Aurelia Metals Limited has announced that the refinancing process for a new credit facility to fund the Federation Mine development is progressing as planned.
Commercial terms have been largely agreed upon and are subject to final and binding documentation.
To support the process, Aurelia’s existing banking syndicate has waived the testing of the company’s financial undertakings in its existing facilities on 31 March.
As the company has sufficient liquidity with a forecast unrestricted cash balance of more than $35 million at the end of the March 2023 quarter, the undrawn $10 million working capital that matured on 31 March has not been extended.
Additionally, given that Aurelia has no intention to make further drawdowns on the performance bond facility, parties have mutually agreed to cancel the remaining $8.2 million undrawn on the $65 million facility.
The changes will result in savings in commitment fees that are payable by the company on undrawn facilities.
According to the company, in preparation for the restart of activities at Federation, it is conducting a design, scope and capital cost estimate that is expected to be released to the market by April.
Aurelia added that the operations halt at the Hera mine provided opportunities to reduce capital costs through the reuse of assets and infrastructure, saying significant progress has been made in refining the project scope and the definition of key project elements.
The Hera mine, which is located in the Cobar Basin in western NSW, is currently transitioning to care and maintenance.
