Just read this on the Intrado global news wire, nothing new but worded abit different to other news of the LOI ive read before
International Funding for Greenland strategic or critical minerals projects
Greenland remains a stable, low-risk, and pro-mining jurisdiction with strong financial support from European and North American institutional banks and finance agencies, and Greenlandic and European government-backed organizations. Greenland is also strategically located with direct access to both the North American and European markets.
International mining companies with advanced projects in Greenland such as Ironbark Zinc Limited (“Ironbark”) and Bluejay Mining plc (“Bluejay”) have recently signed Letters of Intent (“LOI”) to obtain low interest debt financing with favourable loan terms from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (“EXIM”) to provide the necessary capital to advance their mining projects through the bankable feasibility stage. EXIM is the official export credit agency of the United States and is an independent Executive Branch agency with a mission of supporting American jobs by facilitating the export of U.S. goods and services.
Ironbark announced on November 2, 2020 that it had received an LOI from EXIM for the provisional sum of US$216 million in debt financing for its Citronen Zinc-Lead Project located in northern Greenland. Ironbark can select either a Guaranteed or Direct Loan. The interest rate for the Direct Loan option is set at the Commercial Interest Reference Rate (“CIRR”). The CIRR is the official lending rate of export credit agencies. The current CIRR for transactions with a repayment period of 8.5 years is 1.46%. Bluejay announced on February 15, 2021 that it had received a Letter of Interest ("LOI") from EXIM for the provisional sum of US$208 million in debt financing under similar terms for their Dundas Ilmenite Project (titanium dioxide) located in northwest Greenland.
As of today, Ironbark have proceeded with the EXIM loan process. Bluejay continue to explore the EXIM eligibility requirements and have also advanced discussions with European Export Credit Agencies as well as other traditional commercial lenders to ensure the highest quality and most favourable commercial terms available for the development of their Dundas Project.
EXIM has been strategically investing in Greenlandic mining projects due the abundance of strategic or critical minerals within some of the largest undeveloped mineral deposits in the world. These strategic and critical minerals include zinc-lead-copper, platinum group metals (palladium and platinum), titanium, vanadium, gallium, rare earth elements (REE), and many others that are commonly found throughout Greenland. These commodities qualify as critical minerals as they have been deemed essential to the economic and national security of the United States (source: US Department of the Interior – May 18, 2018 press release).The Skaergaard Project contains several of these critical metals in large quantities such as palladium and platinum, as well as vanadium, titanium and gallium. As Major Precious Metals develops the Skaergaard Project over the coming months it could be well-positioned to capitalize on these sources of funding from European and United States export credit agencies to advance the project through the mining feasibility stage in a fashion that utilizes strategic capital in a non-dilutive way for shareholders, as well as supporting the economics of the project itself
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