(Alliance News) - W Resources PLC on Monday said it narrowed its loss in the first half of the year after reversing a foreign exchange loss it incurred in the first six months of 2018.
In the period ended June 30, the mining company reported revenue of EUR293,000 after recording none last year, although this was completely offset by sales costs.
Pretax loss narrowed to EUR1.0 million from EUR2.3 million. This was the results of W Resources swinging to a foreign exchange gain of EUR45,000, compared to a loss of EUR1.2 million last year.
Administrative expenses fell by 22% to EUR561,000 from EUR723,000.
W Resources operates in Spain, where it has the La Parrilla tungsten and tin mine, and in Portugal where its assets are the Regua and Tarouca tungsten projects and the Sao Martinho gold project.
Construction of the processing plant, warehouse facilities and office areas were completed at La Parrilla during the half. Construction of the T2 phase at the mine was also completed and "delivered within budget", W Resources said.
In Regua and Tarouca, a total of over 2,700 metres of drilling was conducted and results confirmed "thick higher-grade zones closer to the planned mine portals chosen for initial mining operations". W Resources signed an ore haulage and crushing agreement with local firm Francisco Pereira Marinho Irmaos SA.
In Sao Martinho, application for a trial mine and gold production licence is advancing. W Resources said "this will increase the size of the resource, resolve conflicting geological interpretations, and allow gold production on a pilot basis".
Chair Michael Masterman said: "We are delighted to have completed the build of the T2 expansion at La Parrilla, which is a world class tungsten project. This project was delivered on budget and whilst, due to certain delivery delays, the ramp-up was later than we had planned for, we are delighted to have now commenced operations in the new mine and fully integrated process plant.
"Regua in Portugal is advancing and will follow closely behind the development of La Parrilla. Exploration success at Tarouca will feed into and further enhance Regua hub development economics."
Shares in the company were 2.1% higher at 0.35 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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