LONDON (Alliance News) - Frontier Mining Ltd Monday said its pretax loss quadrupled in the first half of the year and said it is now seeking a strategic partner for its Benkala copper plant as it comes closer to offloading its Naimanjal licence.
The Kazakhstan-focused miner said its pretax loss in the six months to June 30 was USD21.4 million, against a USD4.6 million loss a year earlier. The loss was due to a massive increase in the group's foreign exchange losses to USD18 million for the period, against USD356,379 last year.
Revenue in the period was up to USD3.4 million from USD2.8 million in 2013. Cost of sales added to the loss in the period, slightly more than doubling to USD3.3 million from USD1.6 million last year.
The company is in the process of selling its Naimanjal licence in Kazakhstan to Union Transnationale Miniere SA, a Luxembourg registered company active in Kazakhstan. The proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down part of its debt pile and provide financing for new equipment to allow the company to increase production from its operations.
It said revenue from copper sales continues to provide sufficient revenue to cover production costs related to its Benkala site, but said this does not cover its interest and debt repayment obligations and other administrative costs.
The group said it is seeking to bring in a strategic partner to back its ongoing operations.
Frontier shares were down 22% to 0.475 pence on Monday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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