Moly Mines has announced that it has been advised by Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd that the China Development Bank (CDB) has approved $500 million in project finance facilities to develop the Spinifex Ridge molybdenum / copper mine. The company is in advanced negotiations with an engineering consortium for the construction of the mine and associated processing plant which is designed to have name plate capacity of 10 Mt/y. Once drawdown of the funds is available, construction of the mine and processing facilities will take approximately two years.

CDB have agreed to expand their commitment from the $250 million, announced on February 1, 2011, to $465 million; and make available $35 million in further working capital facilities to meet Hanlong’s $500 million financing commitment to Moly Mines. A formal commitment letter is expected to be issued by CDB within the next two weeks. Moly Mines Managing Director and CEO Dr Derek Fisher said: “This seminal outcome signals a step-change in the fortunes of our company and our shareholders.  Having survived the hiatus of the Global Financial Crisis and the disappointments of 2008, we are now back on-track to building the world’s next large scale molybdenum/copper mine. This outcome and the quality of the proposed debt is a great credit to the efforts and persistence over the last twelve months of our major shareholder, Hanlong, and also signals the strong belief of the Chinese bank in the future strength of the world molybdenum market.”