Gold exploration company Glass Earth Gold reported a 2009 loss of $C2.68 million ($NZ3.62m), with $C2.36m of capitalised exploration expenses written off in relation to relinquished ground that contained targets associated with those expenditures.
Total exploration spending for the year was $C2.6m, or which $C1.1m was contributed by other parties, Glass Earth said today.
During the year, drilling, ground-based resistivity surveys, mapping, sampling and interpretation and analysis were carried out in the company's exploration areas.
"Useful" cash contributions were being generated by placer mining - the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals - that started in Central Otago in December, and from a jointly-owned gold recovery unit leased to another mining operation at the time, Glass Earth said.
It planned to start another placer mine in mid-2010, and the company had also recently signed a letter of intent with a venture partner to provide funding of up to $1.5m to develop two placer mines.
Those initiatives were expected to generate significant contributions towards cash requirements, the company said.
By Friday, $C1.7m of signed unit subscription agreements had been received to take up shares and warrants in a private placement offer seeking to raise $C3m.
A rolling 12-month budget had been prepared that allowed the company to continue as a going concern based on committed funding, cash budgeted from mining activities, and contributions from joint venture partners.
Directors were also confident that additional subscriptions to its placement would be secured in the next few weeks, which would allow for more exploration spending.
Along with Otago, Glass Earth's main project areas are the Hauraki, Mamaku-Muirs, and central volcanic areas.
