PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed TerraCom has announced plans to raise $12-million in new funding to support the commissioning of the recently acquired Blair Athol coal mine, in Queensland.
The company has secured the funding in the form of a financing facility, which will be drawn down on a schedule linked to pre-agreed milestones and cash flow requirements, in order to expedite the commissioning and start-up of the mine.
The facility will incur interest at 9% a year, and was split into a $3-million facility, repayable over 12 months from the date of commissioning, and a $9-million facility, provided on a rolling basis for five years.
TerraCom recently completed an agreement with mining major Rio Tinto under which its subsidiary acquired the mine for $1. Under the agreement, TerraCom, a subsidiary of Orion Mining, will receive A$80-million from the mining giant to meet rehabilitation costs at the site.
TerraCom planned to initially start over 50 ha of site rehabilitation while bringing the mine back into production, with production scheduled at a rate of around two-million tonnes a year of coal, with a target of recommissioning operations in the fourth quarter of 2016, and achieving coal sales by the end of the year.