The Milligans Formation represents very attractive upside for Tangiers as the company continues to high grade its Australian portfolio. We believe that the Milligans Formation play represents an additional 76p of upside at this early stage. Given that we anticipate Tangiers to farm down its interest in its Australian permits from 90% to 45% to fund a sustained exploration programme, we are attributing an additional 38p per fully diluted share to our valuation of Tangiers and we are upgrading our price target to 150p per share. We reiterate our BUY recommendation for the shares.

Having formally increased its interest in the Lindi and Mtwara licences that comprise the Ruvuma PSA, Solo and the operator, Aminex, have agreed to seek farm-in partners for the acreage. Of particular interest is the Lindi licence which includes a 676 km2 offshore portion adjacent to Block 1 where BG Group and Ophir Energy recently announced a 4.5 TCF gas discovery from the Jodari-1 well which is only 27 km from Solo’s acreage.

• Country picks - our current countries of choice are: Burkina Faso and Ghana for exposure to development-stage projects and M&A, whilst we favour Liberia and Guinea for grassroots exploration.
• Portfolio picks - companies worth a closer look are: Randgold Resources (RRS.L) within the producers, PMI Gold Corp (PVM.AX) within the developers and Hummingbird Resources (HUM.L) within the explorers.

Phil Swinfen, Director of Mining Research at OPL, says: “The recent spate of capital raisings and increased exploration expenditure affirms our view that West Africa will continue to produce significant gold discoveries. We think leverage to the sector is best achieved through exposure to companies with strong organic pipelines, in particular the explorers and developers. Despite being a volatile region, the numerous countries within provide an opportunity to create a relatively balanced portfolio.”

In the event that LGO realises a premium to our valuation of €5.7m for its Spanish assets, we believe that new funds could have a very positive impact on LGO’s activities in Trinidad and the US Gulf of Mexico. Such a move would also be accretive to our current valuation of the company in the short term and we would look to adjust our valuation accordingly upon a formal announcement.

As a consequence of the impending placement of 150 million new shares on Tuesday 27th March, we have adjusted our pro forma target price from 32p to 30p per share (fully diluted). However, over the longer term, we believe that this minor adjustment will be more than offset by Range’s acquisition of new acreage in Colombia and offshore Puntland and the potential disposal of its Texas assets which combined, add a very attractive new dimension to the company’s risk/reward profile.

Since listing in April 2009, Solo currently has an exploration and appraisal project in Tanzania with Tullow Oil Plc, and a development project in Eastern Canada with options for additional acquisitions across Canada.

David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of Solo, commented, “We are delighted to have OPL on board as joint broker to SOLO and we look forward to working closely together as we continue to acquire a diverse portfolio of direct and indirect interests in exploration, development and production oil and gas assets which are based in the Americas, Europe or Africa.”

27 February 2012

OPL has participated in a placing to raise £6.925 million (approximately A$10 million) for Red Emperor Resources (AIM/ASX: RMP)

The placing provides additional funding to progress the current exploration programs in Puntland and Georgia, business development opportunities and  working capital

OPL acts as UK broker to Red Emperor Resources

OPL raises A$6.35 million for Tangiers Petroleum Limited ahead of AIM dual listing.

Tangiers Petroleum Limited has undertaken a private placement book build to raise approximately AUD$6.35 Million with OPL acting as joint book runner and Joint Broker in advance of Dual ASX/AIM.

The placement is to be used for:

• Advancing the company’s oil exploration programme in Morocco and Australia
• Meeting the costs of the company’s AIM listing; and
• General working capital

We are acting as UK brokers to the placement.

David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of LGO, commented, “We are delighted to have OPL on board as joint broker to LGO and we look forward to working closely together as we continue to develop our exciting range of projects in Spain, Trinidad and the US.”