One small exploration stock which has attracted some investor interest this week is Minmet. Gossip about results from a gold prospect in Devon in Southern England being drilled by subsidiary, Crediton Minerals, and also about its gold exploration in Portugal, led to active trading in London. Some 15 million shares changed hands on Monday alone. A jump in the share price to 5.5p sterling - a significant enough 10 per cent gain for shareholders - followed some favourable comment from the British media. And then when the results from Devon were published on Wednesday, the share jumped to 6.5p sterling, leaving a nice capital gain to investors who had bought in at the 4p price which prevailed up to recently.

Time will tell if there's really mineable gold in them there Devon hills.