Shares in Anglesey Mining rose 48 per cent this week after the company set out its case for reviving the Parys Mountain copper mine in north Wales.
The site is one of the oldest industrial landscapes in Britain, first worked in the Bronze Age. By the 1780s it was Europe's biggest copper producer, with its ore used to sheath the hulls of Royal Navy warships.
Anglesey Mining argues that most of the hard work is already done. Parys Mountain holds more than 16 million tons of ore containing copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold, and a 300-metre shaft is already sunk. About £4 million of debt has been cleared over the past year.
The government's critical minerals strategy also singled out copper and zinc exploration on Anglesey. But none of this is new. The company floated in 1988, sank the shaft by 1990 and suspended work in the early 1990s when recession hit metal prices. A preliminary economic assessment followed in 2021, and still nothing has been built. Higher metal prices and government backing may finally change that, though getting from here to a working mine remains another matter entirely.
AIM All-Share outperforms the FTSE 100
The AIM All-Share enjoyed a storming week, rising 3.7 per cent as confidence returned to the growth market. That outperformed the FTSE 100, which nudged 0.8 per cent higher.
Beowulf Mining rose 42 per cent this week, though the only announcement was an interview with chief executive Ed Bowie. He discussed a recent strategic investment in the company, plus progress at the Kallak iron ore project in Sweden and a graphite plant in Finland.
Sunrise Resources climbs on assay results
Sunrise Resources climbed 32 per cent this week after high-grade assay results from its Reese Ridge project in Nevada. Narrow veins returned up to 9.9 per cent zinc, more than 20 per cent lead and 192g per ton of silver. Wider zones were also encouraging, including 5.8 per cent zinc over 3.3 metres in the footwall.
The explorer is now building a three-dimensional geological model to sharpen its drill targeting. Management believes Reese Ridge shows the hallmarks of a carbonate replacement deposit, the sort of system that can host substantial tonnages.
Image Scan and Genedrive also gain
Image Scan Holdings gained 24 per cent this week after buying ClanTect for up to £1 million in cash. The Derbyshire company makes sensors that detect people hiding inside lorries and containers by picking up the vibrations they create. Customers include border forces, prisons and critical infrastructure sites. ClanTect turned over just £185,000 last year, but Image Scan believes its own international distribution network can change that.
Genedrive rose 20 per cent this week after the Erasmus MC teaching hospital in Rotterdam adopted its rapid genetic test for newborns. The 26-minute check spots babies carrying a variant that makes a common antibiotic cause deafness. More than 20 neonatal units now use it.
CT Automotive and Vulcan Two fall
CT Automotive fell 28 per cent this week despite reporting a 15 per cent rise in first-half revenue to $62.1 million. The problem was profit, which the interior trim maker warned would drop materially after geopolitical disruption pushed up costs and snarled supply chains. Management insists the second half will be far stronger, helped by a new paint facility and improvements at its Mexican plant, and still expects to hit full-year forecasts of $10.2 million in adjusted pre-tax profit.
Vulcan Two dropped 21 per cent this week after warning that revenues would fall in the near term. The ePharmacy rollup has dumped a batch of low-margin weight-loss clinics it judged too risky on credit, while costs are also running higher than planned after early hires. Margins should improve and £6 million of cash remains, but investors wanted growth.
Digitalbox slipped 14 per cent this week after warning that full-year revenue and profit would miss forecasts. The company says Meta has tweaked its algorithms to favour creator content, draining traffic from the owner of The Daily Mash, The Tab and The Poke. Its answer is a network of 200 creators making original video.
Franchise Brands marks ten years on AIM
Franchise Brands marked ten years on AIM this week, and the broker Stifel used the occasion to reiterate why it still likes the shares. The company floated on August 5, 2016 with two brands in the UK. It now runs seven, including Metro Rod, Filta and Pirtek Europe, with more than 500 franchisees across ten countries and a market value approaching £300 million.
Shareholders have enjoyed a compound annual total return of just over 17 per cent over the decade. Stifel rates the shares a buy with a 210p target, against 144p today. Analyst Sam Dindol called the valuation compelling.
