MC Mining Limited (or the Company) announced on Tuesday that the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited (the IDC) has extended the date for repayment of their R160 million loan plus interest thereon, to 30 September 2023. The repayment of the R160 million loan, plus accrued interest, was due for repayment by 30 June 2023.
The company said that the larger-scale Makhado Project just north of the Soutpansberg had resulted in peak funding of the project increasing to R1.8 billion. "The IDC is a 6.7% shareholder in the Makhado Project and remains supportive of the project and its prospects to facilitate industrialisation within the Makhado corridor," said the company in a press statement.
The additional facility of R245 million for the development of the fully permitted Makhado steelmaking hard coking coal project remained subject to the IDC's confirming its due diligence and credit approval and has not been extended. "This facility was based on forecast phase 1 production of 540,000 tonnes of steelmaking, hard coking (HCC) coal and 570,000 tonnes of thermal coal (TC). As announced in June 2023, the increased scale of Makhado has led to significantly improved economics and the project is now targeted to produce an average of 810,000 tonnes of steelmaking HCC and 620,000 tonnes of TC over its 28-year life of mine, therefore making this facility redundant. The Company continues to advance the fundraising initiatives for Makhado, which as previously advised are expected to be concluded in the second half of 2023," the company said.