Sable Mining Africa Ltd said Monday that it would continue discussions with financial institutions and potential off-take partners as it remains focused on iron-ore production in 2015, after it posted a widened pretax loss on impairment charges in the half year ended September 30.

The company posted a pretax loss of USD24.7 million, widened from USD9.9 million, as it posted USD21.1 in impairment charges on its two coal assets in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Liberation Mining (Pvt) Limited and Delta Mining Consolidated Limited. The company wrote down the two assets due to further weakness in domestic and international coal markets.

The company does not yet generate revenues.

Sable Mining said its focus is on the Nimba Iron Ore Project in southeast Guinea, and it said its near-term objective is the publication of a pre-feasibility study to set out a route to production at Nimba. Shares in Sable were trading up 0.8%, or 0.07 pence, at 9.52 pence Monday afternoon.