Johannesburg — DIVERSIFIED junior mining and exploration company Miranda Holdings said on Friday it was aiming to develop one coal mine in its KwaZulu-Natal coal asset portfolio every year for the next five years.

The company, which has a portfolio of coal and base and precious metals properties, reported a headline loss per share of 4,5c in the year to August compared with 2c in the previous year.

Miranda said it had secured its first mining right at Sesikhona anthracite colliery and had completed the first-phase, open cast mining plan for the mine.

All the groundwork had been completed for the granting of a second mining right for Uithoek by early next year and the group's application for a third mining right at Burnside had been accepted by the Department of Mineral Resources.

The company said much of management's efforts during the period under review had gone into building critical mass through the drilling and development of existing assets and the acquisition of significant new prospects.

As a result it held mining or prospecting rights over more than 20 different coal projects covering about 58000ha in KwaZulu- Natal alone. Including Mpumalanga and Limpopo, Miranda was involved in exploration on land spanning more than 73000ha. Management is constantly considering further potential acquisitions of merit.

Yakani Resources became Miranda's black economic empowerment partner late last year, with an initial investment of a general issue of shares for cash worth R17m. Yakani has since increased its stake in Miranda to 34% by buying shares in the open market. Miranda intended to use these additional cash resources to fund exploration and potential acquisitions.