Ariana Resources PLC on Monday said it continued to advance its projects in a year in which the company was adversely impacted by foreign exchange rates.

The London-based mineral exploration and development company has gold mining interests in Africa and Europe.

In 2023, pretax profit fell to £59,000 from £5.0 million the previous year, as administrative costs multiplied to £1.8 million from £555,000.

‘Our administrative costs were lower by over £0.7 million in the year, at £2.5 million but this year, the foreign exchange gains on our US dollar holdings primarily, were also lower by £2 million, which is why these costs which are stated after exchange movements appear higher this year,’ the company said.

Ariana received income from investments as well as fair value gain and profit from the disposal of gold bullion.

The company finished the year with cash and cash equivalents totalling £2.5 million, down 73% from £9.4 million.

Managing Director Kerim Sener said: ‘The past year witnessed a consolidation of our core strategy to identify an advanced project capable of being progressed through to the feasibility stage.’

On April 25, the company announced it entered a conditional merger agreement which would affect an all share acquisition of Rockover, the owner of the Dokwe Gold project in Zimbabwe where trial results announced today revealed ‘good to excellent’ gold correlations.

Ariana currently has a 2.1% stake in Rockover via its wholly owned Asgard Metals Pty Ltd subsidiary. Under the proposed all-share merger, Ariana will issue 687.8 million new shares to the owners of Rockover. As a result, Ariana shareholders will own 62.5% of the enlarged company and Rockover’s the remaining 37.5%.

As part of the deal, Ariana said it will seek a dual-listing on the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney, while retaining its listing on AIM in London. The merger is expected to be completed in June.

Whilst advancing this merger the company continues to develop its various mining projects with the Dokwe project expected to advance through feasibility in the coming year.

Ariana Resources shares were down 9.2% to 2.32 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.

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