We were treated to a late RNS arrival yesterday from Omega (ODX), the specialist medical diagnostics company, as it noted concerns regarding the ability of certain lateral flow tests to detect the Omicron variant with the same sensitivity for lower viral loads.
By Zak Mir
The company’s technology partner Mologic Ltd re-confirmed that the Mologic Covios® Ag lateral flow test, performs with the same high accuracy on the Omicron variant as it does with existing known variants.
DeepVerge (DVRG), the environmental and life science AI company, announced the launch of Skin Trust Medical, an extension to the Skin Trust Club, launched in Q2 2021, and a post-31 December 2021 year end trading update and outlook for 2022. The company said it has delivered another year of triple digit percentage revenue growth, with higher margins and an increase in recurring revenues. The injection of capital from the £10m placing in June prepared the Group for an increase in staff, upgraded laboratories, and expansion of its offering of products and services across all divisions. The Group has the strongest balance sheet in its history and a solid foundation for continued strong growth through 2022.
Eastinco Mining and Exploration (EM.P) announced a progress update on exploration works at its joint venture project in southern Rwanda. The geochemical soil sampling programme at the HCK JV license has covered 50% of the license and eleven new pegmatite zones have been identified during field traversing, of which two possibly indicate strike extensions to the existing, known pegmatite zones. The company said the discovery of nine new and potentially Tantalum-Niobium bearing zones is very exciting, especially considering we have only covered 50% of the licence area as a first pass. The possible strike extension to the HCK-1 project is more positive news.
Block Energy (BLOE), the exploration and production company focused on Georgia, is pleased to announce its operations update for the three months ended 31 December 2021. The company said that having encountered hydrocarbons and experienced significant mud losses whilst drilling, the early signs are encouraging. If JKT-01Z proves to be successful, side-track operations funded by production revenue will be initiated back at WR-B01, adopting the same geological approach employed at JKT-01Z. Strong sales, stable production and the ability to take advantage of enhanced sales pricing during the quarter, combined with encouraging initial signs from JKT-01Z, all add to the Board’s confidence.
Technology Minerals (TM1), the battery metals group, said it has opened its first laboratory suite at its new battery processing facility in Wolverhampton, UK. The new laboratory enables Recyclus Group, a 49% Technology Minerals owned company, to carry out its own in-house testing for both lead acid and lithium-ion battery recycling processes.
Apparently, pandemics may come and go, but people will always need footwear even if they are sitting at home on the sofa. The result has been a massive swing to profitability as Shoe Zone (SHOE) announced its audited results for the 52 weeks to 2 October 2021. Profit before tax was at £9.5m for the Period (2020: £14.6m loss). Stores traded for 36 weeks delivering revenues of £88.6mm (2020: £103.0m / 41 weeks trading). Digital sales generated revenues of £30.5m (2020: £19.3m) in the period, an increase of 58%. The company said it has taken advantage of the change in (lockdown) buying habits and has coped with the increase in volumes through its digital shoehub® platform. Presumably Imelda Marcos would have been proud.
Alba Mineral Resources (ALBA) is pleased to announce that a pitting and sampling programme is scheduled to commence shortly at the historic waste rock dump at the Clogau-St David’s Gold Mine, where an initial sampling exercise in 2021 returned gold grades of up to 9.89 g/t. The company said the second pitting and sampling phase should give it a more accurate assessment of the economic potential of one section of the waste rock dump at Clogau. It intends to process a greater volume of the excavated fines through its existing gravity gold plant and, thereafter, to design and submit a plan to mine and process the higher-grade section of the dump.
Evgen Pharma (EVG), the clinical stage drug development company, announced that it has progressed discussions with the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in relation to two clinical trials set to commence in 2022. The first trial is a Phase I human volunteer study to investigate Evgen’s new SFX-01 tablet formulation. Evgen has also submitted an application for a pre-IND meeting to the FDA in December 2021, that will be submitted to FDA in January.
Bluejay Mining (JAY), the exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and Finland, said that the exploration programme for 2021 at the Enonkoski nickel-copper-cobalt project in eastern Finland has now been successfully completed with the company’s joint venture partner Rio Tinto Exploration Finland Oy. 12 diamond drill holes and 1 drill hole extension for a total of 4149.45 metres were drilled in October-December 2021 southeast and west of the closed Enonkoski (Laukunkangas) Ni-Cu-Co mine.
Phoenix Copper (PXC), the AIM quoted USA focused base and precious metals emerging producer and exploration company, has entered into a further agreement with Honolulu Copper Corporation to acquire the remainder of the 2.5% net smelter royalty payable on future production from the Empire Mine property, which includes the Empire Mine Oxide open-pit, the Red Star silver – lead project, and the historically mined sulphide deposit below the open pit, in Idaho, USA.
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