Teranga Gold Corporation ("Teranga" or the "Company") announced that it has entered into a $50 million Equipment Finance Facility with Macquarie Bank Limited ("Macquarie") (the "Equipment Facility"). The Equipment Facility replaces, in its entirety, the equipment lease facility that had previously been in place with Societé Generalé, which was assigned and novated to Macquarie. The use of proceeds will be put towards additional equipment for the Sabodala pit as well as the new equipment required for the Gora deposit that is currently being permitted. The Loan Facility bears interest of LIBOR plus a margin of 7.5 percent and is re-payable in equal installments over twenty-four (24) months from drawdown, with an availability period expiring on March 31, 2014.
Upon closing, $10.6 million will be assigned to the existing Societé Generalé facility, $12.1 million will be attributed to the purchase of the expanded mine fleet and $4.3 million will be drawn down in the second quarter when final delivery of this equipment is received. The balance of $23 million will be reserved for future drawn downs for purchases of mining equipment, as required, including Gora.
"The Equipment Facility strengthens our balance sheet, and provides security of future financing - on reasonable terms - to fund additional mobile equipment as the Company develops Gora. We expect to have production from Gora, our first satellite deposit, in 2014 which will be additive to our current Mine License production base of approximately 200,000 ounces annually as we target our first phase of growth to 250,000 to 350,000 ounces of annual production. This facility provides us with the ability to purchase the mobile equipment, required for Gora which will then be deployed to other growth opportunities," said Richard Young, President and CEO.
Teranga is a Canadian-based gold company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Australian Securities Exchange. Teranga is principally engaged in the production and sale of gold, as well as related activities such as exploration and mine development.