Rockfire Resources rises after positive update from North Queensland gold deposit

10.16am: Drinks group goes tropical
Investors are toasting the latest news from drinks group Distil PLC (LON:DIS).

The company – whose brands include Blackwoods Vintage Gin and Blavod Original Black Vodka – has added another flavour to its RedLeg rum product.

RedLeg Tropical Rum, the third flavour extension to the brand, adds mango, guava and passionfruit to the rum base, which is distilled in the Caribbean.

Executive chairman Don Goulding said: “We’ve seen tremendous growth in the spiced rum category and for the RedLeg over the last 12 months. Our RedLeg Spiced Rum has performed well in major retail and the existing flavours have been instrumental in recruiting new consumers to the brand and have delivered incremental sales. We are confident that RedLeg Tropical Rum will continue to build on this success.”

Its shares have bubbled up 11.54% or 0.3p to 2.9p.

9.05am: Healthcare group signs collaboration agreement
The Barkby Group PLC (LON:BARK) – whose businesses range from commercial property to pubs to life science investments – is in demand.

Its shares have climbed 6.46% or 1.68p to 27.68p after one of its investments, women’s health specialist Verso Biosense, announced the signing of its second product collaboration agreement with one of the UK’s leading fertility clinics, London Women’s Clinic.

The clinic will use its uterine monitoring device to refine Verso’s technology and biosensing platform to meet the needs of its fertility patients.

Joseph Cefai, Head of Product Development at Verso Biosense, said: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with the London Women’s Clinic, a true leader in providing world-class fertility treatment to women and couples. It is testament to the potential of our ground-breaking platform that this is the second partnership we have announced in the space of a few of weeks, following our agreement with Homerton University Hospital in March. We are moving at pace to provide our monitoring platform to meet the needs of patients and we are delighted by the progress that we are making.”

One of the day’s big fallers is Kore Potash (LON:KP2).

The potash exploration and development company whose flagship asset is the 97%-owned Sintoukola Potash Project in the Republic of Congo (“RoC”) is down 0.4p or 24.24% to 1.25p.

The fall comes on news of an US$ 11mln fundraising for working capital for the next twelve months and to meet the cost of an optimisation study for the Sintoukola project.

To be fair, the day’s drop still leaves the shares above the placing price of 1.1p a share.

Under a proposed debt and royalty funding deal with its partners Summit Africa, SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation and China ENFI Engineering Corporation, Kore would not be required to contribute to the capital needed to build the US$1.65bn project and would retain a 90% equity interest.

8.23am: Mining group upbeat on open pit prospects
Rockfire Resources PLC (LON:ROCK) is in sparkling form after a positive update from a gold deposit in Australia.

A preliminary study for a small-scale open pit mining operation at Rockfire’s Plateau Gold Deposit in North Queensland showed positive anticipated cash flows and paves the way for further drilling.

The company said possible cash flow ranged from AUD$6.8m to AUD$19.4m (GBP £3.7m to GBP £10.7m), depending on technical and operational variables. But five different scenarios all resulted in positive cash flow outcomes.

David Price, chief executive officer of Rockfire, said: “”We are very pleased that this preliminary Scoping Study has returned results indicative of a small-scale, open pit operation, delivering a range of net positive cash flow outcomes.

“At an early stage of a project’s exploration history, it is prudent to focus on the possibility for eventual economic extraction and a positive result at this stage is a very significant achievement and a promising start for Plateau. As more work is completed, the understanding of the financial and operational parameters of a project become apparent and more confident. With numerous opportunities identified by the Study for further drilling, management is excited by Plateau’s growth potential to improve the economics to achieve a larger production profile.”

The miner’s shares have climbed 12.12% or 0.1p to 0.95p in early trading.

Also heading higher is Cambridge Cognition Holdings PLC (LON:COG).

The brain health specialist has won a contract with a new pharmaceutical client to provide cognitive assessments in an at-home clinical trial. The contract is worth approximately £0.5 million with most of the revenue expected to be recognised in 2021.

The company said the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated interest in virtual or decentralised clinical trials, with more assessments being planned at home and therefore out of the clinic setting.

Matthew Stork, chief executive officer of Cambridge Cognition, said: “We are delighted to have secured this contract and to be supporting another major pharmaceutical company to assess cognition in patients’ homes. This is a trend that we expect to continue and will therefore provide more growth opportunities for Cambridge Cognition in the future.”

Its shares are 7.5p or 7.61% better at 106p.