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(Alliance News) - Panthera Resources PLC on Friday said its interim loss narrowed as exploration costs stopped.
The West Africa and India-focused gold explorer and developer said in the half-year ended September 30, pretax loss narrowed to GBP1.2 million from GBP1.4 million the year before.
This mainly resulted from lower exploration expenses, which fell 80% to GBP167,368 from GBP842,611 a year ago.
It recorded no revenue in either period.
Looking ahead, Panthera said its focus has shifted to pursuing a claim against India for breaches of its obligations under the Australia-India Bilateral Investment Treaty. It has secured USD13.6 million in litigation financing to this end.
This comes after the High Court of Rajasthan in India dismissed subsidiary Metal Mining India Pte Ltd's prospecting licence for the Bhukia project in September.
Managing Director Mark Bolton commented: "Under the treaty, compensation for expropriation is required to be calculated on the basis of the market value of the investment immediately before the expropriation. The company believes that the market value of Bhukia is substantial with the project ranking among the top undeveloped gold projects in the world."
Shares in Panthera were down 6.7% at 6.30 pence each in London on Friday morning. The stock is up 42% over the past year.
By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter
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