RNS Hotlist: Ananda, DeepVerge, Eco, Mkango, Oracle, Pembridge, Pires, Quantum, Serabi, UKOG

There was a strong fundamental boost for DeepVerge’s (DVRG) environmental division, Modern Water, as it announced production orders up 39% in Q1, worth c£5m (Q1:2021 £3.6m) for a range of drinking water testing, contamination and detection of SARS-CoV-2 equipment. The company said this is the biggest Q1 production order ever in Modern Water history and the equipment is expected to be delivered during the current financial year. This equipment is across the range and includes Microtox®PD.

Pires Investments (PIRI), the investment company, revealed the completion of a €10 million funding round by one of its investments, Getvisibility, an artificial intelligence-based data discovery, classification and protection platform company. Pires made its original investment of €250,000 in March 2020, with a follow-on investment of €62,000 in June 2021. Since then Pires' direct stake in Getvisibility (including its additional investment) is now valued at circa €1,500,000 vs a PIRI market cap of £9m.

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (QBT) updated on the current progress of its Bitcoin mining R&D activities. The company said it has made progress on all its core R&D areas, and will now start field testing its optimisations of BTC mining in the next few weeks.

Oracle Power (ORCP), the international natural resources project developer, announced the appointment of H&P Advisory Limited, part of the Hannam & Partners group, as financial adviser and consultant to Oracle in relation to the Company's potential green hydrogen project in Pakistan. H&P will focus exclusively on the Project, providing strategic advisory and financial services.

Mkango Resources (MKA) said it noted the press release by the European Raw Materials Alliance,  and looks forward to working with ERMA as it moves the Pulawy separation plant towards development. MKA said the current issues with Europe's dependency on oil and gas clearly shows the importance of diversification of value chains across all strategic industries for the production of green energy.

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (ECO), the oil and gas exploration company, confirmed that it and Azinam Group Holdings have completed all conditions required to be completed in order to close Eco's acquisition of Azinam, save and accept for receipt of the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) said that with respect to its appeal against Surrey County Council's refusal of planning consent for its Loxley conventional gas and hydrogen feedstock project, the Planning Inspectorate has now confirmed that the inspector has submitted his report to the Secretary of State to assist in his determination. The Planning Inspectorate has also advised that they expect the SoS to issue his decision on or before 7 June 2022.

Serabi Gold (SRB), the Brazilian-focused gold mining and development company, provided a development update on its wholly owned Coringa project in the Tapajos region of Para State, Northern Brazil. The company said it remains on track for initial gold production in 2023 and anticipates the mine driving strong margins with the project PEA reporting a healthy IRR of 46% at $1,450 per ounce which would be significantly improved at current prices.

Pembridge Resources (PERE) said that Minto Metals Corp. has now made the first repayment of its loan from Pembridge. PERE lent a total of CAD 4 million to Minto, to fund Minto's surety account, during 2019 and 2020.  The loan carries interest at 8% and is due to be repaid in full via quarterly instalments each of CAD 1 million during 2022, with the final interest payment in early 2023.

Ananda (ANA), the would be medical cannabis producer, provided an update. The company said that in early February 2022, 5 seeds of each of 13 strains of cannabis were planted at the DJT Plants Limited medical cannabis research facility. Commercial growing and selling is dependent on the successfully receipt of further licences from the Home Office and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certification from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).