(Alliance News) - Botswana Diamonds PLC on Wednesday said first half loss widened, as it warned that South Africa's response to the Covid-19 outbreak could hurt its business.
For the six months to the end of December, the diamond explorer said pretax loss widened to GBP194,000 from GBP190,000 in the comparative the year prior. No revenue was recorded for either financial periods.
No dividend was declared for the period.
Post period end, Botswana raised GBP250,000 to fund exploration and for general working capital purposes. As at the end of the period, the total value of assets stood at GBP8.3 million, with GBP13,000 of the amount being the amount of cash and cash equivalents held.
Looking ahead, the company said environmental assessment work is being undertaken by wholly-owned Sunland Minerals on three of its five targets in the Kalahari targets with drilling expected to begin in the second half of 2020.
The Maibwe joint venture - in which Botswana has a 15% stake - has experienced delays due to the liquidation of the main partner, BCL. However, a new liquidator has been appointed and there have been proposals which if successful, will lead to a resumption of work on the four licences where drilling discovered high diamond grade kimberlites, Botswana said.
The company said uncertainty borne from the the Covid-19 outbreak makes it difficult to predict the extent to which its business may be hurt. However it noted South Africa's declaration of a national disaster and said the development will hurt the scheduling of its activities in the country, particularly for its Marsfontein kimberlite project.
Shares in Botswana Diamonds closed 2.2% higher at 0.46 pence each on Wednesday in London.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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Botswana Diam (BOD)