The day before yesterday I asked our new hero Andrew Spinks, the Elon Musk of the raw materials industry, two questions and I just received the following answers from him, which I don't want to withhold from you as a sign of fairness:
1. When I asked whether the SML and the financing would still be achieved this year, he just gave me the following answer:
“We are trying to achieve the shortest possible time. The CAPEX is US$134m as reported and expecting to debt finance ~60%. Due to the significant European offtake, the Project has been granted eligibility for the German Government Untied Loan Guarantee (UFK) scheme, which provides long-term funding. This is the highest and best quality (and cheapest) form of funding.”
2. He answered my question regarding the use of equity capital (currently AUD 38 million) as part of the financing as follows: “Project financing strategy has been to secure the debt first, and an option is, secure the equity at the project level (Epanko) and not at the corporate level (EcoGraf).”
I think you couldn't wish for a nicer start to the weekend as an Ecograf investor. The SML and funding will hopefully be published soon. At least that's what I read between the lines. The cheapest form of financing appears to have been bagged. And we may not even have to use the existing equity capital. An equity replacement loan should be used. So no capital increase necessary. The existing equity capital can then be used for ongoing costs until the mine starts operations in 18 months at the latest.
EGR Price at posting:
17.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)