AsiaPhos shares up on mine permit extension

PHOSPHATE miner AsiaPhos has had a crucial mine exploration rights extended, sending its shares up to an intra-day high of 16.4 Singapore cents yesterday before closing at 16 cents.

This was up 0.5 cent, or 3.2 per cent, over the previous close before the firm called for a trading halt.

The Catalist-listed company said yesterday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Mianzhu Norwest had received an exploration permit for its Cheng Qian Yan mine in China's Sichuan province, for an expanded exploration area of about 1.54 square kilometres, compared with 0.55 square kilometre under the previous licence.