Mining firm Vast Resources says it jas commenced drawing down a US$15 million facility for its projects, among them a diamond project in Chiadzwa.
Last year Vast Resources arranged financing which it has prioritised for the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine in Romania and the Chiadzwa Community Concession in Zimbabwe.
“The company is in the process of drawing down on the first tranche of the Atlas Capital Markets facility ($7.1 million gross) and expects to receive funds shortly. The first tranche will be applied to placing BPPM into production and to the repayment of financial creditors. The Manaila Polymetallic Mine continues on care and maintenance with the expectation of a second funding round at a later stage,” said the company in its latest financials.
“Prior to the receipt of the first tranche of funding, the Company has diverted resources from MPM to upgrade, develop, and maintain BPPM in order to accelerate the project to production and in December 2019 conducted a cold commissioning as well as a drilling campaign.
“Finally, discussions continue regarding the conclusion of the Company’s diamond joint venture with its Zimbabwe stakeholders. These discussions are in line with previous expectations, save on timing.”
During the course of 2019, the firm concluded a joint venture with Chiadzwa Mining Resources (Pvt) Ltd, a company designated to represent Chiadzwa Community interests in the Chiadzwa Community Diamond Concession.
And management has said it is continuing discussions to finalise the joint venture agreement with Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (Pvt) Ltd which will enable the Concession to procure a special grant for the mining of diamonds.
Vast Resources chief executive Andrea Prelea said:
“We enter 2020 in a far stronger position than at any time in the Company’s history. We are resourced to place BPPM into production in the near future and we are well placed to execute our Zimbabwe diamond strategy as soon as the agreement with ZCDC is concluded, a process that we believe will be concluded shortly.”