Exploration Insights by Robert Tyerman

Prospects in India, Bangladesh and South Asia have sent Cairn Energy to new highs near £36 a share, up threefold in three years, while India-focused Hardy Oil and Gas, recommended by Growth Company Investor (GCI) at 276p two years ago and again at 680p last March, now trades at 808p, where partial profit-taking might be prudent.

UK Coal has maintained its upward march since GCI’s 2004 suggestion at 160p and now hovers around 524p. Coal of Africa, highlighted here at 14p in 2006 and at 92p in March, has reached 185.5p, helped by its off-take deal with steel combine Arcelor-Mittal. There could be more action, though partial profit-taking might also look tempting.

Glencar’s Mali magic
Glencar Mining has followed encouraging drilling results at Mali’s Kamana East gold prospect with ‘significant’ mineralisation at another, Solona. The Dublin-based company says drilling intersected four metres at a bonanza grade of 155 grammes per tonne of ore at Badogo Malikila within the Solona licence.

Glencar also found 16 metres at a more modest 2.54 grammes a tonne and four metres at 9.28 grammes at Niechilela, and eight metres at 2.27 grammes at Faliko, also within the Solona licence.

Further drilling will follow to find out more. Glencar shares plunged from 10p to 1.25p between 2000 and 2002 on disappointment at the company’s Wassa gold project in Ghana. They moved from the Full List to AIM in 2005 and have recovered to nearly 9p. They could bounce further if the Mali news continues to cheer.

Regal secures its rigs
Recovering oil and gas developer Regal Petroleum has clinched a contract for drilling rigs for its projects in the Ukraine. The AIM-quoted company has reached an agreement with Italian drilling contractor Saipem to take two LEWCO 2000 HP rigs for its wholly owned Ukrainian gas and condensate fields, Mekhediviska-Golotvschinska (Mex-Gol) and Svyrydivske (SV). The contract is for an initial five years, with an option for another two years, during which time Regal expects to drill more than 60 new wells.

Regal, which raised £80 million at 150p in January through broker Mirabaud, has also signed a contract with Ukraine-based contractor Region for a work-over rig for Mex-Gol and SV. Drilling has begun on Mex-103, the first new well in the Mex-Gol field, and is expected to reach a target depth of 5,200 metres in August.

At the end of 2006, Mex-Gol and SV together held an estimated 169 million barrels of oil equivalent, based on a previous independent audit. David Greer, the Shell veteran who has been at the helm since last November, says everything is going ‘according to plan’.

Having lost its growth company status when a much-trumpeted well in Greece proved dry, Regal saw its shares plunge from a 2005 peak of 509p to 34.5p in early 2006, and Frank Timis, the company’s colourful boss and significant shareholder, quit the top post.

Recommended by GCI at 173.5p in November, the price is back to 240p and could go further.

Grades cheer Medusa
Philippines-focused Medusa Mining says drilling at its Co-O gold mine has encountered an ‘exceptional’ wide, high-grade intersection. The Western Australia-based company says the intersection is 33.5 metres wide and shows an impressive 18.07 grammes of gold per tonne of ore, including a 15.9-metre-wide vein at 34.04 grammes a tonne.

These results come from Hole MD 72 at the Co-O mine and have ‘significantly added to confidence that new parallel veins will be defined as drilling progresses’, says managing director Geoff Davis. Highlighted by GCI when they floated in late 2006 at 27p, Medusa shares now trade at 63.5p and could fare better than some others in the sector.