Resources round-up: Goldstone, Caza, Anglo Asian Mining...

Exploration company Goldstone has confirmed the wide depth extension of its gold resource at Homase/Akrokerri in West and Central Africa after 46 holes were drilled, totalling 13,200 metres. Included in these, one hole intersected gold mineralisation of 15.7m at 1.4 g/t including 4.5m at 3.3 g/t, while another yielded 2.1 metres at 6.1 g/t. Drilling will shortly be suspended to allow a period of evaluation to determine the next phase of drilling. The company is still awaiting the results of a 23 drill hole programme to update its current resourse total, which is expected later this year.

Caza Oil and Gas has agreed with the operator of the Bradley 29 Prospect in Eddy County, New Mexico, to frac and complete the well in the second Bone Spring sand, where testing has indicated multiple shows for oil and natural gas. This will take place on or around June 14th. Caza, which has a 20% working interest and a 15% net revenue interest in the Bradley 29 well, has acquired around 4,000 net acres in the horizontal Bone Spring play to date.

Anglo Asian Mining, an AIM-listed gold producer, has announced a total mineable reserve at its Gedabek gold/copper/silver mine, in the Republic of Azerbaijan, of 20,312,879 tonnes at 1.139g per ton (g/t) gold for 744,038 ounces, 0.293% copper for 59,479 tonnes, and 9.456 g/t silver for 6,175,531 ounces. Consequently, proved and probable ore reserve for product once mined, processed and marketed now totals 532,607 ounces of gold, 11,305 tonnes of copper and 1,711,075 ounces of silver, as at January 1st 2012. The reserve total does not inclue the estimated 90,000 ounce of gold that is currently either stacked on the leach pad or unrecovered ore from the heap leach process.

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Ithaca Energy has posted initial peak gross oil production rates from the Athena field of 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), of which 4,950 bopd are net to Ithaca. Oil exportation has begun, with plans for the crude to be sold to the market under the company's contract with BP. Payback is expected within one year, based on current oil prices. Ithaca is the site operator and holds a 22.5% stake in the joint venture alongside three other companies.

Trap Oil, an independent oil and gas exploration and appraisal company, has raised around £4.3m before expenses after placing just under 20.54m shares at 21p each. The proceeds of the placement will be used to augment the anticipated cash flows arising from its acquisition of a 15% stake in the above-mentioned Athena field, to boost funding of potential commitments in relation to the proposed acquisition of the Trent East Interest, to help fund additional drilling opportunities and to provide general working capital for the group.

Kryso Resources pleased investors with news that in 2011 it achieved the highest amount of drilling in one year by the company to date, resulting in 'very encouraging' assay results which led to a 40% increase in its Joint Ore Reserves Committee mineral resources total, which has now exceeded 5,000,000 oz gold at a 0.5g/t cut off. During the year the company saw an 81% rise in development costs, a 69% rise in admin expenses and a 25% increase in losses, from $1.12m to $1.39m. Losses per share decreased from 0.65c to 0.53c. Cash levels fell from $16.6m to $11.1m over the course of the year. Full mine construction at Pakrut is imminent and the company is targeting the completion of mine construction by the end of 2013.

International Ferro Metals has said that the ramp-up of both its furnaces is progressing "smoothly" and is on track to achieve full load by mid-June. Once full load has been achieved, the company intends to reduce load during the specific expensive peak winter tariff hours between June and August, which is expected to reduce ferrochrome production volumes by an estimated 10% over this period. The company also said its co-generation plant modifications are complete and the plant is being ramped up in line with the ramp up of the furnaces. The plant is expected to progress to 11% of the company's total power demand from July this year, at a significantly lower cost than bought in power from Eskom, with which until recently the company held a buyback agreement. The firm's Sky Chrome site has been ramped up to 50,000 tonnes run-of-mine. The increased mining depth on the open pit is resulting in improved quality ore as less weathered ore is mined.

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