Inside the Market's roundup of some of the Canadian small caps making news and on the move today. This post will be updated through the morning.
Niko Resources Ltd. said it has agreed to sell its interests in seven Indonesian production sharing contracts to a subsidiary of Ophir Energy plc for $31-million, with further payments of up to $56-million contingent on future exploration success.
Shares in Niko rose 6.2 per cent Monday.
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Sherritt International Corp. said it intends to commence a normal course issuer bid to purchase up to 5 per cent of its issued and outstanding common shares over a 12-month period. The plans are subject to TSX approval.
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Perpetual Energy Inc. has signed a deal to to divest several non-core heavy oil properties in eastern Alberta for $21.6-million.
"This disposition drives further positive progress on the Company's 2014 strategic priority to reduce debt and manage downside risk. The proceeds will bolster Perpetual's financial flexibility to continue to deploy capital to its chosen key diversifying growth strategies both in the Mannville area, where capital spending is concentrating on waterflood implementation in several larger heavy oil pools, and at Edson for development of the economically attractive Wilrich liquids-rich gas trend," the company said in a statement.
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Fission Uranium Corp. announced summer assay results from an additional 13 holes drilled on the R780E zone at its Patterson Lake South (PLS) property in Saskatchewan's Athabasca basin. All the holes returned strong mineralization at shallow depth, with 11 returning "substantial" high-grade intervals, a statement from Fission said.
Rob Chang, analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald, increased his resource estimate for the property on the back of the assay results. "PLS continues to produce high-grade uranium assays. Of note is the fact that the latest set of drill holes extends the R780 zone laterally to the north by 93 metres and to the south by about 38 metres. The expansion of the potential resource envelope further strengthens our belief that PLS will eventually be a 100 million pounds uranium resource at a minimum," he said in a research note. For now, he raised his resource estimate by 3.7 per cent to 76 million pounds, and reiterated that he thinks the stock is "very undervalued."
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Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. said its exploration activities in the first nine months of 2014 had a success rate of 72 per cent. It drilled a total of 39 wells, and 28 wells discovered economic hydrocarbons. Nine wells were abandoned as dry holes and two wells were considered uneconomic.
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Curis Resources Ltd. said that a proxy advisory firm has recommended a vote in favour of a resolution approving Taseko Mines Ltd.'s takeover of Curis. The vote will be held on November 10.
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Marsa Energy Inc. announced what it termed as a "significant" gas discovery at the company-operated Poyraz West-1ST exploration well. "Log and test results indicate approximately 80 metres of net gas pay over a number of stacked reservoirs in a new gas play on the company's Ortakoy Block," Marsa said.
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Alberta Star Development Corp. said it signed an option agreement with NioCorp Developments Ltd. on NioCorp's Archie Lake property in northern Saskatchewan. Alberta Star will subscribe for $1.54-million to NioCorp's previously announced brokered financing of special warrants at a price of $0.55 each.
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Aurion Resources Ltd. said it has received the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's approval for a plan of operations for its Logan Pass carlin-type gold project in Nevada. The approved plan allows Aurion up to 50 acres for exploration and development drilling in two primary target areas within its core group of claims.
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In analyst actions involving Canadian small caps today:
Paradigm Capital downgraded TransGlobe Energy to "hold" from "buy" with a price target of $8.75 (Canadian).
BMO Nesbitt Burns upgraded Rio Alto Mining to "outperform" from "market perform" with a price target of $3.50 (Canadian).
BMO Nesbitt Burns initiated coverage on Lumenpulse with a "market perform" rating and $16.50 (Canadian) price target.
Sonali Verma