LONDON (Alliance News) - Tengri Resources Monday said its diamond drilling programme in the Kyrgyz Republic is underway as it reported a widened pretax loss following a rise in administrative expenses.
The company changed its name to Tengri Resources on July 14, following the reverse takeover of the Kyrgyz Republic mining assets of Australian Securities Exchange-listed Robust Resources. Prior to this, the company operated under its previous name of Mentum Inc.
Tengri saw its loss widen to USD1.0 million in the six months ended June 30 from a USD195,000 loss in the first half of 2013. The company does not generate any revenue, with the loss made from its administrative expenses rising to USD1.0 million from USD147,000.
The company has three copper-gold projects in the Kyrgyz Republic, consisting of Taldybulak, Andash and Bashkol.
"The period during which we completed the reverse takeover transaction and establishment of the company has been a busy one, with extensive corporate activities matched by quickly commencing diamond drilling at our Taldybulak and Bashkol projects. We are now fully engaged with the execution of our 2014 drilling programme at both projects," said Non-Executive Chairman David King.
At its Taldybulak project, it has a 12 hole, 2,000 metre diamond drilling programme underway to test the near surface and high-grade gold and copper mineralisation, it said.
At its Andash project, technical studies are underway, related to improving the mines efficiency and processing the site layout to reduce the impact on the local area, it added.
The first two drill holes have been completed at its Bashkol project, intersecting high-grade gold mineralisation of 2.7 metres at 6.4 grammes per tonne of gold, including 0.85 metres at 15.3 grammes per tonne of gold. A diamond drilling programme is underway, said Tegri.
"We are now fully engaged with the execution of our 2014 drilling programme at both projects, which continue to give our board confidence in our assets base, evidenced most recently by the high grade gold mineralisation intersected at Bashkol," said King
"We are committed to building a significant precious metals-focused company, driven by organic development of our existing portfolio as well as considering acquisition opportunities that may arise." he added.
Tengri shares drop 5.9% to 8.00 pence per share Monday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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