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LONDON (Alliance News) - Greatland Gold PLC on Monday reported a widened annual loss as exploration expenses surged but it is confident in its outlook as it concentrates on "ambitious plans".
For the six months ended December, the precious and base metals exploration firm posted a pretax loss of GBP1.5 million compared to GBP716,988 a year ago.
Exploration expenses rose year-on-year to GBP937,732 from GBP350,544, while administrative costs also increased to GBP523,026 from GBP367,552.
As it is still in the exploration phase of its projects, Greatland did not generate any revenue for the half.
"It has been a very significant first half of the year for Greatland, characterised by strong progress across our key projects," Chief Executive Gervaise Heddle said.
"Most notably, we recorded exceptional drilling results in the Paterson, making clear the potential for Havieron [Western Australia] to become a large-scale underground mining operation."
Looking at the second half, Greatland is in a "strong position" to advance its operations.
"In 2019, Greatland intends to follow an ambitious plan. The company intends to move quickly to follow up excellent recent drilling results at Havieron and to accelerate exploration across its portfolio of exciting exploration assets," the firm said.
In a separate announcement, Primorus Investments PLC said it has acquired further 2.0 million shares in Greatland, taking its stake in the firm to 1.2% of Greatland's capital.
The shares were acquired at an average of 1.71 pence each, for a total of GBP34,200. Primorus' decision was sparked mainly by Greatland's "excellent" results at Havieron.
Greatland Gold shares were trading up 2.4% at 1.89 pence each Monday, while Primorus were up 9.1% at 0.12p.