Amaroq Minerals Ltd shares rose on Wednesday despite a decreased quarterly profit, as the firm reported good progress on pre-production work at its Nalunaq site.

The mine developer, which has gold and strategic mineral assets in Southern Greenland, said that for the first half of 2024 its net loss was $4.0 million, following the previous year’s $20.0 million net income.

Its operating loss however narrowed to $8.6 million from $10.7 million. Exploration & evaluation expenses decreased to $748,040 from $3.5 million and Amaroq incurred no site development costs, compared with the $1.8 million it spent the year before. However, it also didn’t benefit from the prior year’s one-off gain of $31.3 million on loss of control of subsidiary.

For the second quarter, Amaroq reported net income of $5.2 million, down from $23.4 million for the same period in 2023. General & administrative expenses increased to $4.3 million from $2.8 million.

Meanwhile during the period, Amaroq noted the Government of Greenland in June approved its environmental and social impact assessments for the Nalunaq project. It is currently working with stakeholders on an impact benefit agreement ‘which it aims to have in place by the end of the year’.

In addition, Amaroq said that all additional 75 vein samplings from historical core housed at Nalunaq have been completed, and submitted for assaying; that procurement of all key contracts is 92% complete; and that engineering for phase 2 of the process plant building will be finished by the end of the third quarter.

‘Progress at Nalunaq is advancing smoothly, and we remain on track to achieve first gold production later this year,’ commented Chief Executive Officer Eldur Olafsson. ‘The completion of the main building works marks a significant milestone, and we are now focused on installing the key components of the processing plant...Our exploration efforts across our gold and strategic minerals targets are also progressing well.

‘At Nalunaq, the target block resource expansion program is underway, with drill crews now fully mobilised on-site. At Stendalen, we have successfully completed the camp construction, and drilling operations have begun, informed by promising results from recently completed ground geophysics.’

Amaroq expects to deliver first gold at Nalunaq in the fourth quarter.

Shares in Amaroq were trading 3.2% higher at 61.38 pence each early on Wednesday afternoon in London.

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