LONDON (Alliance News) - Ormonde Mining PLC Thursday said it had had a "successful" 2015 as it secured a USD100 million financing package for its Barruecopardo tungsten project in Salamanca, Spain, and reported a swing to a pretax profit for the year.
The company reported a pretax profit of EUR2.4 million for 2015, swung from a pretax loss of EUR1.6 million, mostly as a result of income of EUR3.4 million from selling down its stake in Saloro, the company which holds the Barruecopardo mining concession, to Oaktree Capital Management LP.
This disposal was part of an agreement for the financing package for the project with Oaktree.
Additionally, Ormonde generated its first operating income of EUR557,000 in management fees related to services provided to Saloro.
Land access for the project was a key focus during the year; at the start of 2015 around 85% of the land blocks needed to begin construction of the project were held under 'option to purchase agreements', and virtually all of these options were exercised and the blocks passed to the ownership of Saloro by the end of 2015. The remaining blocks are proceeding through due process, Ormonde said.
Whilst Barruecopardo was the company's primary focus during the year, it said that its other projects are being maintained in "good order".
Activity on its gold properties in the Salamanca and Zamora provinces of Spain, a joint venture with Aurum Mining PLC, was "necessarily minimal" during 2015 but in early 2016 Aurum commissioned an independent review of exploration works carried out to date on the properties.
"The past year has been a successful one for Ormonde, with the achievement of a $100 million financing package for the Barruecopardo Tungsten Project in what was a very difficult funding market for mining projects," said Chairman Mike Donoghue in a statement.
"With an updated construction schedule having been recently agreed with our project partners, which sees commissioning of the mine in late 2017, the next year should be an exciting one for the company as we develop the project and move towards first production," Donoghue said.
Shares in Ormonde were up 7.6% at 1.48 pence Thursday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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