13th Mar 2014 11:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Rare Earth Minerals PLC Thursday said its pretax loss narrowed in its full year 2013, and it has signed a joint-venture agreement for the Megalit Concession that surrounds the Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico.
The rare metals and minerals projects investment company said its pretax loss narrowed to GBP814,000 from GBP973,000 in the previous year as administrative expenses fell during the company's ongoing development phase.
Rare Earth Minerals is yet to achieve any revenues, but its administrative expenses fell to GBP766,000 from GBP789,000 in 2012, and its loss on the sale of assets fell to GBP48,000 from GBP184,000 the previous year.
The company said it intends to continue its fast-track development in Mexico, increasing its holdings in Bacanora and the Sonora Lithium project, while it expects to maintain operations in both Greenland and Australia, where Rare Earth has important exploration targets.
REM said in a separate statement that it has signed a joint-venture agreement with Bacanora Minerals Ltd on the Megalit Concession in Sonora.
Under the terms of the agreement, Rare Earth has the option to acquire an initial 10% interest in the San Gabriel, Buenavista and Megalit concessions by paying Bacanora an upfront cash consideration of GBP250,000 and spending GBP500,000 on exploration and drilling on the certain concessions over a six-month period.
The company has the option to increase its interest to 30% by virtue of an additional cash consideration of GBP500,000 and committing to a further GBP1 million in expenditures for exploration and drilling on the same concessions over one year.
REM said a new 3,000 metre drilling programme will now commence on the project in the coming weeks, which is partly designed to upgrade the lithium resources from the inferred resource category to the indicated resource category and increase the resource, and also to test new lithium targets along strike.
The company said its concessions held under joint ventures in the Mexican Sonora Lithium Project have now formally increased to 100,140 hectares with the signing of the Megalit joint venture.
REM shares were up 2.1% to 0.439 pence Thursday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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