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Proactive news summary: DekelOil, Tertiary Minerals, Rare Earths Global, Goldstone, Minds + Machines

Published: 01:33 17 Apr 2014 AEST

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DekelOil (LON:DKL) was among the small-cap winners on Wednesday as the palm oil group said its Ivory Coast plant was profitable in its first full month of production.

Director Lincoln Moore described the passing of this important landmark so early as an “achievement of note”.

Dekel owns 51% of the 60 tonne per hour extraction facility in the village of Ayanouan, which turned out 1,617 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) and 189 tonnes of kernels in March.

It sold 594 tonnes of CPO, achieving a price of US$882 per tonne, while the kernels went for US$278 tonnes as it found buyers for 146 tonnes.

The firm revealed the gross margin on those sales was 27-29%, at the high end of estimates. It meant the business was EBITDA (underlying earnings) positive.

The focus now turns to ramping up the logistics operation in order to secure fresh fruit bunches for the mill.

The shares closed up 10% at 1.7p.

Tertiary Minerals (LON:TYM) shares took a tumble despite the announcement of a “substantial” maiden fluorspar resource for its MB project in Nevada.

The project’s indicated and inferred resources totalled 38.4mln tonnes at a grade of 10.4% fluorspar.

That comprises 8.9mln tonnes in the indicated category at a grade of 10.3%, and 29.5mln tonnes of inferred resources at 10.4%.

It doubles the group’s total resources and means there is now an estimated 7.8mln tonnes of contained fluorspar across the portfolio.

Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its target price by 2p to 18p, highlighting that Tertiary now has three JORC resource bearing fluorspar projects in low-risk locations: USA, Sweden and Norway.

It says MB is by far the biggest of its portfolio, accounting for around 51% of the 7.8 million tonnes spread on its books.

Based on previous M&A activity in the sector, the broker values the project at US$25.6mln and the total portfolio at US$50mln.

Offshore energy services business SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) was up 5% at 40p after embarking on a strategic reorganisation to strengthen focus on its core offering.

SeaEnergy said the primary reason for the restructuring is strategic, but there should also be some cost savings benefits.

“This reorganisation positions the group for further strong revenue growth: it focuses R2S on its core service of asset capture, centralises key functions and will enable the capture of synergies and added-value opportunities across the group,” chief executive John Aldersey-Williams explained.

Mining minnow Goldstone Resources (LON:GRL) revealed it is still hopeful of making a discovery at its Sangola permit in Senegal even though Randgold Resources recently withdrew from its joint venture at the project.

Dr Hendrik Schloemann, GoldStone's exploration director, said Randgold’s decision was disappointing, but Sangola still has potential to yield a significant discovery.

“The licence area is large and has not, to date, been sufficiently tested by either GoldStone or Randgold,” he insisted.

“Therefore, subject to the availability of funding, GoldStone intends to perform further work, particularly around Randgold's very widely spaced drill lines.”

Rare Earths Global (LON:REG) slumped almost 40% to 20p on its intention to de-list from AIM just two years after joining the junior market.

Rare Earths was valued at £157mln when it originally listed in March 2012 at 247p, but after the fall today its market value has dropped to £13.5mln.

The company blamed Chinese attempts to get a grip on the mining of rare earths for its decision.

China accounts for more than 90% of all rare earths production, most of which is illegally produced and distributed.

It was revealed today that Premier League football club West Ham United, the London Eye, and the London School of Economics are among the first to sign up to the .london web address ending.

AIM-listed Minds + Machines (MMX), formerly Top Level Domain Holdings, is the operator of the .london domain on behalf of Dot London Domains, a subsidiary of London & Partners, the capital’s promotional body.

It is part of a drastic shift in the internet landscape that will see more than 1,000 new top level domains introduced by governing body ICANN, replacing the traditional .com and .co.uk web addresses.


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