Trigon Metals Inc. has announced that it has placed an order with Epiroc South Africa (Pty) Ltd to purchase underground mining equipment to the value of USD$8,933,261 (N$170 million). This equipment will comprise the majority of the underground mining fleet for the restart of mining from the Asis West shaft at the Company’s Kombat mine in Namibia, where production is scheduled to ramp up from April 2024.
The purchase will be done through the Company’s Namibian subsidiary, Trigon Mining (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd., which has received approval from Epiroc Financial Solutions AB for equipment finance for 85% of the purchase consideration (USD$7,593,272.30), with a 15% down payment (USD$1,339,988.70) to be paid upfront.
The Facility term is 60 months from the shipment date of each item of equipment, and interest will accrue at 10.95% per annum. Repayments will be made in 55 monthly payments, commencing six months after the respective dates of shipment.
An arrangement fee of 0.75% of the financed amount will be payable on signature of a supplier credit agreement. The Facility will be secured by the mining equipment and a guarantee from Trigon. The above terms are subject to the finalization of a supplier credit agreement between the parties and regulatory, board and other approvals as required. Mining equipment is expected to be received on-site at Kombat between October 2023 and March 2024.
Jed Richardson, President and CEO, commented “We are pleased to be working with Epiroc and thank them and the team members that worked to put this financing package in place in a timely fashion. This allows us to build out our underground fleet while we are just starting to generate cash flow at the open pit”.
At site, the work at the production plant has been completed on schedule. Crushers and mills have been started. The coarse ore bins are being filled and first concentrate was produced on Friday, August 18th , 2023, the details of which will be shared in a subsequent release. Approximately 25,000t of ore is now stockpiled on the run of mine pad.