SO4.L Share News (SO4)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Salt Lake Potash Ltd on Friday reported a widened loss for its first half of its financial year due to the rise of exploration and evaluation expenses, and due to the continuing development of the Goldfields Salt Lakes project in Australia.

Pretax loss widened to AUD5.4 million in the six months ended December from AUD5.0 million in the same period a year earlier, resulting from an increase in exploration and evaluation expenses, as well as the rise of corporate and administrative expenses and of business development expenses. The biggest increase, however, was in share-based payments expenses, which rose to AUD583,972 from AUD188,422.

Salt Lake Potash does not yet have revenue from operations, so its only income during the two periods was finance income, which rose to AUD145,705 from AUD71,955 a year before, and a research and development rebate of AUD456,709 received this year. No such rebate was received the year before.

The company aims to develop the first salt-lake brine sulphate of potash operation in Australia, at the Goldfields Salt Lakes project in Western Australia.

The company's cash reserves were AUD10.5 million on December 31, down from AUD15.6 million on June 30.

Shares were up 4.8% at 31.66 pence on Friday morning in London.