petroleum came back a bit today despite news that the UTS-1 exploration well on the Uytas prospect in Block A has found oil in three zones.Testing "to verify commerciality of what we believe could be a significant post-salt discovery" should begin in about one month.Cluff Gold, the West African-focused gold miner, has raised £9.4m from a private placing at 116.5p a share, a 14% premium to last night's closing price."These funds will be used to implement a more aggressive exploration drilling campaign targeting the significant sulphide potential at both Kalsaka (Burkina Faso ) and Angovia (Côte d'Ivoire), whilst increasing the mine lives at both projects, and further developing the exploration opportunities at Baomahun (Sierra Leone)," it said.Namakwa Diamonds boosted revenue by 200% to $82m in the year ended 31 August as production grew 77% to 82,925 carats. Losses narrowed to $30.5m from $87.2m."FY2011 will see our mining operations in the DRC and Lesotho ramped-up further, supported by consistent production from the North West Province, to give an estimated production target of 316,000 - 370,000 carats (FY2010: 82,925cts)," says boss Nico Kruger.Gem Diamonds reports that diamond prices have continued to strengthen since July, driven by continued demand mainly from the East. The company, which owns the Let?eng mine in Lesotho, just completed its first tender which achieved a "very good" average price of $2 422 per carat, up 138% increase on the post crash lows.Global natural resources royalty company Anglo Pacific feels it is still well positioned to continue to build its royalty portfolio.The group, which says it has a strong balance sheet, no debt and strong royalty revenues, is evaluating several new royalty opportunities.UK Coal, mining for the fuel in central and northern England, is on track to hit its full-year target for production from deep mines of 6m tonnes plus a slightly less than expected 1.5m tonnes from surface mining."Overall, with Q3 showing a small operating profit, mining output starting to show more consistent performance, and our asset sales on track, we remain cautiously optimistic about the remainder of 2010 and 2011," the company said.The hunt for an executive chairman is "nearing a conclusion" after three months.Oxus Gold said its 50% owned Uzbekistan joint venture, Amantaytau Goldfields, reported an operating profit in the third quarter of 2010 of $3.16m on gross revenue of $6.05m. Profit after exceptional items, interest and tax was $1.8m.
