16th Sep 2014 11:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Base Resources Ltd Tuesday reported maiden revenues after production commenced at its Kwale project in Kenya
In its full-year results for the year to June 30, the Kenya-focused miner reported revenue of AUS29.1 million. The company did not record any revenue in the previous year.
Development of the Kwale Mineral Sands project was successfully completed - at a cost of USD310 million - during the full-year, with production commencing in in October 2013, followed by the first ilmenite and rutile finished products in December 2013.
Zircon production commenced in February, at the same time as the first bulk shipment of 20,000 tonnes of ilmenite was exported from Likoni port and ship loading facility, which it owns and operates, it said.
"Ilmenite production has reached design capacity and is exceeding expectations, whilst rutile and zircon production is consistent with a planned twelve month ramp-up to design capacity. Further plant modifications and optimisation are expected to increase rutile and zircon production to design output over the balance of the 2015 financial year," said Base.
Base Resources' pretax loss widened to AUS14 million in the year ended June 30, compared to a AUS6.7 million loss in 2013.
The company is currently seeking to restructure the Kwale project finance facility to reflect the delay in first sales from the schedule originally contemplated when the facility was arranged in 2011, it said. It reported cash at the end of the year at AUS20.9 million.
"Proposed terms for the debt restructure have been commercially agreed with all lenders... Under the terms of the restructure, all principal repayments will be deferred by six months with some re-profiling to suit future cash flows. If the restructure is implemented as proposed, the first principal repayment will be deferred from December 2014 to June 2015 and the current portion of borrowings will be reduced from AUS50 million to AUS12 million," it said.
"In the Directors' opinion there are reasonable grounds to believe that the group will be able to pay its debts as and when they become due and payable," said Base.
Shares in Base Resources were trading 3.3% lower at 14.50 pence per share Tuesday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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