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Petra Secures Revolving Credit to Fund Finsch Expansion
Jul 4, 2012 8:16 AM
By Deena Taylor
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RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds has secured a $25 million revolving credit facility with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, in order to fund expansion at its Finsch mine.
"We are delighted to have entered into further credit facilities with IFC, whose continued support endorses the quality of our asset base, as well as our strong commitment to corporate social responsibility,'' said Petra's chief executive, Johan Dippenaar.
The new facility is in addition to a $37 million revolving credit facility supplied by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) on November 30, 2011. On completion of the IFC Agreement, the RMB facility will be lowered to $24.6 million (ZAR 200 million) so that the combined credit available to Petra will total $49.6 million.
The company's total bank debt facilities now amount to $147.4 million with $78 million still available.
"Given the lead times between the group's now larger diamond tenders (post the acquisition of the Finsch mine) and the volatility experienced over the last 12 months of both the [South African] rand and diamond prices, these new revolving credit facilities provide Petra with additional scope and flexibility to execute its capital expenditure program and bring the company's stated production and revenue growth opportunities to account," the company said.
Petra aims to ramp up annual production at its Finsch diamond mine
to about 5 million carats by 2019.
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Tags:
Deena Taylor, Finsch, Petra Diamonds
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