JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Weatherly International has finalised a $91-million loan facility with mining financier Orion Mine Finance, which will enable the copper-focused mining company to fully fund to production the 17-million-ton-a-year Tschudi project, in Namibia.
This followed an amendment of the loan from the original term sheet that was signed in December to a more favourable repayment term of six and a half years, which came at a cost of a 1% increase in the interest rate payable.
The facility comprises a secured loan of $80-million, a project cost overrun facility of a further $8-million and $3-million to assume the existing Louis Dreyfus loan, which had been rescheduled to expire at the end of 2014.
The loan repayment was expected to be covered from cash flow from Tschudi, with no anticipated demands on cash flow from Weatherly's Central Operations.
In addition to the loan, Orion would, on an exclusive basis, buy 100% of the project's copper cathode production based on London Metals Exchange and Commodity Exchange market prices for the eleven-year life of the mine.
Meanwhile, both parties had ensured that all major development contracts for Tschudi met the lender's requirements.
A bankable feasibility study on the Tschudi project has indicated a robust project offering a mineral resource of 50.1-million tonnes at 0.86% copper and a reserve of 22.7-million tonnes at 0.95% copper.