Resources round-up: Global Petroleum, Ariana, Edge Resources

AIM-listed oil and gas group Global Petroleum has finally completed the delayed interpretation of 2D seismic data in Petroleum Exploration Licence 29, offshore Namibia - in which it owns an 85 per cent interest - meaning that it can now concentrate on finding a suitable partner for the next phases of exploration activity. Meanwhile, Global says that the Juan de Nova Permit in the Mozambique Channel (30 per cent interest) is an additional highly prospective play and it is encouraged by the level of interest being shown in the area.

"Global's strong balance sheet and cash reserves mean that we can be highly selective about the opportunities we pursue.We do intend to add further asset(s) to our portfolio with the aim of building a diversified exploration business, using the existing high quality acreage - and our strong cash position - as a starting point," said Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Hill.

Turkey-focused gold (Au) miner Ariana Resources has hailed the "encouraging" exploration results from its drilling programme at the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Gold Project. The results include 2.05m at 9.57g/t Au and 146.22g/t Ag (silver) and 4.0m at 2.59g/t Au and 38.25g/t Ag.

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"The results obtained from the drilling of the Gamze and Fidan structures demonstrate unequivocally the potential for the new vein systems recently identified on Kiziltepe to yield potentially economic grades over considerable strike. Having announced bonanza gold and silver grades from the Derya vein which is located between the Arzu South and Arzu North veins at Kiziltepe in May, we are very pleased to report on these further encouraging grades as we progress towards production at our Red Rabbit Gold Project," said Managing Director Kerim Sener.

Shares in oil and natural gas group Edge Resources climbed over 18% on Monday after announcing that the first two wells of its summer drilling programme spudded over the weekend after it secured a rig which was not being used on a nearby programme. Edge President and CEO Brad Nichol said: "I'm proud of our operational team, who moved very quickly when we learned of this rig's availability for a short two well window. This allows us to get the first two wells drilled earlier than planned and start production testing while we continue preparations on the remainder of the programme."

Uranium Resources, an AIM listed uranium exploration company, has reported 'significant' uranium intercepts and continued uranium mineralisation at the ongoing 20,000m drilling programme at its 100%-owned Mtonya uranium project in southwestern Tanzania. The firm has also said that drilling has demonstrated that the tier 1 interface is well over 3km where three continuous, overlapping roll-fronts have been identified. To date, 70 wide-spaced diamond drillholes, totalling around 16,500m, have been completed - 20 of these intersected uranium mineralisation.