Alamos net loss doubles to US$3.8mn in 2004

Toronto-based junior Alamos Gold's (TSX: AGI) year-on-year net loss doubled in 2004 to US$3.8mn as it stepped up development of its Mulatos gold project in Mexico's Sonora state, the company said in a statement By the end of 2004, Alamos had spent over US$22.7mn on engineering, procurement and construction work at the Mulatos project, the statement said. This included US$3.5mn for a three-stage crushing system, US$5.8mn for mining capital, US$1.2mn for a gold recovery plant, US$2.1mn on construction of the heap-leach pad, US$1.8mn on water systems and US$1.2mn on access road improvements. The project is now on schedule for its first gold pour in the third-quarter 2005. The initial phase of leach pad construction is complete, while the installation of the plastic liner is in progress, Alamos said. The three-stage crusher is being disassembled and shipped from its present location and repaired before being taken to Mulatos. Alamos is also targeting zones adjacent to the Estrella pit at El Salto, the Southeast extension zone and Mina Vieja to develop additional reserves. During 2004 Alamos also began exploring "highly prospective" mineral targets within the company's 21,300ha Salamandra group of concessions in Sonora, the statement said.