Paragon Diamonds almost halved its loss for the first six months of the year to £1.4 million ($2.3 million) from £2.2 million ($3.6 million) recorded a year earlier.
Excluding depreciation the group recorded a loss of £1.1 million ($1.8 million) for the first half of the year, said Paragon chairman Francesco Scolaro.
He said the diamond junior was focused on continuing the bulk sampling programme at its flagship Lemphane Kimberlite in Lesotho whilst simultaneously conducting a rapid exploration programme at its newly awarded Motete Dyke Licence in close proximity to Lemphane.
A total of over 4,700 tonnes of kimberlite and a grade of 2.20 cpht had been processed to date.
Scolaro also said that the capital expenditure on the Motete dyke project would not commence until the scoping study, resource statement, mining licence and $10 million project financing are all in place.
“The company is at an exciting point in its development with its maiden resource statement and scoping study due at Motete in the near future,” he said.
“The continuing results from the Lemphane bulk sampling programme are also important to the group and I look forward to reporting the progress made in these areas over the coming months.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
