25th Sep 2015 08:03
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bellzone Mining PLC reported a narrowed pretax loss for the first half of 2015, as it cut costs and continued to work towards completing a study on developing its flagship Kalia project.
Bellzone is an iron ore, copper and nickel exploration and development company operating in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.
For the half year to end-June, the company reported a pretax loss of USD3.7 million, narrowed from a pretax loss of USD4.8 million a year before, mostly as a result of lower operating costs, particularly a lower employee benefits expense. It generates no revenue.
Bellzone said that current commodity pricing and availability of finance in challenging environments is "not conducive" to funding the Kalia project as defined by an independent bankable feasibility study it announced in September 2013.
It undertook a strategic review during the first half of 2015 into the nickel potential of the project, which it said "presents an opportunity to bring Kalia into production despite the challenges presented by the current state of financial markets, lower iron ore prices and infrastructure limitations for the production and export of bulk materials in Guinea."
It is now focused on completing a study on developing Kalia through on-site processing of iron ore to produce nickel pig iron or ferronickel, as it believes this is the best opportunity to secure financing that will lead to the full development of the mine.
Shares in Bellzone Mining were untraded Friday morning. It last closed at 0.400 pence.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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