PERTH, Australia, July 9 /CNW/ - Mirabela Nickel Limited (TSX: MNB, ASX: MBN) is pleased to announce it has entered into a US$80m bridge financing facility with Barclays and Credit Suisse to fund ongoing construction at Santa Rita.
Furthermore, Barclays and Credit Suisse have agreed to underwrite a US$280m term loan facility, subject to standard conditions including syndication. Drawdown under the US$280m facility is expected to take place before year end whereupon the US$80m bridge facility will be repaid. The bridging loan and the US$280m underwriting are credit approved by both Banks. 1,500,000 options will be issued to the Banks (half each) priced at A$7.22. The options will vest subject to certain milestones and are exercisable for the period three years after the date the options vest.
"We are delighted to obtain credit approval for bank financing and secure financing for ongoing construction of the Santa Rita project," said Managing Director, Nick Poll. "Whilst general credit market conditions have weakened over the last year, interest in financing the Santa Rita project has remained strong. This reflects the low capital and operating cost structure of the Santa Rita project compared with other new nickel projects," he said.
Under an offtake agreement announced today, Votorantim will provide Mirabela with an additional US$50M in prepayment financing, which will be subordinated to the Bank facilities.
This total debt package is expected to finance the remaining construction costs and working capital requirements for development of the Santa Rita Project at a throughput rate of 4.6 million tonnes a year. Construction is now about 30% complete and the project remains on track to commence production mid 2009.
Barclays and Credit Suisse are leaders in emerging market financing and their teams respectively bring a wealth of experience in mining & metals, financing projects and Brazil specifically. They are complemented by two of the strongest commodity derivative groups in the investment banking sector.
<< "Signed" "Signed"
Nick Poll Craig Burton Managing Director Corporate Director >>
Background
Mirabela Nickel Ltd is listed on the Australian and Toronto stock exchanges. With an open-cut mining reserve of 84mt grading 0.61% Ni, Santa Rita is the largest greenfields nickel sulphide discovery in the last 12 years and the third largest open-cut nickel sulphide mining reserve worldwide.
Construction of a nickel sulphide concentrator commenced in November 2007 and is progressing well. The plant is expected to produce 18,500 tpa of nickel in a sulphide concentrate from one open-cut mine starting from mid 2009 increasing to 25,000 tpa by mid 2010. At this rate of production the project will have a mine life of at least 14 years.
THIS should elevate the price by at least 10%......good times
MBN Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
