RIO Rio Tinto Plc

By Alex MacDonald

LONDON--Savannah Resources PLC (SAV.LN) reported a narrower first-half net loss and said it has extended a deadline for closing a heavy minerals sands joint venture with mining giant Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) in Mozambique.

The multicommodity explorer, which is also developing a copper project in Oman and exploring for lithium in Finland, reported a net loss of 760,541 pounds ($987,715) for the six months ended June 30, 2016 compared with a net loss of GBP1.63 million in the same period a year before when the company suffered a near GBP1 million loss on disposal of assets.

The company also said it has agreed with Rio Tinto to extend the deadline to close its joint venture to Oct 10 from Sep 30, marking the second such extension since the deal was first announced in June.

Savannah announced plans then to combine its Mutamba, Dongane and Jangamo prospects with Rio Tinto's adjacent Chilubane heavy mineral sands project. This would lead to the amalgamation of Savannah's aggregated mineral resource base of 65 million metric tons of ore with 4.2% heavy minerals sands grade and Rio Tinto's yet-to-be-confirmed resource base of between 7 billion to 12 billion tons of ore with 3% to 4.5% heavy minerals grade.

Savannah will be the operator of the joint venture and may earn up to a 51% interest in the combined Mutamba/Jangamo project.

Rio Tinto has agreed to purchase all of the joint venture's heavy mineral sands under a long-term commercial contract from any mine that may be developed in the project area.

Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2016 05:05 ET (09:05 GMT)

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