PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Gulf Manganese has secured A$15-million to fund the construction and commissioning of the first two manganese smelters at its Kupang smelting facility, in Indonesia.
Gulf on Monday announced that it would issue a convertible note worth A$6-million, with a zero percent interest to Indonesia-based diversified investment group PT Jayatama Tekno Sejahtera (PT JTS).
On the satisfaction of agreed upon conditions precedent, the note would automatically convert into a 25.1% equity in Gulf.
An additional standby facility worth about A$7-million had also been made available by PT JTS, and could be drawn down at any time during the construction and commissioning phase.
Furthermore, Gulf has completed a A$2-million, five-year zero coupon converting note issue to Eighteen Blue Investments, and has issued 133.3-million converting note, at a face value of 1.5c each. A further 133.3-million free attaching listed options, exercisable at 0.5c each and expiring in April 2019, will also be issued.
Gulf told shareholders that securing the funding package would enable the company to complete the construction and commissioning of the first two smelters at the Kupang smelting hub, with ferromanganese alloy production targeted by mid-2018.
Gulf is hoping to initially produce some 30 000 t/y of premium-quality ferromanganese alloy.
The Kupang smelting hub is expected to contain at least eight furnaces built in stages over five years. At full production, the project will purchase and process 320 000 t/y of manganese ore, producing some 155 000 t/y of premium-quality ferromanganese alloy.