Harvest Minerals it soared at the end of this week’s session, rising from 1.3p on Monday to over 3p on Wednesday.
The 130 percent rise in share price came after a resoundingly positive sales update for its KP Fertil fertilizer product.
Orders through the end of March 2024 totaled 8,492 tonnes, or 24 percent of the total 2023 volume, with higher sales forecast for the second half of the year.
Chairman Brian McMaster acknowledged “difficult market conditions”, although the figures point to a resilient performance for the company.
Harvest’s flagship Arapuá Fertilizer Project in Brazil provided more good news; The group noted the presence of critical rare earth elements (REE) at the site.
Impressive growth: Harvest Minerals shares surge 130 percent following a resoundingly positive sales update for its fertilizer product KP Fertil
Although shares fell in the second half of the week, this double dose of good news supported a 33 percent increase in the share price over the five-day period.
Traveling to the extreme north of America, Pantheon Resources declared a huge improvement in the resource estimate for its Kodiak field on Alaska’s North Slope.
The new estimate puts recoverable resources at 1.2 billion barrels of marketable liquids, marking an increase of about 25 percent over previous estimates.
“We can now turn our attention to development, along with our growing Ahpun resource, to convert these volumes into cash flow and shareholder value,” said Pantheon CTO Bob Rosenthal.
Natural resources were the talk of the entire stock market this week, with gold prices hitting new all-time highs and silver hitting half-decade highs.
It is not surprising, then, that blue chip mining, including fresnillo, Rio Tinto and Anglo-American supported a rally in the FTSE 100, hitting an all-time high of 8,017 on Friday.
Promising macroeconomic data didn’t hurt either: the UK economy grew by 0.1 percent month-on-month in February. Sure, it’s not a groundbreaking figure, but it did highlight the shallowness of Britain’s technical recession at the end of 2023.
The AIM All-Share Index was not far behind either, adding more than 3 percent to hit a year-to-date high of 763.
AIM also saw a new member with HeLIX Exploration making its premium-priced debut in the junior market.
Helix raised £7.5m in an oversubscribed initial public offering via a 10p per share placing. The shares initially rose above 12p and have since held steady at 10.6p.
Brokerage SP Angel highlighted the potential of the helium sector to support Helix’s valuation going forward.
“Helium exploration activities are currently in vogue due to expected global supply shortages and projected rapid growth in demand from high-tech sectors, which use inert helium gas for everything from semiconductor chip production to purging space rocket engines,” the analysts said.
Energy Microcap Oracle Power plc pushed to the top of AIM’s moving companies list following news of a new acquisition in Western Australia.
The international project developer has been granted an exclusive option to acquire 100 percent of the Blue Rock Valley copper-silver project, located in the state’s Ashburton basin. As a result, shares rose 60 percent.
Changing course towards the hotel industry, the Revolution Bars Group plc The saga took a new turn when the struggling pub chain resumed operations in AIM.
The stock was temporarily suspended earlier this month after failing to release its interim results on time. Results were finally published on Wednesday and the group also announced a £10.5m placing to support a restructuring plan.
The stock rose from the ground and managed to gain 30 percent during the week.
Ben’s Creek was among AIM’s biggest decliners this week, with the stock falling more than 50 percent. In a corporate update, the board announced that, due to the decline in the price of metallurgical coal and production difficulties, it will reduce activity at subsidiary Bens Creek Operations WV.
Surface Transforms plc share price halved following a first-quarter trading update. The maker of carbon fiber reinforced ceramic disc brake materials posted total sales of £3m, a flat sequential trend that clearly disappointed shareholders.
Finally, R&Q Insurance Stock were cut by a third after the AIM-listed non-life insurer gave a bleak outlook on future sales.
“R&Q anticipates it will make a significant pre-tax loss for the year driven by the adverse development at Legacy and a material increase in corporate costs in connection with the sale of Accredited,” the group said in a statement.