Strategic Minerals PLC (LON:SML) told investors it continues to keep control of overheads and it is focussed on the restart of production at the Leigh Creek project copper mine in south Australia.
In the outlook statement in today’s financial results, the producer and explorer said: “The board is confident that the outlook for the company is encouraging having weathered trying times in 2019 and early 2020.
“The June 2020 capital raising ensures the company's capacity to meet its commitment on the final payment for Redmoor (A$1.8mln), due at the end of June, and to explore both joint venture and debt style funding to progress LCCM, Redmoor and CARE.“
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The company noted that these projects have low holding costs, meanwhile, last month’s £1.1mln capital raising and strong cash flow stream from the Cobre property gives the “timing luxury” to extract the maximum value from the investments.
Its current expectations are that funding for LCCM can be sourced and that production can commence prior to the end of 2020.
Commenting on the market outlook, it added: “The start of 2020 has proven to be a challenging year for the company due to deteriorating capital market conditions and the challenges to world markets due to Covid-19.”
In terms of financial results, the company reported a US$845mln pre-tax loss and generated a marginal operating cash deficit. It made a US$1.12mln impairment related to Central Australian Rare Earths.
Operationally, a highlight was the achievement of first revenues at Leigh Creek.