African Mining and Exploration [LON:AME], the AIM listed exploration company, gained 7.4% to 2.55p on news it has entered into an agreement to acquire an 80% interest in Matilda Minerals Limitada, a privately owned Mozambican heavy mineral sands explorer.
 
Matilda holds the highly prospective 180km2 Jangamo tenement which is located in a world class mineral sands province in Southern Mozambique, and scout sampling by AME has returned results of up to 18.1% total heavy minerals, with ilmenite, rutile and zircon recorded in the mineral concentrate.

Highlights:
Acquisition in line with the strategy of building a multi-commodity resources group
Jangamo is adjacent to Rio Tinto's major Mutamba1 mineral sands deposit, which along with another licence area in Mozambique have an exploration target of 7-12 billion tonnes at 3-4.5% THM
Defined exploration programme in place to realise value in near term - drilling programme scheduled to commence in November 2013, funded from existing resources
Excellent infrastructure with grid power and main highway established in Project area
Acquisition principally for shares and deferred share consideration based on key exploration milestones
Investment complements current portfolio of gold assets in Mali AME's CEO, David Archer, said "With a highly prospective project located in a world-class major mineral sands province, Matilda and the Jangamo tenement represent a compelling investment opportunity. Initial regional scout sampling returning results of up to 18.1% THM, with ilmenite, rutile and zircon recorded in the mineral concentrate.
 
“With Rio Tinto's major mineral sands deposit adjacent to Jangamo, which, together with Rio's other Mozambique deposit has an exploration target of 7-12 billion tonnes at 3-4.5% THM, the Board believes that the Project has the potential to generate significant value for the Company and its shareholders. In line with this, we are committed to ramping up exploration at the Project, and plan to commence our drilling programme in October 2013."
 
Strategic Natural Resources [LON:SNRP] fell 3.1% to 10.3p after it said the period for exclusive talks with an international coal trader has ended, but that it is in talks about a strategic investment with several other interested parties.
 
The board remained confident an appropriate deal to provide appropriate go forward funding for SNR will be achieved.
 
It continued to be the board's intention that any investment in the company would not trigger an offer under the Takeover Code or that any investment in the company's 74% owned subsidiary, Elitheni Coal (Pty) Limited would result in the Company's shareholding in Elitheni falling below 51.0%.
 
Kibo Mining [LON:KIBO], the mineral exploration and development company, fell 5.5% to 5.32p despite reiterating its confidence in the prospects for its Tanzanian Haneti joint venture project, which is being funded by its partner, Votorantim Metais.
 
The current soil sampling and mapping work is focused on metamorphosed ultramafic rocks which are targets for nickel, gold and platinum group metal element mineralization.
 
Previous sampling and mapping programmes identified anomalous nickel and gold grades and the current sampling programme is intended to provide additional detailed surface geochemical data to support and confirm the final selection of locations for initial test drilling, in the absence of sufficient surface geology that will normally aid in determining these decisions.
 
Louis Coetzee, CEO of Kibo, commented: "The company is extremely pleased with the progress made to date. The project is well managed and we are confident that the main objective of the sampling programme, i.e. gaining an improved understanding of the geology in order to identify and prioritize drill targets, has by and large been achieved.
 
"The final objective of the current programme after completion of all field activities will be to recommend a detailed drill programme to test for mineralisation."