Kavango Resources PLC reported a significantly widened interim loss as higher exploration costs offset revenue gains from its gold projects in Zimbabwe and Botswana.

The London-listed explorer posted a pretax loss of US$6.1 million for the six months to 30 June, compared with US$1.7 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to US$420,000 from US$209,000, but pre-licence exploration expenses increased to US$4.8 million from US$1.1 million. Cost of sales also grew sharply to US$830,000 from US$168,000, while administrative costs eased to US$661,000 from US$1.0 million.

During the period, the company drilled more than 9,000 metres at its Hillside gold project in Zimbabwe and began construction of a 50-tonne-per-day processing plant at the Bill's Luck mine. At its Nara project, Kavango completed a second drilling phase and exercised an option to acquire 45 claims for US$4 million, with completion expected by December.

In Botswana, Kavango concluded a collaboration with First Quantum Minerals at the Karakubis copper project, where it has now defined final drill targets for a follow-up programme planned in 2025.

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The company strengthened its balance sheet with GBP6.6 million raised through a share issue in January, a USD5 million interest-free convertible loan from Zimbabwean pension funds in April, and a further GBP2.3 million fundraising in September.

Kavango said it will begin a new resource drilling campaign at Bill's Luck. Shares were down 5.0% at 0.95 pence in London on Tuesday afternoon.