PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Gindalbie Metals went into a trading halt on Monday, as the company announced it was negotiating a long-term financing transaction.
The embattled iron-ore miner has been working to cut back on costs as its Karara joint venture (JV), in Western Australia, which was yet to meet its nameplate capacity of eight-million tonnes a year.
At the start of March this year, the Western Australian government announced that Karara would be the first operation to benefit from the magnetite royalty rebate. The three-year rebate programme began in April 2013, to assist magnetite mines during their start-up phase with royalty relief of up to 50% on a project-by-project basis for 12 months.
At the conclusion of the assistance period, the rebates would be fully repayable over a period of up to two years, with repayments to be made in accordance with a schedule to be negotiated between the producer and the Minister for Mines and Petroleum.
The rebate followed on from a $230-million investment by JV partner Ansteel, which in September last year agreed to fund the ramp-up of the Karara project. The funding was in addition to two previous cash injections by Ansteel last year, consisting of $84-million and $30-million respectively to cover working capital requirements and to fund previous debt.
Gindalbie’s shares were expected to resume trading on May 20.