By NICK CLARK Small Talk After a turbulent year for Central African Mining & Exploration, the group is hoping a crucial court ruling this month will allow it to leave political wrangling behind and concentrate on expanding operations across Africa.

Investors in Central African Mining (CAMEC) should have been aware of the risks before they bought into it, but events of the past few days will have taken even the most hardened small-cap mining investor by surprise.

By Danny Fortson A top legal official in the Democratic Republic of Congo withdrew a key licence held by Camec, the mining group run by the former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, a day after the company launched a hostile all-share takeover of its rival Katanga Mining.

David Quainton A Congo-focused mining firm planning to create one of the biggest companies to trade its stock on AIM has brought in FD. The Central African Mining & Exploration Company (Camec) has called in the agency as it makes a controversial bid for Canadian miner Katanga Mining.