Orion Minerals’ rocky road from exploration company to copper producer saw the group widening its full-year losses in 2025 as it struggled to navigate funding challenges.
The aspiring copper miner reported an operating loss of A$15.36m for the year to end-June, more than double the previous year’s loss, and a headline loss of A$0.18, compared with A$0.09 in the 2024 financial year.
The weaker results were primarily attributed to A$6.34m in exploration expenditure, which the group sunk into its Prieska Copper Zinc Mine (PCZM), its flagship project and the first mine it plans to develop in SA, and Okiep Copper Project developments.
That exploration spending did not qualify to be capitalised according to the group’s internal policies and was thus recorded as an expense, it said.
Added to this was A$1.72m in contractor and adviser expenses, offset by A$4.92m in finance income, mostly stemming from preference shares issued to the company by Prieska Resources.
During the period, the company said its efforts focused on completing Definitive Feasibility Studies for PCZM and OCP, each of which was released in March.
By bringing PCZM and OKiep to first production in the coming years, Orion expects to sell its first copper in late 2026 and aims to grow production to more than 50,000 tonnes a year by the decade’s end.
PCZM is expected to produce 213,055 tonnes of copper and 610,630 tonnes of zinc over its lifespan. In previous decades, OKiep consistently produced 30,000-40,000 tonnes of copper a year under the ownership of Newmont and Gold Fields.
Earlier this month, the group signed a non-binding term sheet with Glencore for up to $250m in financing and concentrate offtake, marking a major step in its transition from a pure exploration company to a developer and operating copper miner.
However, pressure to secure funding has seen the group turning to shareholders to raise capital several times this year, putting pressure on its share price.
The miner closed 13% weaker on Tuesday, extending a nearly 5% decrease over the past year, after it announced the placement of A$5m worth of new shares.
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