PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Despite implementing a number of contract renegotiations, iron-ore miner Northern Iron on Thursday told shareholders that more work would be required to secure the company’s financial future.
The company in January warned that more funding would be required if Northern Iron was to continue as a going concern, as the declining iron-ore price negatively affected its working capital position.
Northern Iron had already accepted offers from both its financiers for the deferral of interest payments associated with current debt facilities and lease payments on equipment finance leases, from January to March this year.
The miner said on Thursday that it had also agreed upon supportive measures for its short-term financing arrangements, with financiers DNB and Innovation Norway offering waivers on servicing debt facility obligations and associated covenants for the period April to June.
Similar support to waive leasing obligations have been made available by Tschudi Bulk Terminals for the same period.
In addition, DNB has adjusted the borrowing base mechanism of the working capital facility for the June quarter, to enable Northern Iron and its Norwegian subsidiary to efficiently manage its liquidity position. DNB had also undertaken to fund foreign exchange hedging losses that could be realised in the June quarter.
Furthermore, Northern Iron had also reached an agreement with its largest customer to amend an offtake contract for the supply of iron-ore concentrate, under which payment for sales would be closely aligned with the timing of each shipment from April until the end of June.
Northern Iron told shareholders that the combination of these contract tweaks were expected to sustain the group’s financial position during the June quarter, allowing the company to maintain normal operations.
However, further effort would be required to improve the company’s financial position during the June quarter if Northern Iron’s subsidiary was to continue as a going concern.