Ann: Half Year Accounts, page-47

Direct capital needed to get Dubbo started is $1.3B

From that we have the following secured:

$200m from EFA

$340m from Framework Agreement

$340m from the 20% equity interest

That’s a total of $880m secured, which leaves $420m to be raised. We could easily raise $200m through equity, which will leave around $220m to be funded through debt. Once Dubbo is built, we can fund the remaining $400m to bring it to full production.

Let's not forget that when Dubbo is up and running at full speed, we are looking at $425m free cash flow per year. IMO this figure will be much higher due to current ore prices, but let's just go with that figure for now. I think we can very easily service a $220m loan from that free cash flow, even if we get the full loan to satisfy the entire $1.7B project requirements.

Then there is the KMP which will bring in $60-80m in profits per year to start off with. I don’t think debt will be a problem for ASM at all, even if we go for the full $620m figure or even higher. Anything around the $1B mark is easily serviceable, but IMO the debt will not exceed $700m.