JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed diamond development company Firestone Diamonds on Wednesday announced that it had finalised the principle terms of a further $140-million funding package to build and commission the main treatment plant at its flagship Liqhobong diamond mine, in Lesotho.
This funding package, which comprised bridge and mezzanine facilities, equity subscriptions by Pacific Road Resource Funds and Resource Capital Funds, as well as a brokered equity placing would, alongside the $82.4-million Absa debt facility secured in November, complete the $222.4-million funding required to bring the main treatment plant into production.
"Raising $140-million, on top of the Absa debt facility of 82.4-million, is an outstanding achievement for a company of Firestone's size, particularly given the current challenging mining finance environment, and represents a clear endorsement for the quality of this project,” Firestone CEO Stuart Brown commented.
Firestone believed that the successful fundraising demonstrated the investment case for the construction of the treatment plant, expected to reach full nameplate production in early 2016, and its supporting infrastructure.
“Upon completion of the conditions precedent, Firestone will be fully funded to fulfil its strategy of building a diamond mine capable of producing more than one-million carats a year," Brown said.