PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper junior Nzuri Copper has secured a loan facility of A$3-million from major shareholder Tembo Capital Mining, to advance its Kalongwe copper/cobalt project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The unsecured loan will have a maturity date of nine months once the definitive agreement has been entered into, and will attract an interest rate of 10% a year, which will be payable on the maturity date.
Nzuri executive director and CEO Mark Arnesen said on Monday that the proceeds would strengthen the company’s balance sheet, ensuring that Nzuri was in a strong position to maintain the current momentum of its financing and pre-development activities at Kalongwe, without having to undertake a dilutive raising in the current market conditions.
A feasibility study into the Kolongwe Stage 1 project estimated that it could produce some 18 657 t/y of copper and 1 370 t/y of cobalt, over a mine life of eight years. The project is estimated to require a capital investment of $53.1-million, and would have a net present value of $186-million and an internal rate of return of 99% pre-tax.