Irish AIM-listed Iranian gold and copper explorer Persian Gold has posted a pre-tax loss of more than £379,000 widening its deficit incurred in 2006.
The preliminary results for the year ended December 31st 2007 showed loss of £379,383, compared to £286,272 a year earlier. This translated to a 66 pence loss per share for the year, compared to last year's 51 pence loss.
The company has also announced its plans to focus more on copper-gold projects along the Tethyan Belt.
Persian Gold said it had been offered several large projects in recent weeks, noting that the appointment of Bahman Rashidi as general manager and Farzin Talebi Rad as operations manager had begun to have a positive effect.
"We are building a diverse portfolio of assets in Iran. As we learn more about the geology and as we add to our team, our focus is changing to copper-gold projects in the Tethyan Belt," said chairman John Teeling.
"Whilst we believe that our existing projects have significant potential, we are now seeing a flow of considerably larger projects with very high growth potential. We are constantly evaluating new projects, but will only move under the correct conditions."
The company currently operates four projects in Iran - Chah-e-Zard in central Iran, Dalli south of Tehran and Dustbiglu and Takestan, both of which are situated in the northwest of the country.