PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has secured a $15-million finance facility to develop Phase 1 of its Mothae kimberlite diamond project, in Lesotho.
The three-year debt facility has been arranged with a private Singaporean company, and will be repayable in eight quarterly payments starting in December next year, by which time Lucapa expected Mothae to be in steady-state production under its Phase 1 development plan.
Under Phase 1, Lucapa will process about two-million tonnes of mainly weathered, near-surface kimberlite material at a rate of 720 000 t/y, over the first three years of operation. The Phase 2 development plan will only be implemented once Phase 1 has been fully commissioned.
“The $15-million financing facility enables Lucapa to meet one of its key strategic objectives of growing diamond production in the large and premium-value sector, a segment of the global market where sales and pricing has remained robust,” said MD Stephen Wetherall.
“This facility is a significant result for Lucapa and its shareholders. It ensures that the company, together with the government of Lesotho, will bring Mothae on stream in 2018, adding a second cash producing asset and high value producing mine to the group that will complement the top-quality diamond production from Lulo.”
The debt facility will carry an interest rate of 13% a year, and included provisions for the financier to convert the last two scheduled quarterly payments worth $3.75-million into Lucapa shares.