TRADING UPDATES: Caspian reports progress; Arkle nears Erongo drilling
The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Caspian Sunrise PLC - mining company focused on Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector - Reports ‘encouraging progress’ at the Yelemes Deep structure on its BNG contract area. Deep Well 803, which had an original planned total depth of 4,300 metres, has now been deepened to 3,927 meters. ‘On completion of a further 150 meters drilling casing will be set to a depth of 4,100 meters with the plan to perforate and test on cased-hole basis an interval of approximately 20 to 30 meters within the depth range of 3,927 to 3,977 meters. In addition, to seek to increase hydrocarbon production, the company plans to perforate and test further intervals with aggregate thicknesses of approximately 8 to 12 meters within the depth range of 3,770 to 3,800 meters,’ Caspian says. Due to the results at Deep Well 803, three further deep wells are to be drilled on the Yelemes Deep structure with Deep Wells 701 and 707 expected to be spudded in July 2026. Deep Well 703, planned to be drilled to a planned total depth of 4,750 meters and targeting the Middle Carboniferous Moscowian reservoir, is due to be spudded in the second half of 2026 as a rig becomes available on completion of either Deep Wells 701 or 707. At the Airshagyl field’s E-Mz-55 well, says seismic analysis shows a clearly defined palaeochannel feature at depths of between 1,950 and 1,990 meters. The well will be drilled to a planned total depth of 2,300 meters, targeting the Middle Jurassic J-I reservoir. Lastly, receives reserve estimates calculation report for the Yelemes area, showing 33.0 million barrels of oil net attributable to Caspian.
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CRISM Therapeutics Corp - British Virgin Islands-based pharmaceutical firm - Updates on its Phase 2 clinical trial of irinotecan ChemoSeed in patients with glioblastoma. Confirms that all product manufacturing, quality, regulatory and study start-up activities required for patient treatment have been completed and that site activation is at an advanced stage. ‘Multiple clinical support departments have completed their individual assessments and sign-off procedures, and a site initiation visit, the final procedural step before the site can be activated for patient recruitment, is planned for late July. This represents significant progress and the company will provide further updates regarding patient recruitment and dosing following the SIV,’ CRISM says. Says it is fully funded to complete Part 1 of the trial and is ‘well positioned’ to initiate Part 2 on completion.
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Arkle Resources PLC - Dublin-based mineral exploration and development company - Says field work, including geological mapping and trench sampling, is progressing on schedule at its Erongo Uranium Project in Namibia, ahead of the company’s maiden drill programme. Arkle has completed a downhole gamma ray spectrometry survey with 106 legacy drillholes surveyed across exclusive prospecting licences 8995 and 8298. 16 holes return intercepts exceeding 50 parts per million equivalent uranium oxide over one metre or more, of which seven exceed 100 ppm equivalent uranium oxide, with peak intercepts of 1 metre at 303 ppm equivalent uranium oxide from 6.5 metres and 2 metres at 215 ppm equivalent uranium oxide from 15.5 metres. Trenching and sampling are underway with geological mapping ongoing. An initial programme of 42 reverse circulation drillholes is planned to test surface and legacy downhole radiometric anomalies across the eastern and central paleochannel target area of EPL 8995. Expected to start in the third quarter is an additional 2,500-metre reverse circulation drilling programme on the uraniferous leucogranite target, subject to the results of the trenching and sampling work. Additional HLEM survey lines, mapping and sampling across further paleochannel and ULG targets, to develop the next generation of drill targets, are planned for the third and fourth quarter. Chief Executive Officer Rory Harding says: ‘With the contractor engaged and making preparations, we expect to be drilling within days. This is the start of a sustained, fully funded drilling campaign of around 4,000 metres across both of our principal uranium styles, with multiple further targets behind it. Shareholders should expect steady news flow through the second half of the year as assays return and drilling gets underway.’
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Tower Resources PLC - oil and gas company focused on Africa - Receives a formal letter of approval from the Namibian Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy for the farm-out of the PEL96 license, offshore Namibia, to Prime Global Energies Ltd. CEO Jeremy Asher says: ‘We are very pleased to have received this letter of approval, and would like to thank the relevant personnel at MIME, the Upstream Petroleum Unit and NAMCOR for their diligent review and continued engagement throughout this process. We would also like to welcome Prime, who we view as a highly favourable partner for PEL96, with substantial technical and financial resources and a track record of operational success. We look forward to working alongside them and our other stakeholders to progress with the work programme offshore Namibia.’
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Aptamer Group PLC - York, England-based synthetic binders developer - Initiates its AI development programme, ‘a significant step towards building an AI-enabled Optimer discovery engine.’ The group is targeting the use of AI to accelerate and enhance the discovery of Optimer binders against challenging targets, ‘aiming to deliver faster, improved services, with insights into undruggable proteins, such as transcription factors and RNA-binding proteins.’ Says AI model architecture has been built and trained on a preliminary in-house dataset of 450,000 sequences spanning 42 protein targets. ‘With over half of Aptamer’s in-house dataset yet to be integrated into the model, the group anticipates further improvements in accuracy and predictive power across a wider range of targets as training continues,’ it says. Additionally, capital expenditure has been deployed to purchase new automation equipment, which has been installed and integrated into existing workflows. Also notes ‘significant progress’ across its internal therapeutic development pipeline. The first tranche of new therapeutic targets enters the laboratory discovery phase, with the second tranche scheduled to follow. ‘These programmes represent Aptamer’s systematic approach to exploring a broad range of high-value targets using the Optimer platform, including those considered undruggable or requiring targeted delivery to extrahepatic tissues,’ company says. Regarding radioligand therapy, Optimer material has been shipped to partners ahead of in vivo studies, with results targeted by the end of 2026. For small interfering RNA, Aptamer identifies Optimer delivery vehicles that target the kidney for siRNA delivery applications. ‘In-house lab-based tests at Aptamer have shown excellent selectivity, with no off-target interactions across a range of other cell types from alternative tissues, suggesting limited off-target interactions for use as a drug. Further in-house studies are planned to evaluate the potential of this binder for progression to preclinical studies,’ the firm comments.
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Premier African Minerals Ltd - developer of the RHA tungsten and Zulu lithium projects in Zimbabwe - Updates on the optimisation of the upgraded flotation plant at the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project and on ongoing discussions regarding the extension of the long stop date. Graham Hill, managing director, comments: ‘The initial results from the upgraded flotation circuit are very encouraging and represent the most positive operating performance we have seen from the plant to date. While commissioning was cut short due to the exhaustion of available ore feed, the circuit demonstrated a significant improvement in concentrate quality and overall operating stability compared to the previous configuration.’ Premier’s immediate priority is to ensure that sufficient ore is available on the ROM pad ‘to support an extended continuous operating campaign.’ It aims to operate the plant for 30 days to provide data and operating experience required to fully optimise the circuit and assess long-term performance. Additionally, Premier is in discussions with Canmax regarding a further extension of the long stop date. ‘Discussions are positive and Canmax is currently reviewing the latest operational data generated during commissioning. We appreciate Canmax’s continued engagement and look forward to updating shareholders as these discussions progress,’ Premier says. The long stop date discussions regard the restated offtake and prepayment agreement originally entered into in August 2023 and subsequently amended in December 2024 and April 2025 in respect of the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum project. Also, says initial commissioning of the upgraded flotation circuit demonstrates ‘encouraging improvements in performance relative to the previous circuit configuration.’ Internal laboratory analyses show the upgraded circuit achieved rapid froth formation following start-up and produced concentrate grades ‘materially in excess of those previously achieved.’ Results include sample concentrate grades exceeding 5.0% lithium oxide, with peak sample grades of up to 5.58% lithium oxide achieved. Says the improved performance of the upgraded flotation circuit resulted in the processing of nearly all 6,000 tonnes of ore that had been made available for commissioning and optimisation activities.
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Truetide PLC - Glasgow, Scotland-based investor in listed and unlisted companies in technology sector, formerly known as Braveheart Investment Group PLC - 100%-owned Paraytec Ltd agrees heads of terms for a proposed research and development collaboration agreement with US-based developer of non-invasive breath-sampling technology, VosBio Inc. The parties plan to evaluate the feasibility of combining their respective technologies in the field of early, non-invasive lung cancer detection. VosBio has developed the universal breath collector, a device for the rapid, non-invasive capture of exhaled breath condensate from human subjects. Paraytec and VosBio intend to assess whether the Paraytec CX300, combined with VosBio’s breath-collection technology, can support an integrated, non-invasive test for biomarkers associated with early-stage lung cancer. Paraytec’s CX300 is a portable, high-sensitivity fluorescence detection instrument capable of identifying labelled biomarkers at picomolar concentrations. CEO Trevor Brown says: ‘This proposed collaboration with VosBio provides a further opportunity for Paraytec to apply its CX300 platform to an area of significant unmet clinical need in early cancer screening. Importantly, the initial work is being funded by VosBio and is structured as a disciplined feasibility programme, enabling us to assess the scientific and commercial potential before committing further Group resources. We will update shareholders as the programme progresses.’
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Nanoco Group PLC - Runcorn, England-based nanomaterials developer - Says its board has implemented changes to enhance governance and continue lean operations to minimise Nanoco’s cost base. Executive Chair Jalal Balgheri returns to the role of non-executive chair. Christopher Batterham, non-executive director, is appointed senior independent director.
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Tiger Alpha PLC - London-based investor in ‘utility’ meme coins - WRAP retail offer raises £116,963 gross through the isssue of 2.3 million shares at 5.0 pence per share. Together with the placing and subscription at the same fundraise price, raises £4.9 million gross. On Monday, shares were restored to trading on AIM following publication of the admission document for its reverse takeover. A 10-1 share consolidation subject is proposed for approval by shareholders at its upcoming general meeting.
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Red Rock Resources PLC - London-based, Africa and Australia-focused miner - Announces the publication in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of the avis de non objection to its joint venture partner by the Direction Generale de Controle des Marches Publics of the Ministry of Budget, and the subsequent issue of a notification d’attribution provisoire by the Ministry of Rural Development. The documents relate to the provisional award of a contract for factories to build low-cost housing, following successful completion of the tender process. Red Rock has a JV for the provision of low-cost housing as part of the social benefit associated with future mining activities. Next steps include the submission of the signed lettre d’engagement, the drawing of initial funds, and a site visit with ministry officials. Chair Andrew Bell says: ‘The initial three factories will now be progressed and we expect up to a further five orders shortly. Progress continues on the resolution of the company’s claims in relation to the Musonoi licence and the grant of the first new copper-cobalt licence in the DRC. The company has been on site and focussed seven days a week on successful resolution of DRC matters since early April, as it was identified that these were entering a critical phase.’
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