Premium Nickel Resources Limited (PNRL), whose local subsidiary is reviving the BCL Ltd assets, has secured 33.9 million Canadian dollars (P343m) in funding to support its plans for Selebi Phikwe.
In an announcement to investors yesterday, PNRL said Cymbria Corporation and EdgePoint Investment had agreed to provide equity and term loan funding, with the transaction expected to close around June 28.
PNRL directors said the group intends to use approximately 7.4 million Canadian dollars (P74.7m) of the proceeds from the deal to prepay all principal and interest to another financier, then channel the balance to advancing exploration and resource development at Selebi and Selkirk.
The funds will also go towards the acquisition of adjacent mineral and property rights “as appropriate,” and for general corporate purposes. Premium Nickel Resources Botswana (PNRB), PNRL’s local unit, is focussed on resource drilling and continued exploration drilling at both the Selebi and Selkirk mines in order to establish a maiden updated mineral resource estimate.
Directors said PNRL is committed to redeveloping the mines through modernisation and implementation of mining best practices to improve mine safety and efficiency, reduce power consumption, adopt alternative energy sources and minimise water usage.
PNRB, led by former BCL Mine boss, Montwedi Mphathi, snapped up the Selebi and Selebi North shafts, as well as Selkirk Mine from government, in a deal pegged at P837 million last year. The transaction includes related infrastructure such as rail, power and water works and pledge to spend P5 billion in reviving the assets that have been mothballed since 2016.
