Nevada Copper kündigt Finanzierungspaket an
Nevada Copper Announces Financing Package
YERINGTON, Nev., Dec. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nevada Copper Corp. (TSX: NCU) (“Nevada Copper” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the execution of binding agreements with respect to a financing package that will provide liquidity for the continued ramp-up of operations at the Company’s underground project (the “Underground Project”). Financing Package Highlights: - The Company has entered into binding agreements with several of its existing financing partners to provide substantial additional liquidity to the Company for completion of the ramp-up of its Underground Project. The financing package will consist of the following components:
- new cash resources of $31,000,000 with a blended headline interest rate margin of 7%, of which approximately $9,000,000 has already been advanced to the Company since the beginning of November 2020;
- amendments to the Company’s senior credit facility providing a further $26,000,000 in increased liquidity in the form of deferral of debt service payments; and
- up to an additional $25,000,000 of undrawn liquidity (including the accordion feature described below), available to the Company to assist as required with completing the ramp-up of operations at the Underground Project.
- The financing package provides a significant increase in balance sheet flexibility through four complementary facilities. The financing package includes the following elements:
- $15,000,000 increase to senior credit facility: the Company’s senior lender, KfW IPEX-Bank (“KfW”), has agreed to provide an additional $15,000,000 under the existing senior credit facility (the “KfW Facility”) and defer $26,000,000 of planned debt service under the KfW Facility until 2023;
- $5,000,000 increase to working capital facility: the Company’s offtaker, Concord Resources Limited (“Concord”), has agreed to provide access to an additional $5,000,000 under the existing working capital facility (the “Working Capital Facility”);
- $26,000,000 extension of unsecured debt: the Company’s largest shareholder, Pala Investments Limited (“Pala”), has agreed to provide a three-year $26,000,000 unsecured loan facility, which extends and replaces existing loans, including those under promissory notes, advanced by Pala to the Company and provides a new advance of $7,000,000; and
- $5,000,000 cost overrun facility: in connection with the increase to the KfW Facility, Pala has also agreed to provide a corporate guarantee for a committed cost overrun contingency of $5,000,000 in connection with the completion of the ramp-up of the Underground Project (the “COF”).
Mike Ciricillo, Chief Executive Officer of Nevada Copper stated: “On behalf of the entire Company, I want to sincerely thank KfW for its ongoing support of the Company. The package not only meets the projected requirements of the ramp-up, but provides additional contingency headroom for the Company.” Commenting on the ramp-up plans he added: “With the Main Shaft materials handling system on track for mechanical completion in December, we expect to see hoisting rates increase significantly as planned in the coming weeks during final commissioning. Along with this significant milestone, the positive conclusion of KfW’s independent engineer review further validates our ramp-up plans.” As previously announced, the Company completed a geotechnical review and elected to reduce the size of certain early stopes in a localized area where initial ramp-up ore is planned. While the move to initially smaller stopes in the Upper East South zone will further de-risk the Underground Project and does not affect the life of mine resource, the change has increased the Company’s costs in the short-term. The Company expects that the new financing package will address the cost increases resulting from the geotechnical changes and enable the Company to complete the ramp-up of the Underground Project. The Company expects to close the financing package by the end of 2020 and will continue to review opportunities to supplement and optimize the financing package. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/...ncing-Package.html
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