LONDON (Alliance News) - Cora Gold Ltd on Monday said it sunk to a loss in 2018 due to sharp rise in administrative costs but was able to make progress at the company 's flagship gold exploration project in Mali.
The west African gold explorer reported a pretax loss of USD837,000 for 2018, versus USD3.6 million profit in 2017. The company's overhead costs doubled in 2018 to USD837,000 from USD394,000 the year before.
In 2017, Cora Gold received USD2.0 million from parent Kola Gold Ltd following the re-organisation of a loan between the pair.
In 2017, Cora Gold also made a USD2.1 million gain as part of it subsidiaries, Cora Exploration Mali SARL and Sankarani Ressources SARL, combining its businesses with Hummingbird Resources Ltd subsidiary Trochilidae Resources Ltd.
The non-repeat of these gains were attributed for the 2018 loss.
Cora did not generate any revenue in either 2018 or 2017.
Cora said the work it undertook at its Sanankoro gold discovery in southern Mali in 2018 means it will able to start a 6,000 metre drilling campaign in the near term with the objective of completing a maiden gold oxide mineral resource estimate by the fourth quarter of 2019.
"In 2018 we successfully achieved our objective of determining the scale and potential of the Sanankoro gold discovery. The exploration target established by SRK Consulting of 1.0 million tonnes to 2.0 million tonees was a key milestone towards this as it confirmed Sanankoro's standalone potential. We were delighted to appoint Wardell Armstrong and their initial findings that, with minimal crushing, Cora can achieve excellent gold recoveries of potentially up to 97% and that a straightforward, cost-effective processing route can be utilised, is both encouraging and supportive of Sanankoro's economic potential," said Chief Executive Jonathan Forster.
Shares in Cora Gold were untraded Monday but last closed at 3.88 pence each.
Cora Gold (CORA)