Ormonde losses reduced to €242k

ORMONDE Mining, the Co Meath-based mineral exploration company, has reported a loss of €242,000 for the six months to the end of June – significantly down on a loss of €379,000 for the first half of last year.

The Navan-headquartered company said that it has continued to make “significant technical progress” at both of its main assets in Spain; the Barruecopardo tungsten mine in the Salamanca region and the La Zarza copper, gold and zinc mine in southern Spain.

“During the period, significant effort has been directed towards moving both our main projects forward,” said chairman Michael Donoghue. “Technical evaluation work at Barruecopardo continues to lend support to our objective of becoming a major European tungsten provider, while investment by a major mining company will enable us to advance La Zarza through exploration directed towards finding a major enlargement of the copper resource,” he said.

Ormonde announced, back in July, that it had reached agreement with an unnamed industry player over an investment of $7m (€4.7m), via a joint-venture agreement, in an expanded exploration programme at La Zarza.

With regard to that, Ormonde said that final agreement on the deal remains subject to contract and completion of legal and environmental due diligence.

“We particularly look forward to seeing progress on the project through this fresh investment,” it said.

Ormonde’s latest half-year results also showed a near halving – on a year-on-year basis – in its loss per share; down from 22c to 12c. Operating losses lowered from €389,000 to €242,000.