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LONDON (Alliance News) - Mineral development company Bushveld Minerals Ltd Thursday said its loss narrowed in the first half of the yeas as it cut administrative expenses.
Bushveld Minerals reported a pretax loss of GBP749,650 for the first six months of the year, compared with a GBP1.6 million loss a year earlier. The group more than halved its administrative expenses, reporting an operating loss of GBP756,876, compared with GBP1.6 million million the prior year.
The South African-based iron ore, tin and coal development company said that during the six months ended August 31, expenditure in relation to exploration and metallurgical studies amounted to a total of GBP521,100. This was made up of GBP204,861 for the Mokopane Tin Project and GBP324,239 for the Bushveld iron ore project.
It said that roughly 51% of the total was spent on technical exploration activities, as its focused on maintaining a lean overhead structure and spend much of its recently raised funds on advancing projects under development.
Bushveld Minerals also said that its newly acquired Lemur Resources Ltd has confirmed a strategy to unlock value at the Imaloto coal project in Madagascar, involving plans to secure an independent power plant concession, commence an environmental impact assessment, and introduce a joint venture or strategic partner to assist with project development at the site.
It said it intends to deploy its cash resources to secure mining assets in Africa, with its focus on those opportunities with near-term production potential or exploration sites.
Earlier this week, Bushveld Minerals also said that it is building a new dedicated Vanadium platform on its main magnetite layer deposit at its iron ore project in South Africa, a step in a process it hopes will make it one of the world's biggest Vanadium miners.
It said it is now investigating the development of an operation at the site capable of supporting production of between 5,000 and 10,000 tonnes a year of vanadium products.
The group said that since the start of the second half of the year, it raised GBP1.25 million in a share placing, and held GBP1.2 million cash in hand as at November 27.
Shares in Bushveld Minerals were trading 6.4% higher Thursday afternoon, at 4.89 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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