PERTH (miningweekly.com) - The share prices of ASX-listed Kaboko Mining increased by nearly 13% on news that it had received funds from Noble Group to see its Zambian manganese mine to production.
Kaboko said on Thursday that it had drawn down A$1-million under the first tranche of a A$10-million prepayment debt facility and long-term manganese offtake agreement with Noble Resources.
The draw-down was made in advance of the confirmation of licensing conditions regarding the Northern manganese project, in Mansa. Kaboko expected the confirmation of the licences would be made upon the reopening of the relevant legal and regulatory offices, at which point A$3-million would be advanced.
“This funding support from Noble, along with the appointment of their representative, Papi Molastane, to the board of directors, provides strong support to the company as it accelerates the development and mining of its high-grade manganese projects,” said Kaboko CEO Tokkas van Heerden.
The A$4-million provided under tranche A of the prepayment facility would provide Kaboko with all the scheduled funding necessary to complete the mine development and associated plant and equipment purchases at the Northern manganese project.
The project would have an initial run rate of between 2 500 t/m and 5 000 t/m, starting in the second quarter of 2013, and would ramp-up to 10 000 t/m by the end of the year.
Kaboko shares were trading at a high of A$0.015 a share, up from an opening price of A$0.008 a share.