Maghreb Minerals Halves Losses

Maghreb Pursuing Fluorspar Opportunities

AIM-listed Maghreb Minerals has announced that it halved its losses during the six-months ended 31 December 2009. Maghreb made a consolidated loss of £366,000 for the period, compared to a £892,000 the previous year. At 31 December 2009, the company had cash at bank of £207,000.

The company and its funding partner Firebird continue to pursue opportunities in the fluorspar sector, while the base-metals assets in Tunisia remain under care and maintenance.

Maghreb said turmoil in the global financial markets during 2009 meant that it did not receive the necessary funding required to further develop its main projects. However, the company, along with its major shareholder Firebird, continues to pursue opportunities in the fluorspar sector while its base-metals assets in Tunisia remain under care and maintenance.

Maghreb’s assets include zinc, lead, barite and fluorspar exploration projects in Tunisia, the principal of which is the the Bou Jabeur – Gite Est deposit, which has an inferred resource of 4.76 Mt (million tonnes) grading at 5.67% combined Pb/Zn with 39.6% barite, 7.69% fluorite and 7.3 g/t silver.

Maghreb Minerals Seeking Fluorspar Acquisitions

Maghreb Minerals has warned that it could take some significant time to make further progress on developing its flagship Bou Jabeur - Gite Est project in Tunisia as it continues to look for an industry partner to help it develop the asset.

Reporting on the year to June 2009, Maghreb’s chairman, Richard Linnell, said economic conditions had forced the company to cut back its exploration plans and had made it harder to find partners to join it in Tunisia.

However, he said that a decision to focus more on its fluorspar assets and increase its exposure to the sector had seen active involvement by the company’s shareholders in seeking out producing assets around the world.

Maghreb completed a scoping study at the lead/zinc Bou Jabeur - Gite Est project during the year and did enough work to hang on to its Tunisian licences. It also qualified, and applied, for its right to a 90% cent earn-in on the Fej Lahdoum project, where exploration work is underway.

The company ended the period with approximately £237,000 in cash, down from £1.2 million in 2008, but said it was confident that further investment could be attracted to the company to pursue its expansion into the fluorspar sector internationally. Equally, discussions are in progress to introduce partners into the lead/zinc portfolio.

Source: SmallCapNews

Maghreb Minerals Seeking Partner For Tunisian Project

Maghreb Minerals PLC has announced that the scoping study on the Bou Jabeur - Gite Est deposit in Tunisia concludes that the project is uneconomic at current lead and zinc prices, but an increase in resources may change that, so it is seeking a partner to progress the project, primarily to fund the additional drilling programme required.

It noted that in the current economic circumstances this process could take some significant time.

In the meantime Maghreb will concentrate on its prospective fluorspar permits and on fluorspar opportunities in general, it said.

The economic appraisal part of the scoping study indicates breakeven for the project with an increase in the current prices of lead and zinc of somewhat less than 20 percent This will also be favourably affected by increasing the resources to allow for a mining rate of greater than 1,500 tonnes per day.

Source: Proactive Investors