RIO Rio Tinto Plc

By Alex MacDonald

LONDON--U.K.-listed minerals explorer Savannah Resources PLC (SAV.LN) reported a wider loss for last year as it continued to advance its projects and said it is aiming to produce copper from its Oman project in 2017 while advancing the merger of its mineral sands exploration project with Rio Tinto PLC's (RIO) project in Mozambique.

Savannah, which has operations in Oman and Mozambique, reported a loss of 3.11 million pounds ($4.8 million) for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015, compared with a loss of GBP1.92 million the year before. This was due to an impairment in the company's investment in listed securities of GBP1.07 million and a realized loss on the sale of shares in Alecto Minerals PLC. to the tune of GBP0.67 million.

Looking ahead the company said it aiming to prove that its Oman project has between 150,000 and 700,000 tons of contained copper in blocks four and five with a view to then starting commercial production in 2017.

In Mozambique the company is pushing ahead with further exploration while waiting for the Mozambique government to approve the amalgamation of its Jangamo heavy minerals sand project with three license areas held by Rio Tinto, two of which are adjacent to Jangamo.

"Our plan, upon receiving Mozambican government approval for the joint venture, is to evaluate the potential to rapidly develop the combined projects as a low capex heavy minerals sands mine, of which Savannah will be the operator," the company said. "The amalgamation of the Mutamba/Jangamo Projects makes enormous commercial sense as it combines licences that are effectively part of the same, continuous mineralization trend."

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2016 03:02 ET (08:02 GMT)

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