PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel developer Panoramic Resources on Friday reported that all conditions precedent for its $45-million secured loan facility with Trafigura has been satisfied.
Panoramic in April this year obtained the secured loan facility, which comprises a $30-million five-year prepayment loan facility and a $15-million revolving credit loan facility, to fund the restart of its Savannah nickel project, in Western Australia.
Following the completion of all the conditions precedent, the company was expecting first draw down of the facility in the September quarter.
“It has been a pleasing start to our working relationship with Trafigura, which has been highly supportive of the restart and commissioning of operations at Savannah,” said Panoramic MD and CEO Victor Rajasooriar.
“Our multi-faceted arrangement, including the $45-million finance facility and five-year nickel and copper concentrate offtake agreement from February 2023, is structured with repayment terms which support the Savannah commissioning, ramp-up period and long-term production.
“With the satisfaction of the finance facility conditions, the project is now building strong momentum towards the restart at a time where favourable commodity market dynamics for nickel and copper are being experienced.”
Site activities at Savannah are ramping up to support first concentrate shipments in December 2021.
The restart plan has envisaged an annual 9 072 t of nickel production, 4 683 t of copper production and 676 t of cobalt production over a 12-year mine life, generating pre-tax cash flows of some A$610-million.
The restart is expected to require a capital investment of A$41-million.