LONDON (Alliance News) - Rare Earth Minerals PLC Thursday said it swung to a pretax loss in 2014 after administration costs soared, and said it intends to continue investing in fellow-listed Bacanora Minerals Ltd when opportunities arise.
The natural resource investment company reported a GBP3.1 million pretax loss in 2014, swinging from a GBP1.4 million profit in 2013 after administration costs rose to GBP3.2 million from only GBP766,000.
"The company continues to pursue its strategy of investing in direct and indirect stakes in the lithium and rare earth minerals resource sector, and has acquired significant stakes in a diverse set of projects, which potentially represent world-class assets in these sectors," said the company.
The company's two main investments are in the Sonora lithium project in Mexico and the Yangibana rare earth project in Australia. Fellow-listed Bacanora operates the Sonora project, and Rare Earth also holds over a 16% stake at company level, which it intends to increase, it said.
"The rapid growth and development of the Sonora deposits has been a particular highlight over the last two to three years. It has been painstaking work, but also a story of continuous improvement as the results from the drilling campaigns have come in and the other associated development work has been undertaken," said Chairman David Lenigas.
Rare Earth shares were down 0.9% to 0.937 pence per share on Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
