Alba Mineral Resources widens FY loss

Alba Mineral Resources has widened its full-year pre-tax loss as it seeks to commercialise its UK oil and gas investments.

Pre-tax loss for the period was £0.43m, from a loss of £0.29m.

"The past year has seen the Company make significant strides forward in the development of our key assets," the company said.

It noted that oil and gas investments at Horse Hill and Brockham had to pass thorugh normal regulatory processes in the UK, which was potentially frustrating to shareholders.

"It is for this reason that, having identified an opportunity to invest initially on a modest earn-in basis into the Amitsoq Graphite Project in Southern Greenland, the Company's work in 2016 led it to see the significant potential of the project."

It had consequently decide to negotiate to acquire outright a 90% interest in the project, with the right to move to 100% ownership in the future.

"The coming year promises to be an exciting one for Alba, as we seek to commercialise our UK oil and gas investments," it said.

At the same time, the company would push forward with the further work at Amitsoq that would see the project progress from the exploration into the development phase.

At 10:42 BST, shares in AIM-listed Alba were down 1.92% to 0.26p each.