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Government support for Hemerdon Tungsten Project

13th Jan 2012 07:00

RNS Number : 5157V
Wolf Minerals Limited
13 January 2012
 



 

13th January 2011

 

Wolf Minerals Limited

 

("Wolf" or "the Company")(ASX: WLF AIM: WLFE)

 

Wolf receives UK Government support for Hemerdon Tungsten Project

 

UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment acknowledges importance of Project

 

Specialty metal exploration and development company Wolf Minerals Limited (ASX: WLF) (AIM: WLFE) (Wolf, the Company) is pleased to announce that it has received formal UK Government support for the development of its Hemerdon Tungsten and Tin project in Devon, in Southwest England.

 

The support comes directly from the UK Minister of State for Trade, Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, and represents a significant acknowledgement of the importance of the Hemerdon project to the local community and to the UK and wider EU.

 

The Minister has taken the step to write to Wolf to offer his support to the Company following the successful completion of planning consents for the development of the Hemerdon project.

 

Lord Green said that he hoped the Company would now be able to proceed quickly with the development of the project.

 

In offering his support to Wolf, Lord Green said: "This is an important project for a number of reasons; to the local community in terms of jobs and wealth creation and to the UK and wider EU in securing supplies of tunsten. I am aware that tungsten ranks highly in both the British Geological Society and EU's critical raw materials lists and that it has unique properties that are impossible to replace in certain specialised industrial applications."

 

The UK Government support for the development of the Hemerdon project comes after Wolf announced on 19 December 2011 that it had mandated UniCredit Bank AG (UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking), ING Bank N.V. and Caterpillar Financial SARL to seek credit approval for £55 million (AUD$81.8 million) in senior debt finance facilities to fund the commercial development of the project, and that it had received all relevant planning permissions for the Hemerdon link road and had appointed contractors to construct the road, as announced on 15 December 2011.

 

The requirement for the link road is specified in the conditions of the main mine permit. It will be constructed to remove a long term constriction in the transport network, prior to developing the mine. The new road will benefit other local extractive operations and create a long term piece of infrastructure to support safe and efficient transportation in the local area. Work on the link road is expected to start this month and be completed in June this year.

 

Commenting today Humphrey Hale, CEO, said: "Support from the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment is extremely welcome as we seek to build a new operating tungsten mine in the South West of England. The £55 million debt funding Wolf is seeking to secure supports the planned construction of the Hemerdon project, based on the Definitive Feasibility Study completed in May 2011. All three lenders are recognised global leaders in mining project finance. The provision of the senior debt finance facilities is now subject to completion of the project finance documentation and the usual credit approvals and conditions precedent customary for a financing of this nature. The current timetable is for the lenders to obtain credit approval for the facilities this February.

 

Wolf is also in discussions with potential off-take partners to provide subordinated debt. The total debt facilities will enable Wolf to minimise the equity component of the funding package required to put the Hemerdon project into production."

 

 

For further details, please contact:

 

Wolf Minerals Limited

Humphrey Hale

 

+61 8 6364 3776

Evolution Securities Limited

Mark Wellesley-Wood/Neil Elliot

+44 (0) 20 7071 4300

 

Threadneedle Communications Limited

Laurence Read/Beth Harris

+44 (0) 20 7653 9855

 

About Wolf Minerals

 

Wolf Mineral is an ASX listed and AIM listed specialty metals company focused on developing the world class Hemerdon Tungsten and Tin Project, in Devon, in the south-west of the UK. The Company holds an option over 100% of the Hemerdon project, which the Directors consider to be one of the largest undeveloped tungsten and tin resources in the western world. It is ranked as the fourth largest tungsten deposit in the world in terms of contained tungsten metal, by The British Geological Survey. The Company aims to develop the project into a large scale, open pit mining operation, which will position it as a world class tungsten and tin producer. Wolf recently released a positive Definitive Feasibility Study for the Hemerdon project, and it has updated planning permission for mining until 2021.

 

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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