The facility, arranged with Investec Bank (U.K.) and Macquarie Bank, includes the following:
— a 6-year, US$40-million senior loan;
— a US$5-million convertible loan (at a conversion price of US$1.43);
— a US$2-million “stand-by,” cost-over-run loan;
— a nickel and copper hedging facility covering half the nickel produced during the loan’s term; and
— a foreign exchange hedging facility covering two-thirds of euro-denominated operating expenses during the loan’s term.
Capital costs for the mine’s construction have risen to US$70 million from an original estimate of US$64 million as a result of the stronger euro. A US$6.5-million value-added-tax reimbursement loan and US$28 million in cash on hand will cover the difference.
The company has also been awarded a subsidy equivalent to a 2.5% interest on the first US$39 million drawn from the senior loan. The subsidy is subject to certain agreements between the Extremadura regional government and the lenders. Also, Spain’s regional development department has granted Rio a non-reimbursable US$7.4-million subsidy for the project.
Plans call for contract mining to exploit open-pit reserves of 15.7 million tonnes grading 0.66% nickel, 0.46% copper, and 0.47 gram platinum group metals per tonne (T.N.M., Aug. 18-24/03). At full steam, the mine is expected to produce 8,200 tonnes nickel in concentrate, equivalent to about half the European Union’s current yearly output. As byproducts, Aguablanca would produce roughly 6,100 tonnes copper and 23,000 oz. PGMs in concentrate.
Under a long-term off-take agreement inked earlier this year, Switzerland’s
The mine should be commissioned by the end of the second quarter of 2004.
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