24th Apr 2012 07:00
24 April 2012
Wolf Minerals Limited
Quarterly Activities Report
For the period ending 31st March 2012
Australian specialist minerals exploration and development company, Wolf Minerals Limited (Wolf) is pleased to provide the following update on the Hemerdon Ball Tungsten and Tin Project in Devon, UK for the three month period to 31st March 2012.
Highlights include:
ü Hemerdon Tungsten offtake Heads of Terms and £20 million project funding (announced subsequent to end of quarter)
ü Credit approval for £55 million senior project finance for Hemerdon Project
ü Update on activity at Hemerdon Project
ü Formal UK Government support for Hemerdon Project
Hemerdon tungsten offtake Heads of Terms and £20 million project funding
Subsequent to the end of the quarter (on 20th April) the Company announced it had signed a non-binding Heads of Terms (Heads) for tungsten offtake from the Hemerdon project plus a £20 million loan facility with Wolfram Bergbau und Hutten AG, Austria (WBH) and Global Tungsten & Powders Corp, Pennsylvania, USA (GTP).
The offtake agreements cover 80% of Hemerdon's expected average annual tungsten concentrate output for a minimum of 5 years (extendable under mutual consent) and are part of a joint effort between WBH and GTP to support the development of the Hemerdon project as a major new tungsten mine.
Also, subject to technical and legal due-diligence, as well as board approvals, WBH and GTP will provide a £20 million loan facility to Wolf, which will form part of the project funding package. This is in addition to the debt facility of £55 million announced on 5 March 2012.
Wolf expects to complete the final documentation for the offtake agreements, in conjunction with documentation for the lending banks, in the second quarter of 2012.
Under the Heads Wolf is expected to supply a 65% tungsten trioxide, wolframite concentrate based on standard commercial terms. The Hemerdon mine is expected to produce an average of 345,000 metric tonne units (mtu's) of tungsten trioxide in concentrates per annum, and 450 tonnes of tin.
Credit approval for £55 million project finance for Hemerdon Project
On March 5th, Wolf announced it had received credit approval for £55 million in senior debt finance facilities to fund the commercial development of its Hemerdon Tungsten and Tin project.
The funding is from UniCredit Bank AG (UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking), ING Bank N.V. and Caterpillar Finance SARL. The support of three globally recognised leaders in mining project finance was a significant milestone for Wolf and a strong endorsement of the Company's confidence in the technical and financial strength of the Hemerdon project.
The funding will support the planned construction of the project, based on the Definitive Feasibility Study completed in May 2011. The study confirmed the robust economic viability of the project and estimated a post-tax, ungeared net present value of £74 million1.
Provision of the senior debt facilities is now subject to completion of the project finance documentation and conditions precedent customary for a financing of this nature.
UniCredit Bank AG, ING Bank N.V. and Caterpillar Finance SARL were appointed following the completion of a competitive process facilitated by Optimum Capital Pty Ltd. This process incorporated a technical due diligence review undertaken on behalf of the financiers by Micon International and a further independent marketing study by Roskill.
1 Based on the assumptions as announced to the market on 16th May 2011.
Update on activity at Hemerdon Project
During the quarter Wolf also provided an update on activities at the Hemerdon project.
Plant & Infrastructure EPC Contract
Following a pre-qualification process, tender documents were issued to international engineering contractors to competitively bid for an EPC contract to design, construct, and commission the new processing plant and associated infrastructure at the Hemerdon project. Tenders have been received and are being evaluated.
Commencement of construction at Hemerdon - Link Road construction underway
Wolf also advised that construction of the link road at the Hemerdon project had commenced. Construction is progressing well and the road is scheduled to be completed in June this year. The construction of the link road is a requirement of the project's planning permission. It is a 600 metre road, which is designed to remove a long-term constriction in the local traffic network.
UK Government support for Hemerdon Project from UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment
Wolf advised in January that it had received formal UK Government support for the development of the Hemerdon tungsten and tin project.
The support came directly from the UK Minister of State for Trade, Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, and represented a significant acknowledgement of the importance of the Hemerdon project to the local community and to the UK and wider EU.
The Minister wrote 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 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 tungsten. 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."
Humphrey Hale
Managing Director
Email: [email protected]
For further details, please contact:
Wolf Minerals Limited Humphrey Hale
| +61 8 6364 3776 |
Investec Mark Wellesley-Wood/Neil Elliot | +44 (0) 20 7071 4300
|
Newgate Threadneedle Josh Royston/Beth Harris | +44 (0) 20 7653 9850 |
About Wolf Minerals
Wolf Minerals 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 released a positive Definitive Feasibility Study for the Hemerdon project in May 2011, and it has updated planning permission for mining until 2021.
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