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Petrolatina, Aminex, Afren Plc, Strategic Natural Resources, Gemfields Resources, African Eagle Resources, African Aura Mining news briefs

By Fox-Davies Capital

Petrolatina announced that it has commissioned works to connect the Serafin-1 gas well to the main Colombian gas trunk line, and expects production to commence during the last quarter of 2010. The Serafin gas field is located in the Tisquirama licence block in the Middle Magdelana Valley. The well was worked over in January 2007 and tested at flow rates of 14MMscf/d. Based on the recent assessment by Ryder Scott, GIIP is estimated to be 5.37Bcf with 1P Reserves of 3.13 Bcf, and the well is expected to be capable of initially producing up to 7MMscf/d. Since January 2007, the gas price which the Company expects to receive and which is not subject to price regulation from the regulatory commission for energy and gas has substantially increased from US$3.50/mscf, to between US$5-US$6/mscf.  The Company has held negotiations with several potential gas customers and commercial gas sales are expected to commence in the final quarter of 2010. PetroLatina announced on 17 December 2009 that it had resolved all technical and legal issues relating to the tie-in of the Serafin-1 gas well to the main Colombian gas trunk line.  The Company has now entered into a contract to construct a 'city gate' gas handling station to connect the Serafin-1 gas well to the Ballenas-Barrancabermeja gas trunk line which carries the bulk of Colombia's gas production from the Caribbean coast to the gas consuming cities in the centre of the country. The Company has pre-paid its share (US$680,000 net to PetroLatina) of the estimated total cost of the development (US$1.36m) for the construction works. The construction project is expected to take six months to complete.

Aminex announced that the Olympia Minerals-1 well at Shoats Creek, Louisiana (OM-1) has reached total measured depth of 9,508ft. Wireline logs have identified several potential oil and gas bearing intervals in Cockfield sands at 8,200-9,335 ft. The sands identified closely match the prognosis obtained from interpretation and mapping of new 3D seismic over the property. OM-1 has now been cased and a testing programme will be initiated in the immediate future, commencing with the perforation of an interval at 9,320ft MD. Following the test results it is anticipated that the well will initially be placed on commercial production from one or more zones.

Afren Plc and its partners Oriental Energy Resources and Amni International Petroleum Development Company, announce the signing of an additional drilling contract with Transocean for the GSF High Island Vll jack-up rig, to carry out planned drilling on their assets located offshore South East Nigeria. The contract will last for up to 210 days at a cost of $84,000 per day. The first well, Ebok Deep, is expected to spud at the end of this month.

Strategic Natural Resources announced a placing to raise ?2.9M (before expenses) through a placing of new ordinary shares arranged by SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP. Net proceeds are to be used to fund the development and commercialisation of the Company's mining assets in the Eastern Cape of the Republic of South Africa and to enable the Company to repay a short term debt facility.

Gemfields Resources announced a record breaking low quality emerald and beryl auction in Jaipur, India. Sales of USD 7.2M, with 89% of material sold. It is believed to be a world record in terms of the volume for Zambian emerald and beryl on offer by weight (with 5.78 tonnes material on offer). The Jaipur 2010 auction, orchestrated by Gemfields' Product Director Adrian Banks, saw 28.9 million carats of principally lower quality rough emeralds and beryl being offered in 56 separate lots and which was attended by 25 companies from India. Gemfields sets undisclosed reserve prices for each lot in advance of its auctions where participation is by invitation only.

African Eagle Resources announced further positive drilling results from Ngasamo Hill Deposit at its Dutwa Nickel project in Tanzania. The Company’s Managing Director Mark Parker comments, “The Ngasamo Hill Deposit is shaping up nicely.  These new results again show that the Ngasamo deposit is rather thicker than the main Dutwa deposit, and as at Dutwa, there are notable cobalt credits. Assay results have been received from a further 14 drill holes from the western Ngasamo Oxide Nickel Deposit at Dutwa. The programme is being extended to 65 vertical Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes, with additional holes providing step-out to the south and east, together with some infill to delineate the ore boundary more precisely. Each hole is drilled through the blanket-like deposit until it reaches un-mineralised bedrock. The average depth of the 50 holes drilled at Ngasamo to date is 74m, considerably deeper than at Wamangola.

African Aura Mining announced an update on the Put iron ore project in eastern Liberia, a joint venture between the Company and Severstal Resources. The current resource of 1.08B tonnes at 37.6% Fe from 2.6km of the project's 12km strike and terms for the 25 year exploration and mining concession (MDA) agreed in principal. 60,000m resource definition drill programme planned to commence in 2Q 2010.