Greatland Gold loss deepens amid new exploration projects

Greatland Gold on Tuesday reported a widened annual loss after exploration costs rose due to drilling campaigns at the company's Havieron and Black Hills targets.

The precious metals miner recorded a loss before tax of £3.3m for the 12 months ended 30 June, compared to a loss of £1.8m the year before, as exploration costs rose by 126% to £2.3m.

As with last year, the company did not return any revenue.

The increase in costs came as Greatland conducted its second drill campaign at the Havieron gold-copper target in the Paterson region of Western Australia.

The company said that the results from this campaign were instrumental in securing a $65m farm-in agreement with Newcrest Operations Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newcrest Mining.

Newcrest has began drilling at Havieron in May, with initial drill results having defined a series of higher-grade zones within a broad envelope of mineralisation.

Elsewhere, the company commenced its first drill campaign at Black Hills following positive results from a high-powered, deep-sensing induced polarisation survey, while Greatland has identified further high-priority targets with a similar magnetic signature to Havieron at its Paterson Range East licence.

In total, the AIM traded company currently operates and wholly owns four projects in Western Australia and two in Tasmania.

Chairman Alex Borrelli said: "Greatland is the only AIM listed company with exposure to the new "gold/copper rush" in the Paterson region of Western Australia. Our focus now is to build on our success and to leverage the knowledge and insights gained at Havieron to prioritise and accelerate exploration at key targets across our Paterson licences. We are also working to continue to systematically advance our wider portfolio of projects."

Greatland Gold shares were down 1.42% at 1.70p at 1318 BST.