Trigon Metals Inc recently announced it has placed an order with Epiroc South Africa (Pty) Ltd to purchase underground mining equipment to the value of US$8 933 261. 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, where production is scheduled to ramp up from April 2024.
The purchase will be done through the company’s Namibian subsidiary, Trigon Mining, which has received approval from Epiroc Financial Solutions AB for equipment finance for 85% of the purchase consideration (US$7 593 272), with a 15% down-payment (US$1 339 988) 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.
These terms are subject to the finalisation 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 who 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”.
Operational update
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, 18 August, 2023.
Approximately 25 000t of ore is now stockpiled on the run of mine pad.
Trigon is a publicly-traded Canadian exploration and development company, with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings. Currently, the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco.
In Namibia, the company holds an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi mountain area widely recognised for its high-grade copper deposits. Here, Trigon is focused on the exploration and re-development of the previously-producing Kombat Mine.
In Morocco, the company is the holder of the Silver Hill and Addana projects, which are highly prospective copper and silver exploration projects.