NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE:NQMI) has announcesd that, following on from the announcement dated 16 July 2020, NQ has today signed a commitment letter issued by ING Bank N.V. for a US$55m loan facility in respect of refinancing existing project debt for the Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.
This commitment letter is based on the terms previously announced, but increases ING’s credit committee approved amount from US$41m to US$55m.
The increased size of this facility means that the expected interest savings for Hellyer will increase from around US$2.5m per annum, as previously announced, to about US$3.4m per annum.
The agreed commitment letter includes a hedging strategy in respect to base metal revenues that allows Hellyer to take advantage of improving market conditions and reduce the market risk of future operations.
NQ Mineral’s Chairman, David Lenigas, said ; “The increased commitment in the debt refinancing with ING from US$41 million to US$55 million is excellent news for the Company and the future of our flagship Hellyer mining operation. The prime purpose of this facility is to retire the 2020 maturity debt book, which totals just over US$30 million. Now that the ultimate size of the ING facility has been determined by both the bank and NQ, negotiations with each of the 2020 maturity debt providers can hopefully be concluded in the coming weeks to the satisfaction of all parties and we can move to close this important deal. Further updates on closing this refinancing with ING and existing current debt providers will be announced as material events occur.”
