PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands miner Lynas was hoping to raise as much as A$40-million through a share placement to augment working capital during the ramp-up of the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp), in Malaysia.

The ASX-listed miner said on Tuesday that it would undertake a fully underwritten share purchase plan (SPP) to raise a minimum of A$30-million. The SPP would allow eligible shareholders to apply for up to A$15 000 in new shares.

The company would also look to top up the SPP with a A$10-million share placement.

The issue price for the SPP and the placement would be a 17.5% discount to the average price during the five trading days up to the SPP shortfall date, rounded up to the nearest 0.1c.

Meanwhile, Lynas also on Tuesday announced that it had selected Nomura Australia to arrange the purchase and amendment of the $225-million Sojitz/Japan Oil, Gas and Metal National Corporation (Jogmec) senior secured facility.

The terms of the purchase and amendment were subject to further negotiation and were conditional upon requisite approvals, the completion of due diligence and definitive documentation.

The proposed transaction included the replacement of the current Sojitz/Jogmec repayment schedule with a single repayment of the entire facility in June 2016.

Lynas chairperson Nicholas Curtis said on Tuesday that the capital raising and proposed debt amendment provided Lynas with a solid financial base, and addressed any liquidity concerns that the market might have had.

“We achieved a new record month of production in April of 1 089 t on a rare-earth oxide equivalent basis, more than 20% higher than the previous record month in March.

“The ramp-up of production and sales from the Lamp is now well advanced and we expect to be at our targeted production rate during the June quarter. The equity raising will secure our short-term working capital requirement,” Curtis added.

The company, which has won three legal challenges to the Lamp temporary operating licence, is targeting a run rate of 11 000 t/y by the June quarter.