The holding company of the Mowana copper mine has secured a $4-million working capital extension from Fujax Minerals and Energy, which Aim-listed Cradle Arc has hailed as a “vote of confidence” in the Botswana operation.
Leboam Holdings, a 60%-owned subsidiary of Cradle Arc, negotiated a 24-month repayment term, with a six-month payment holiday, scheduled to start from April 2019.
“The extended working capital facility from Fujax is a vote of confidence in the Mowana operations,” Cradle Arc CEO Kevin van Wouw commented on Monday.
The facility, he added, would help to ensure that there was sufficient headroom and contingency as management sought to build upon the stabilised operations and restart the production ramp-up at Mowana.
Further, the company on Monday also provided an operational update on the Mowana mine, which continues to suffer from equipment breakdowns. The mine produced 140 t of contained copper in October, compared with management’s original forecast of 392 t.
Cradle Arc said that production was impacted by the intermittent equipment breakdowns.
It stated that funds received from the drawdown of the $2-million loan facility in October were used to purchase certain essential spares parts and the repair of key items of equipment to improve the reliability and availability of the processing plant going forward.
The company reported that the crushing and filter sections of the processing plant had been repaired and that stable production was expected for the remainder of the quarter.
Mill availability is also improving, and the final concentrate grade achieved throughout the fourth quarter to date has been above forecast levels, the company said, adding that a planned mill reline, which is scheduled for the last week of November, would improve mill throughput to its nameplate capacity of 155 t/h.