(Alliance News) - Amaroq Minerals Ltd on Tuesday said it swung to net profit in its latest year, with operations progressing well despite weather-induced delays.
The Greenland-focused Canadian gold miner reported a net profit of CAD13.4 million for 2023, swinging from a CAD17.5 million net loss the prior year.
Exploration and evaluation expenses dropped 48% to CAD6.6 million from CAD12.7 million. Amaroq also incurred CAD1.8 million in site development costs, up from nothing the year before.
Amaroq said cash on hand totalled CAD21.0 million at December 31, down from CAD53.6 million at September 30.
Going forward, the company said it is "well-funded and on track to progress development of Nalunaq in 2024".
Amaroq, which acquired the project in southern Greenland in 2015, raised net proceeds of approximately CAD 75 million in February. It said it will use the extra cash "to accelerate mining of the target block at the Nalunaq and associated works".
The company said highlights of 2023 included completing its "most successful drilling programme...to date", with the discovery of a new "75 Vein" showing the "potential for faster resource growth". New underground sampling also confirmed the continuation of high-grade mineralisation beyond the target block's historically mined areas, with up to 48.3 grams per tonne of gold over one metre.
Amaroq plans to further delineate the new 75 vein looking ahead. It added that construction continues on the process plant, and engineering for the facility is expected to complete in the second quarter.
"Following our successful fundraising...we have increased the scope of the Nalunaq gold project development to account for accelerating the transition of the process plant to nameplate capacity of 300 tonnes per day," said Chief Executive Officer Eldur Olafsson. "We experienced some operational and procurement delays towards the end of 2023 due to adverse weather conditions, which continued into the start of 2024.
"This situation has now significantly improved and we are making good operational progress."
He continued: "2024 is a crucial year for Amaroq as we focus on bringing Nalunaq into production, whilst accelerating exploration activities across our wider precious and strategic metals portfolio."
Shares in Amaroq were down 1.6% at 80.70 pence in London early on Tuesday afternoon.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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Amaroq Minerals (AMRQ)