LONDON (Alliance News) - Metals Exploration PLC Thursday said its Runruno Gold-Molybdenum project in the Philippines will be in a position to begin commercial operations in 2015, and expressed confidence that shareholders will begin to realise value in 2015 provided "the price of gold does not retreat excessively".
Metals Exploration is a natural resources exploration and development company with assets in the Pacific Rim region.
The company posted a pretax loss of GBP3.0 million in 2014, narrowed from a pretax loss of GBP5.2 million in 2013, as higher administrative costs were offset by a GBP4.0 million fair-value gain on forward sales contracts. It is not yet revenue producing.
Metals Exploration said project construction continued in 2014, and is now nearing finalisation. The build schedule slipped twice during the year, and the legal and commercial documentation stage of the funding process took longer than the company had first anticipated. However, these issues are now cleared, and the process plant construction team is confident the plant will be commissioned at the end of June 2015.
Construction of the plant stood at 82% complete as of May, the company said.
"2014 and the first quarter of 2015 was a tumultuous period of advancement, achievement and learning for our group. The project is in a great position, and I am confident the shareholders will begin to realise value in 2016 provided the price of gold does not retreat excessively," the company said in a statement.
Shares in Metals Exploration are trading up 8.2% at 6.90 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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Metals Exploration (MTL)