Western Areas debt free as it retires convertible bonds
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel miner Western Areas has become debt free for the first time since 2004, after repaying some A$125-million of convertible bonds from existing cash reserves.
MD Dan Lougher told shareholders on Friday that the repayment of the final convertible bonds on their maturity was an important milestone for the company.
“Western Areas continues to execute a disciplined capital management plan and the retirement of the final convertible bonds was a key objective, which adds further strength and flexibility to the Western Areas balance sheet.”
Lougher noted that the company’s interest and financing charges would reduce by about A$12.5-million in the 2016 financial year, which would have a positive impact on Western Areas’ earnings going forward.
“With the elimination of debt, the company can direct the savings towards shareholder return and our organic growth opportunities at Forrestania and Cosmos, in Western Australia, and the Western Gawler in South Australia,” Lougher added.
Western Areas had in place a fully undrawn finance facility of some A$125-million, which also provided balance sheet flexibility.
The nickel miner last month spent A$24.5-million to acquire the Cosmos nickel complex, in Western Australia, from diversified miner Glencore. The project covers some 88 km2 in the Agnew Wiluna nickel belt, and had a historic production of 127 000 t of nickel, at an average grade of 5%.
Western Areas was hoping to develop a third underground mine at the Odysseus high-grade deposit, which hosts a mineral resource of 7.3-million tonnes, grading 2.4% nickel and containing some 174 000 t of nickel.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
FlameBlock is a proudly South African company that engineers, manufactures and supplies fire intumescent and retardant products to the fire...
VISIT SHOWROOM
For over 30 years, Werner South Africa Pumps & Equipment (PTY) LTD has been designing, manufacturing, supplying and maintaining specialist...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
