Finders completes conditions for drawdown of financing facility

By Romel S. Gurky

ASX-listed Finders Resources Ltd said that its Indonesian subsidiary PT Batutua Tembaga Raya (BTR), which operates its Wetar Island copper project in Maluku Province, has completed the mandatory hedging program under a US$165 million loan agreement to help finance the development of the project.

Finders said in a statement Thursday that under the hedging program, BTR has forward sold 40,700 tons of copper cathode over the period from July 2016 to March 2019, which represents approximately 26 percent of the estimated life of mine production (and less than 20 percent of reserves) for the Wetar Copper Project. The average price secured for the copper is $5,940 per ton after all costs.

?Implementation of the hedging program is the final condition precedent to drawdown of the bank facility to fund the expansion of the Wetar copper project to 28,000 tons per annum copper cathode production,? Finders said in the statement.

It added that the first drawdown of the loan is expected this month.

Elsewhere, Finders said that the construction of the 25,000 t.p.a. copper cathode SX-EW plant is continuing with further progress being made at the site of the plant.

The pouring of concrete footings for the SX-EW plant is continuing and tanks and other infrastructure from the Whim Creek plant are in place ready for refurbishment. The contract for the refurbishment of the fibreglass tanks has been awarded and the first mobilization of personnel to site has occurred.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak