LSE- and TSX-listed SolGold said on Tuesday that it was making significant strides in securing financing for its Cascabel project, in Ecuador, with capital providers expressing a keen interest in committing to a longer-term financing package.
The company is in detailed discussions with capital providers for financing that will cover a significant portion of the estimated initial capital cost of the copper and gold project.
In parallel, SolGold has secured a $10-million loan facility, which provides an immediate cash infusion to support ongoing operations.
The loan will give SolGold flexibility to finalise the more comprehensive financing arrangement.
“The strong interest from potential financiers not only validates the project's exceptional prospects but also strengthens our capability to achieve planned milestones," said CFO Chris Stackhouse.
SolGold in February announced the results of a new prefeasibility study (PFS) for the Cascabel project, which supports a phased block cave mine development that substantially reduced the initial capital expenditure (capex) required.
The PFS puts an initial capex price tag of $1.55-billion, which the company noted was a $1-billion saving on previous estimates.
The initial block cave will achieve a production rate of 12-million tonnes a year, extracting high-grade ore of about 1.45% copper-equivalent for the first ten years of production.
In the second phase, the mining operations will be expanded by an additional 12-million tonnes a year, increasing the yearly production rate to 24-million tonnes in year six.
Over an initial 28-year mine life, Cascabel will produce 4.3-million tonnes of copper equivalent, comprising 2.9-million tonnes of copper, 6.9-million ounces of gold and 18.4-million ounces of silver.
At peak production, the mine will yield 216 000 t/y of copper, 734 000 oz/y of gold and 1.16-million ounces of silver a year.