Nevada Copper Corp. is pleased to announce the closing of a US$200 million senior secured loan facility and copper concentrate off-take agreement with RK Mine Finance.
This Loan Facility replaces the Company's previous loan facility entered into on March 28, 2013 (the "Previous Facility"). Net proceeds from the initial US$90 million drawdown on closing will be used for purposes of repaying the Previous Facility and advancing the underground mine (the "Underground Mine") on Nevada Copper's 100% wholly owned Pumpkin Hollow copper project located near Yerington, Nevada.
A summary of the Loan Facility and Concentrate Off-Take terms are as follows:
- US$90 million has been paid to Nevada Copper of which US$57.1 million was used to repay the Previous Facility. The net proceeds of approximately US$26 million, net of arrangement fee and closing costs, combined with the Company's current treasury, provides approximately US$36 million to complete the current production sized shaft which is nearing completion; commence underground lateral development and start targeted drilling on both the underground and open pit deposits;
- The initial funding will also allow for completion of permitting of the Stage 2 Open Pit resulting from the recent successful passage of the land transfer bill as more fully described in the Company's press release dated December 22, 2014 and completion of an optimized and updated feasibility study as more fully described in the Company's press release dated November 4, 2014;
- A further US$110 million will be advanced on the completion of certain project and financing milestones;
- The Loan Facility matures on December 31, 2020, with interest payable at an annual rate of LIBOR plus 10% during pre-completion and LIBOR plus 7.5% post completion;
- Interest on the initial amount drawn, and subsequent draws, will be paid quarterly with a principal repayment holiday until September 30, 2017, following which US$82.5 million of outstanding principal will be repaid in 13 quarterly sculpted payments and the remaining outstanding principal will be repaid in one final balloon payment on the maturity date;
- The Company has the ability to repay the loan in full without penalty prior to maturity. The loan is secured against all current and future assets of the Company and its subsidiaries. As part of the loan agreement, the Company has paid an arrangement fee of 3.5% of the principal amount of the loan;
- Under the terms of the Concentrate Off-Take agreement, the Company will sell to Red Kite, for the life of the mine on the Underground Mine, up to 74.5% of copper concentrates produced from the Underground Mine. The percentage of offtake allocated is equal to the amount advanced by Red Kite to the Company under the loan agreement as a percentage of the US$200 million principal amount of the Loan Facility.
The Concentrate Off-Take agreement does not include any rights to future copper concentrate production from the open pit deposits and provides for benchmark-referenced treatment and refining charges, with standard payment factors for contained copper, gold and silver.
In connection with the Previous Facility and the initial drawdown of the Loan Facility, a total of 59% of the Concentrate Off-Take from the Underground Mine is currently allocated. This represents approximately 12% of the total project copper reserves.