Resources round-up: Athol, Vatukoula, Connemara and Polo

Athol Gold & Value has announced that it has decided not to go ahead with its reverse takeover of Oilbarrel.com and has issued notification to Rivington Street Holdings terminating the acquisition process with immediate effect.

Under the terms of the heads of agreement, RSH is due to repay the £575,000 deposit, plus accrued interest, as soon as possible but not later than September 18th 2012. Athol will retain a charge over the shares and the assets of Oilbarrel until the deposit is repaid in full. As the acquisition of Oilbarrel is no longer being considered, the suspension of the ordinary shares in Athol on AIM have been lifted.

Fiji-based gold mining company Vatukoula Gold Mines has announced that it generated £4.68m from operations in the nine months ended May 31st, compared to £0.3m in the previous corresponding period. The amount of gold shipped during the period declined slightly from 41,395 tonnes to 41,019 tonnes. The total underground tonnes mined rose from 307,228 to 357,472, while the total recovery dropped from 82.21% to 79.07%.

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Revenue for the period increased from 35,668 to 43,299, while the average realised gold price rose from $1,368 per ounce to $1,656 and the cash cost per ounce shipped climbed from $1,297 to $1,609 per ounce.

Zinc miner Connemara Mining Company posted a widening of losses for the full year at €0.4m (2010: €0.3m), hit by a €0.1m jump in administrative expenses; the firm commented that these are "very difficult times" for exploration companies. However, the groupwas keen to emphasise that it has adequate funds for all its proposed expenditure in the next year, with cash levels at €0.66m (2010: €0.73m).

In a statement the firm said: "We believe the long term fundamentals for zinc and gold are very strong. The current extreme uncertainty in the world is having a devastating impact on market values. There is no way of knowing when the bear market in resource stocks will finish, but finish it will."

Natural resources exploration company Polo Resources has a unveiled a "significant" increase in the gold resource estimate at its 90%-owned Nimini-Komahun Gold Project in Sierra Leone. Indicated resources have grown 374% to 521,000 troy ounces of gold (3.528m tonnes at a grade of 4.59g per tonne). The estimate is based on the results of 68 new diamond drill holes totalling 11,528 metres that have been drilled since the previous resource estimation undertaken in 2008. A further 20,000 metres of drilling is now in progress, the firm said.

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