The Telegraph: Andy Burnham with John Healey, who will deliver his first Budget on Oct 28. Andy Burnham with John Healey, who will deliver his first Budget on Oct 28 Credit: Future Publishing via Getty Images/Wiktor Szymanowicz. John Healey has drawn up plans for a tax raid on family businesses ahead of the Budget. The Chancellor is considering proposals to levy income tax when business owners hand their company down to the next generation, potentially almost doubling the bill. At present, transfers can be structured so they attract capital gains tax, which is charged at a lower rate. The plans would hit entrepreneurs who wanted to retire, and would seek to raise hundreds of millions on top of Labour’s previous raids on family businesses through inheritance tax, which are expected to generate £300m a year.
Comment: Another socialist with a large chequebook, based on taxing working people to give money to buy the votes of non-working people. The Burnham Bounce could see the honeymoon period end with the Healey Budget. But of course, there are more people on handouts, so the Budget could yet be a vote winner.
12th October: Wildcat Gold Plc | WCAT:LN announced the appointment of James Knowles as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director with immediate effect. James is a co-founder and Executive Chairman of First Class Metals | FCM:LN , a gold and critical metals exploration company listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. He played a pivotal role in establishing FCM, securing its funding and achieving its admission to the Main Market in July 2022. He has served as Executive Chairman for five years and has remained closely involved in its development since formation. James brings experience in building and financing a listed exploration company, alongside more than 30 years of experience in the financial sector. His earlier career included 26 years at Barclays Bank PLC, where he focused on debt funding for real estate projects. During his tenure at Barclays, he served as a Board Director of Lancashire Community Finance Trust, representing the bank, from 2008 to 2012. He also served as a director of Orogenic Gold Exploration Investments Ltd from 2024 to 2026 and Anglo Guinea Gold Limited from 2022 to 2024. Mandhir Singh (CEO) "Wildcat Gold is very lucky to secure the services of such an experienced and high-calibre executive as Mr Knowles. I am sure he will make a significant contribution in the growth and development of the company going forward".
Comment: It would appear that everyone missed this significant announcement last week: that the Executive Chairman of First Class Metals (FCM) has joined WCAT. This is both a great validation and a sign that things are set to move on at the company in a positive way. Therefore, it is all the more disappointing that this news has not been picked up. Part of the reason for this is that WCAT has effectively been on the stock market’s “shadow banned” list, meaning that almost whatever it does is kept under the radar, and part that there are those who clearly do not want WCAT to win. That said, Mr Knowles joining WCAT at this stage is like Paul McCartney wanting to play bass in your band, and then doing so.
Reveille [AQSE: REV], a uranium exploration and development company with a primary focus on Italy's largest uranium deposits, announce the engagement of Dr Camillo Mario Pessina as Strategic Consultant in relation to the Company’s exploration permit applications for Novazza and Val Vedello in northern Italy. Both applications are currently advancing through the Italian environmental impact assessment (VIA) process. REV said “Returning to Val Vedello after forty years has profound professional and personal meaning for me. I am pleased to bring to Reveille my direct knowledge of the project and the experience I gained during my work with AGIP and AGIP Nucleare. I hope to help the Company assess the historical information alongside current methods, refine its understanding of Val Vedello’s geology and mineralisation, and identify the questions that further work needs to address, including in the context of Novazza and the wider Orobic uranium district.”
Comment: Hot on the heels of the arrival of Mike Pompeo, and a large spike in the share price, we have a more obvious appointment in the form of a Strategic Consultant. This should yet move the share price further given that it underlines the pace at which REV is moving in its chosen uranium area.
Ariana Resources | AAU:LN , advancing towards gold production at its 100%-owned 1.6 Moz (pre-tax NPV10: US$1.056 billion) Dokwe Gold Project in Zimbabwe, updates investors that ACF Equity Research has published a new investment research note on Ariana Resources: Ariana’s – Zim Golden Focus, examining our valuation, financial position and development plans for the 100%-owned Dokwe Gold Project in Zimbabwe. ACF highlights Dokwe’s 1.13Moz Ore Reserve, our retained interest in the producing Tavşan mine and upcoming milestones, including the Definitive Feasibility Study. The note also discusses the risks and funding requirements involved in bringing Dokwe into production. To read the full ACF Equity Research Notes, including a wider thematic look at Zimbabwe: https://www.arianaresources.com/investors/analyst-coverage
Comment: One of the reasons that AAU shares have underperformed its peers is that for the longest time the main coverage of the company has come from crackpot sources that have no credibility in the market. All this changes today with a Research Note from one of the best research shops on the London market in the shape of ACF. Indeed, one would expect both companies to improve their profile in the wake of this development.
80 Mile Plc | 80M:LN , the AIM, FSE and OTC listed exploration and development company with projects in Greenland, Finland and Italy, announces that it entered into a non-binding heads of terms 16th October 2026 (“HoT”) to sell the Company’s Finnish licence package to Badlands Resources Inc. (TSX:V-BLDS). 80M said “Finland has been part of the 80 Mile group for more than a decade. This HoT provides a favourable outcome for 80 Mile, by placing Hammaslahti and Outokumpu into a dedicated copper vehicle while maintaining a near-20 per cent listed interest and a CAD$4 million milestone ladder if the new operator takes either project through resource and / or study. This disposal reaffirms 80 Mile’s focus on Greenland and Italy, and allows the Company to keep the respective work programmes as the centre of gravity, whilst still having exposure to the potential upside of the Finnish assets.”
Comment: We have seen 80M deliver the bears a massive pie in the face, as much as anything on the basis that the reason for bearish comments were largely personal rather than based on substance – a characteristic of bearish smears. One will delight in the latest rebound for the shares revisiting recent highs through 1.7p in quick time.
Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd. | BMV:LN announces that its Board has approved the commencement of an on-market share buyback programme. As previously announced, in January 2026 the Company established a share trust arrangement which included a pool of 350,000,000 Ordinary Shares held on trust for the purpose of satisfying amounts due to contractors and other service providers through shares rather than cash.
Comment: We all know that one of the best ways that a company which is under-rated by the market is for it to buy its own shares, over and above the obvious thing to do which is director buying. What is perhaps interesting is that BMV has been able to arrange such a programme given that it is a company which is also on the bear vendetta hit list.
Kodal Minerals Plc | KOD:LN , the West African lithium producer, mineral exploration and development company, announces that it has entered into a binding agreement with GH Geo-Consult Limited ("GGCL") in relation to the Asamankese Lithium Project in Ghana. Under the terms of the Agreement, Kodal has the right to earn up to an 80% interest in the Project through a staged earn-in structure comprising cash payments, exploration expenditure commitments and technical project development milestones over five years.
Comment: Those who are expert in the intricacies of the Lassonde Curve, may agree that the share price trajectory of KOD has not quite delivered considering that it has done everything that one would have expected at this stage in its life cycle. Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether this latest announcement moves the dial in a positive way?
Technology Minerals Plc | TM1:LN , the UK listed company focused on building national resource and manufacturing resilience which trades as Mantle, issues the following statement ahead of the General Meeting to be held today. The General Meeting announced on 25 September 2026 will ask shareholders to approve an increase in the directors’ authority to allot shares and the change of the Company’s name to Mantle Resilience Plc.
Comment: Sorry to break it to you folks, but Mantle Resilience really is not a good name. Indeed, Technology Minerals was a great name, even if it was nothing to do with what the company does. One hopes that the company did not pay someone to come up with such a weak name.
GenIP Plc | GNIP:LN , a provider of AI-driven services to help research organisations and corporations commercialise their innovations, announces the soft launch of its Invention Evaluator platform which is currently being trialled by several customers across Chile, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom. The Invention Evaluator platform provides a single place for customers to submit inventions, receive results, compare opportunities and manage their full portfolio. GenIP combines AI-assisted research with expert analyst review while keeping clients’ confidential technology disclosures out of AI systems. This allows customers to benefit from AI-assisted assessments while protecting commercially sensitive inventions. Greater automation reduces delivery time and increases capacity, while the planned annual subscription model is expected to provide greater revenue visibility for the Company.
Comment: With the market cap now rather unfairly well below the £1m mark, it is the case that GNIP really needs to light a fire under its share price. Today’s initiative could be the thing to turn things around, especially the acknowledge in the RNS that from here on in it is all about getting those revenues going.
Petro Matad Limited | MATD:LN , the AIM quoted Mongolian oil company, updated on its renewable energy activities in Mongolia. Following the signature last week at the 25th WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of energy between the Governments of Mongolia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Petro Matad is delighted to announce the signing of a cooperation MoU between SunSteppe Power LLC ("SSP" a subsidiary of the Company's SunSteppe Renewable Energy "SRE" Joint Venture) and Saudi-listed Acwa, the world's largest private water desalination company, a leader in the energy transition, and a first mover into green hydrogen at scale. The MoU covers cooperation on a renewable energy export initiative from Mongolia into China targeting a capacity of 4.5GW as a first phase, supported by 500MWh of battery storage.
Comment: While suggesting that any single piece of news is a company maker is usually fraught with danger / tempting fate, in the case of the latest offering from MATD, this looks as though it fits the bill. The Saudi involvement is an achievement, if only on the basis that it is almost impossible to get a deal with that nation over the line. Nevertheless, this appears to be a MoU of scale and with legs.