LONDON (Alliance News) - Xtract Resources PLC on Wednesday said it intends to expand its operations in other countries and commodities as its loss narrowed in 2018.
The metals and minerals producer said revenue from gold sales in 2018 totalled GBP890,000 compared to GBP170,000 the year before.
Total alluvial mining contractor gold production from Manica project in Mozambique rose to 6,042 ounces during the year from 1,279 ounces reported in 2017. Total of 1,508 ounces was attributable to explorator, including Nexus' share under the collaboration agreement, up from 320 ounces in 2017.
In October 2018, Xtract Resources revised terms for the collaboration agreement with Nexus. The key terms of the revised agreement were that Xtract Resources would now receive 50% of income after costs, and that the cost sharing would generally be divided equally between the parties.
Meanwhile, pretax loss for 2018 narrowed to GBP736,000 in 2018 from GBP1.3 million a year earlier.
Looking ahead, the company said it made a decision to broaden its interests to another country and another commodity, in particular copper. This decision was made on the basis of Xtract Resources' belief in the mid-term fundamentals for copper and the "enormous prospectivity" of Zambia for future copper production.
"During 2019 we will carry out best effort to accelerate Manica hard rock production and improve alluvial performance whilst adding value to our Zambian projects," said Executive Chair Colin Bird.
Xtract Resources shares were up 52% in London on Wednesday at 1.07 pence each.
Xtract (XTR)