Junior miner falls 7.7% in spite of discovery news

Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report for Wednesday, April 17, 2013 VANCOUVER (SHfn) -

Focus Graphite Inc. (TSX: V.FMS, Stock Forum) fell 5.3% to 54 cents after the junior mining development companyreported the commissioning of its pilot plant and the start-up of circuit testing for the production of high-grade graphite concentrates from the company's wholly owned Lac Knife, Québec graphite project. The principal objectives of the pilot plant test work are to confirm the results from Phase II bench scale Locked Cycle Tests, assess the technical viability and operational performance of the processing plant design, generate tailings for environmental testing and produce a range of graphite raw materials for customer assessments and for further upgrading. The testing is expected to last 4-6 weeks.

Kivalliq Energy Corp.(TSX: V.KIV,Stock Forum) lost 7.7% to 24 cents after the uranium exploration company announcedthe discovery of radioactive mineralization associated with a geophysical conductor located between, and along strike from, the Eastern Extension and J4/Ray Zones at the 340,268 acre Angilak property in Nunavut Territory, Canada. Five of five holes from two sites have intersected anomalous radioactivity with values ranging from 130 to 12,000 counts per second in down hole widths of 0.2 to 0.5 metres.

Petaqullia Minerals Ltd. (TSX: T.PTQ, Stock Forum) was down 9% to 35.5 cents after the diversified gold producerannounced its third quarter operating and financial results for its Molejon gold mine located in Panama. The results included an 18% increase in revenue, 15% increase in net income and 46% increase in EBITDA for the quarter.

Sterling Resources Ltd. (TSX: V.SLG, Stock Forum) dropped 11% to 63 cents after the oil and gas exploration and development company announced the successful placing of the US$225 million senior secured bond issue, issued by its UK subsidiary Sterling Resources (UK) Ltd. The net proceeds of US$218.6 million from the bond issue will be used to prepay the entire senior secured credit facility with a group of lending banks (approximately USD 140 million), fund ongoing development costs of the Breagh field, prefund the first interest payment due October 2013 and for general corporate purposes.

Novus Energy Inc. (TSX: V.NVS, Stock Forum) slipped 14.6% to 70 cents after the junior oil and gas company said proved plus probable reserves at Dec. 31, 2012 increased by 56% to 22.72 million barrels of oil up from 14.56 million barrels of oil on Dec. 31, 2011. Furthermore, the net present value of proved plus probable reserves, before income tax and discounted at 10%, increased to $377.1 million up from $331.3 million at Dec. 31, 2011.