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LONDON (Alliance News) - Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd on Tuesday posted maiden revenue in the first half of its year following the start of production at its Gakara project in Burundi.
Revenue was USD1.2 million for the six months to December 31, with no revenue recorded for the year-ago period following a review of the operation of Gakara.
However, the rare earth concentrate producer posted a pretax loss of USD3.1 million, almost three times its USD1.1 million loss the year before, as it expensed all production and sales costs as incurred.
The company's production costs came to USD1.6 million, versus no production costs the year before. Depreciation totalled USD1.7 million compared to no depreciation the year prior, and administration expenses fell to USD651,000 from USD752,000.
Production ramp-up was less than expected, although concentrate exports increased slightly to 550 tonnes from 525 tonnes year-on-year.
"Rainbow's near-term priorities during calendar 2019 are to bring four mining areas into production, thereby reaching cashflow breakeven levels of production of approximately 250 tonnes of concentrate per month (at current prices) in the second half of the year," said Chief Executive Martin Eales.
"Thereafter, production increases will be targeted from the development and exploitation of the numerous additional areas across the mining licence."
"Through ongoing exploration work, much of which may be undertaken at minimal cost, the company seeks to expand its understanding of the extent of the numerous [rare earth] deposits within its mining licence," Eales added.
Shares in Rainbow were down 0.9% at 2.18 pence on Tuesday.