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Saddam Hussein's embargo on Iraqi oil exports has once more diverted attention from mining shares, while gold has dipped below $300 despite the air of crisis. Firestone Diamonds has put on 7p to 94.5p since our mention last week, and Palmaris soared to 5.5p to 9.25p before profit-taking sent it back to 7p. The majors have mostly been quiet.

Copper bottomed if copper has bottomed

It pays to be in league with a big multinational, especially if you are a small player with exciting copper and gold prospects in South America and Africa. That is the philosophy of Canadian minnow Corriente Resources, which has been in London lately to stir interest among UK investors.

Corriente, whose shares trade at the equivalent of 52p, is in joint ventures with BHP Billiton at Mirador in Ecuador's Corriente copper belt and in Mumbwa in central Zambia, some distance away from that country's copper belt. The company says it can achieve handsome rates of return at copper prices somewhat above today's 72 cents a lb and tolerable rates, even now. For the bold.

AuIron's trauma

Shares in Aim-listed Australian coal and iron company AuIron Energy plunged nearly 30 per cent to a 10p low today when directors revealed that its SASE coal and pig iron project in South Australia would take from nine to 12 months longer to bring to commercial production than originally planned. The delay springs from the need to upgrade the pig iron-producing process, so as to obtain better terms from eventual customers – a need which, it seems, had not occurred to the company until now.

AuIron's other big project, its Ballymoney lignite deposit in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, hangs on whether it will receive development approval from the planning authorities. The company says it will put in its application in late summer.

AuIron argues that the economics and environmental suitability of Ballymoney, and an accelerating dependence on imported power sources for both the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland without Ballymoney, should give it a strong negotiating hand. It is a persuasive argument, though one which has been deployed for this project for many years.

Down from 16p when we last mentioned them and a 51p high in late 2000, the shares are unlikely to stage a strong recovery until and unless the authorities give the green light for Ballymoney or an opportunistic bidder appears. Gamblers only.

Fipke's new gem ploys

Charles Fipke, the mining entrepreneur who thrilled the markets with DiaMet and other diamond companies in Canada's North-West in the 1990s, is back in town urging the merits of two aspirant gem companies. They are Metalex and Consolidated GX, which have prospects in Ontario, Quebec and Brazil.

Metalex, trading at the equivalent of 19.5p in Canada, has one of the Brazilian projects and most of the Canadian ones. These include an area in Quebec across St James's Bay from where diamond giant De Beers has an operation producing stones at an average of $150 a carat.

Both companies need money to develop their prospects and there is talk of nearly £900,000 being sought at this stage. There has been something of a diamond rush lately in Ontario and Quebec and, with the Fipke name associated with them, these shares could have a decent run.

Oxus fixes £26.5m finance

Aim-listed Oxus Mining, now advised by Brown Shipley, has arranged further financing for its Amantaytau gold project in Uzbekistan, following its £8 million equity raising some months ago at 30p a share. The company has agreed a $27 million (£19.2 million) subordinated debt facility with continental banking group Société Generale, with a cost-overrun facility for $4 million.

In addition, Oxus has paid a premium of £115,000 for credit insurance to underwrite at least another £7 million of 'credit enhanced subordinated debt'. Brown Shipley will seek to raise another £4.5 million in shares for Phase I of the Amantaytau project.

Oxus expects Amantaytau to start production in the first quarter of next year and to produce 170,000 oz of gold in its first year. At 12p, the shares have plunged since the last equity funding, though they have doubled from the 6p low to which they fell in the aftermath of the realisation that the £8 million was nowhere near enough.

Much depends on what American mining giant Newmont does with the 20 per cent stake it inherited when it took over Aussie miner Normandy. Worth a speculative punt, but don't put your shirt on them.

Selling hits RIT

Last week, we advised investors to hold off fully-listed Resources Investment Trust until the impact of selling by companies which had swapped equity stakes in other companies for RIT's shares at £1 had been felt. The price was then 101p, having fallen from a 107p post-flotation peak.

The shares now stand at 94.5p. Their day should come, but there need be no hurry to pile in just yet.

Kenmare raises £8m

Canadian-owned broker Canaccord has arranged a placing at 14p a share for Irish minerals explorer Kenmare Resources to fund development of its 63 million tonne Moma titanium project in Mozambique. This, together with a one-for-eight open offer to existing shareholders – neither underwritten – should raise £8 million for the project.

This funding will help Kenmare's boss Michael Carvill when he goes to the banking group, which has so far agreed to put up $130 million (£93 million) to develop Moma, and ask for the $90 million still needed to bring it to fruition. A definitive feasibility study has identified reserves of 14 million tonnes at Moma, but Kenmare reckons there is as much as five times that there.

The shares now trade at a depressed 14.25p. They could perform nicely over the long term.