Oracle set to re-start Oracle

Oracle Mining (OMN-T,OMCCF-O) has the cash and now it is getting set to re-start a copper mine.

The Vancouver-based company announced it closed a deal with Credit Suisse AG that will see the commercial bank lend the company up to US$70 million.

The new capital will go directly into the Oracle Ridge Copper Mine, which sits 24-km north of Tucson in Arizona.

Oracle is looking to re-start the mine that was in production in the mid 1990s at a capex in the US$80 to US$100 million range.

The deal with Credit Suisse comes on the heels of a private placement announced at the end of February which raised $9.75 million for company coffers. That deal gave Hong Kong-based RichStone Mining a 19.9% stake in Oracle.

The underground mine is expected to have a throughput of 2,000 tonnes per day and the site has historic, non-compliant, proven and probable reserves of 7.4 million tonnes grading 2.33% copper for 379 million lbs of copper, and “possible” reserves of 15 million tonnes grading 2.33% copper for 772 million lbs of copper.

Oracle says it will have a compliant resource estimate out by the third quarter of this year, when it also plans to commission the plant. Initial production is expected to come by the end of the year.

The loan from Credit Suisse is subject to several conditions, the key ones being the successful completion of due diligence and the receipt of internal credit committee approvals by Credit Suisse.

The company’s shares are up 12% since announcing the financing on March 12, and its shares were trading in Toronto for $1.40 at press time. The company has 34.1 million shares on a fully diluted basis and directors and officers hold 25.7% of the company’s equity.