De Grey Mining has locked in more than $1 billion from commercial banks and government agencies for the development of its Hemi gold project in Western Australia.
The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) and Export Finance Australia (EFA) are in the final stages of considering their participation in the lending syndicate for Hemi.
If successful, NAIF, EFA and commercial banks and are expected to provide a $1 billion senior debt facility and a $130 million cost overrun facility. The credit approved terms De Grey has received satisfy the targeted debt facilities.
Once finalised, when combined with De Grey’s existing cash balance exceeding $850 million, the debt facilities are expected to provide the balance of funding required for Hemi.
“We have reached another significant corporate milestone as we move closer to the commencement of construction of Hemi,” De Grey chief financial officer Peter Canterbury said.
“We look forward to moving ahead with our lender group and finalising documentation over the coming months to achieve the targeted $1 billion senior debt facility in the second half of 2024.
“Combined with our existing cash reserves exceeding $850 million following our recent $600 million equity raising, the proposed debt package is expected to fully finance the development of Hemi and brings us closer to a final investment decision once we receive environmental approvals for commencement of project construction.”
De Grey has completed legal, technical, and financial due diligence with the commercial banks and government agencies and is expected to finalise the formal documentation in the second half of 2024.
The funding follows De Grey revealing promising drilling results from Hemi last week, which included extended mineralisation at the Eagle deposit for a further 200m down plunge, with mineralisation still open at depth and potentially along strike.
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