Alba Mineral Resources PLC (AIM:ALBA), the mineral explorer with mines in Wales, is trading over 4% higher in after-lunch trading on Thursday, despite facing several setbacks at its projects, a company update revealed.
Diluting investors with a share placing of £750,000 in July, the miner lost more than a quarter of its share price because of the funding, which it claimed would help go towards exploration at its primary gold target at the Clogau St David’s mine in Wales.
Operations at the Welsh gold mine have been less than ideal though, with the group facing “considerable frustration” at not being able to access a lower part of the workings due to flooding.
Hoping to implement a dewatering project at the mine, Alba initially soared 50% when it received ecological permits allowing the dewatering to go ahead, with the group beginning the process within days of receiving approval.
Dewatering in the summer of 2023 wasn’t expected to cause much stress for the group, but, being British weather, July ended up experiencing rainfall three times higher than normal.
Workings have now been re-flooded and it appears Natural Resources Wales, the regulator which provides approval for dewatering, is “not minded to grant a temporary variation”.
Shares in Alba are trading at around 0.12p, having risen close to 20% in the year-to-date.