RNS Hotlist: Alkemy, Brandshield, Greatland, Guild, Intelligent, Osirium, SEED, Tirupati, Upland, Xtract

Tirupati Graphite (TGR), the specialist graphite and graphene company, updated on its Madagascar operations.  The company said it is addressing operational challenges while also moving closer to its target for net zero emission and is on track to increase its primary flake graphite production capacity in Madagascar to 30ktpa by September 2022 which will make it one of the few significant producers of the critical mineral outside China.

Xtract Resources (XTR) announced that Mutapa Mining and Processing LDA has informed the company that the first gold has been poured at its Fair Bride hard-rock gold mining operations at the Manica Concession in Mozambique. The production was started with the introduction of low-grade ore to commission all parts of the processing circuit. The company said it will make a further announcement as and when the plant moves into regular production.

Alkemy Capital Investments (ALK) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Tees Valley Lithium Ltd, said that TVL has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with leading global physical trader and merchant in metals and natural resources, Traxys North America LLC, a member of the Traxys Group of companies. Alkemy / TVL said it was delighted to be partnering with leading global metals trader Traxys who will supply TVL with the lithium feedstock required for TVL to become Europe's largest and lowest-carbon lithium hydroxide producer, located at the Wilton International Chemicals Park in Teesside, UK.

Guild Esports (GILD), a team organisation and lifestyle brand, announced the signing of a one-year global sponsorship deal with The Coca-Cola Company. The soft drinks company is the sixth sponsor signed by Guild and becomes the company's Official Soft Drinks & Hydration Partner with effect from today.  Guild is the first ever European esports team organisation to sign a global sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola.

BrandShield Systems (BRSD), a provider of cybersecurity solutions,  announced the results of a strategic partnership with The Sandbox, a decentralised gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands. Over a two-month period, from March to April of 2022, BrandShield said it successfully neutralised 120 phishing sites and 58 fake social media accounts impersonating the metaverse platform, allowing The Sandbox's economy to operate securely whilst safeguarding metaverse players from critical online threats.

Osirium Technologies (OSI), a vendor of cloud-based cybersecurity, announced a new contract worth c. £140,000 for a three-year subscription for its Privileged Access Management solution with a UK university. The company said that this contract represents 8.9% of the total bookings achieved by the Group in 2021 and reflects the continuing trend of increasing average contract values from the new clients closed in 2022.

Greatland Gold (GGP), a mining development and exploration company, provided an exploration and development update at the Havieron gold-copper project in the Paterson region of Western Australia. The company said Havieron's extensive growth drilling program continues to identify and expand high grade extensions to the mineralisation in the Eastern Breccia, South-East Crescent Zone and Northern Breccia. In addition, it said the process for determining the option price for the 5% joint venture interest under the Havieron Joint Venture Agreement has been finalised. This has resulted in an option price of $60m at which Newcrest Mining can acquire an additional 5% interest in the Havieron Joint Venture from Greatland.

Upland Resources (UPL), said that a Farmout Agreement has been signed between Upland Saouaf, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, and Pennpetro Energy, for a farm-in into Upland's Saouaf permit area in Tunisia. The Saouaf Permit is held in joint venture with the Tunisian state oil company, Enterprise Tunisienne d'Activités Pétroliéres. Both Upland and Pennpetro have previously announced the signing of a Heads of Terms agreement with on 16 March 2022.

Intelligent Ultrasound Group (IUG), the 'classroom to clinic' ultrasound company, announced that Group revenue for the period to 30 June 2022 is expected to be £5.9m (H1 2021: £3.6m). The expected increase of over 60% is mainly due to a strong performance in UK simulation sales. The company said its simulation products have performed well in the UK and sales of the new clinical AI product range are starting to grow.

SEED Innovations (SEED), the AIM quoted company investing with a focus on the wellness space, announced its final results for the year ended 31 March 2022. The company said it had made significant operational progress at a number of existing portfolio companies, despite a continuing testing macro environment. A number of investments have been made into progressive companies within the health, wellness, and medical cannabis space.