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LONDON (Alliance News) - Karelian Diamond Resources PLC Wednesday said that its narrowed its losses for the year ended May 31, as it reduced its operating expenses and made significant progress in its diamond exploration programme in Finland.
The Ireland-based natural resource company, which is engaged in diamond exploration in Finland, reported a pretax loss of EUR179,955 for the year, compared with a pretax loss of EUR207,980 a year earlier.
It said its operating expenses for the year came to EUR165,604 compared with EUR194,582 for the same period a year earlier.
Karelian Diamond said its cash at the end of the year stood at EUR2,506 compared with EUR10,054 last year.
The group said that further microdiamonds have been recovered at the Seitaperä kimberlite pipe.
It said the micro-diamonds were white in colour, and two of the micro-diamonds, including the largest stone, were more than 60% broken, indicating the possibility of larger stone sizes.
Karelian said that excellent results have been achieved at its exploration target Riihivaara, where G9 and G10 diamondiferous indicator minerals were discovered. It said that G3 and G4 garnets were also found, suggesting the presence of eclogitic mantle material which is significant as it tends to be associated with higher grades of diamonds.
The Riihivaara claim reservation lies approximately 10km southeast of the company's Seitaperä kimberlite target.
The group also said that positive results at Kuusamo have led to new claim applications over two areas in the Kuusamo region. It said that other targets in the Kuhmo area include the Havukkasuo and Lentiira kimberlite pipes.
The company said that its agreement with Rio Tinto has led to further highly encouraging progress.
Under the agreement, Rio Tinto discloses confidential information and physical geological samples to Karelian, relating to exploration in Finland. In return for the confidential information, Karelian has agreed that Rio Tinto has the option to earn a 51% interest in any project it identifies in Finland, of which Rio Tinto pays the direct cash expenditures incurred in developing the project, under certain conditions.
Karelian Diamond Resources' shares were down 5.1% Wednesday afternoon, at 1.40 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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