RESOURCE Generation (Resgen), the Johannesburg- and Sydney-listed coal development firm, said it had scheduled a board meeting on April 11 to assess terms on which banks are prepared to lend into its proposed Boikarabelo project, a thermal coal mine in South Africa’s Limpopo province.
The company said approvals from the credit committees of banks to which it was negotiating had been slower to make progress than anticipated last year, but some of the proposed lenders had requested it enter into bilateral loan agreements before March 31.
Boikarabelo is planned to produce six million tonnes a year of coal for the domestic and export markets, but development of the mine has been delayed for years by problems in raising the necessary funding, as much as $400m. In December, the company reached agreement to sell additional coal from Boikarebelo mine to international commodity group Noble Resources.
Resgen will lend an additional $3.8m from Noble, bringing the total amount made available by Noble to Resgen to $32.2m. These funds can be drawn down until end-March next year after which Resgen must start paying back $20m in instalments from end-April, the company said at the time.
