LONDON (Alliance News) - Orogen Gold PLC Monday said its pretax loss narrowed in 2014 amid fewer impairments and said its focus is on bringing in new partners to spread the costs of developing its projects in a difficult time for junior miners.
The gold miner, which does not generate any revenue, reported a pretax loss of GBP1.9 million in 2014, narrower than the GBP4.2 million loss in 2013 after it recorded fewer impairments.
Orogen booked a GBP1.3 million impairment on the value of the Deli Jovan exploration and evaluation asset in Serbia in 2014 as it focuses on the Mutsk project in the near-term. In 2013, the company booked a total of GBP3.7 million in impairments.
In 2014, Orogen signed a joint venture agreement with Georaid CJSC covering the Mutsk gold project in southern Armenia.
"Our focus has been on developing the Mutsk gold exploration project in southern Armenia to follow-up on the epithermal gold mineralisation discovery that we made in 2013. We completed 27 diamond-drilling holes totalling 4,120 metres which has confirmed and expanded the discovery," said Chairman Adam Reynolds. "We are currently reviewing options for financing the work to be done including the possibility of introducing a project partner."
Orogen is also contemplating bringing in a new partner on the Serbian project, whilst looking for new opportunities.
"The difficult environment for junior exploration companies means that we have to be very careful to preserve and make best use of our cash resources. We have already made several initiatives to reduce corporate costs during 2015 and while we will continue with close involvement in our exploration projects we are seeking to introduce new partners to share in the cost of developing these to resource definition status," said Reynolds.
At the end of December, Orogen had GBP1.1 million in cash.
Orogen shares were down 11% at 0.0536 pence early Monday.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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