Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Cokal has secured a funding package of up to $150-million from Platinum Partners to progress its Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM) coal project, in Indonesia.
Cokal told shareholders on Monday that the facility would be sufficient to fund the construction and commissioning of the two-million-tonne-a-year BBM project, as well as working capital requirements during the phased development.
The facility would be available for a period of up to two years, with final payment scheduled for between two and three years after draw-down, at an interest rate of 13% plus fees.
The facility was subject to a marketing fee of 3% on the gross sales of coal produced at BBM and a 1% royalty on the gross sales.
Cokal CEO and chairperson Peter Lynch said on Monday that the funding agreement with Platinum Partners built on the major advances achieved at the BBM project this year, which included a resource upgrade of 340% and the release of a definitive feasibility study.
The feasibility study estimated that a capital investment of $75-million would be required to build the operation. Based on the current resource of 261-million tonnes, the project would have an estimated life of ten years.
Operating costs for the BBM project have been estimated at an average free-on-board cost of $97/t, on the basis that the mining, hauling and barging equipment would be supplied by contractors.
Lynch said that Cokal’s focus was on obtaining the final forestry approval, which would enable construction to start.
“With this approval, and now with financing almost in place, we should be able to rapidly proceed into construction.”