Bea Mountain Mining Corp (BMMC), wholly owned subsidiary of Avesoro Resources, the TSX and AIM listed West African gold producer, has entered into equipment finance facility agreements with Mapa İnşaat ve Ticaret, a related party of the company, to facilitate the purchase of heavy mining equipment (HME).
This follows the announcement by the company on 11 October 2017 of an updated Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimate for the New Liberty gold mine and details of the new mine plan for New Liberty, which requires the procurement of this additional equipment.
Due to Mapa’s purchasing power it can secure more competitive terms than can be achieved by the company directly. Mapa is part of the MNG group of companies owned by the company’s Non-Executive Chairman, Mehmet Nazif Gűnal, and therefore, entering into the Finance Agreements constitutes a related party transaction for the company under the AIM Rules.
Once the expanded mining fleet is complete, the company expects to be able to ramp-up to a quarterly gold production rate of 36,000 oz during 2018.
The Finance Agreements totalling approximately $6.1 million, relate to two Sandvik 1500i drill rigs, one Komatsu PC1250 excavator and four Komatsu HD785 haul trucks. Delivery to New Liberty is expected to occur in late October 2017. The loan principal of these agreements includes a mark-up of 2.5% over the cost incurred by Mapa in procuring the equipment.
BMMC expects to enter into further agreements with Mapa, on substantially similar terms to the Finance Agreements, to facilitate BMMC’s purchase of additional new HME including three Komatsu PC1250 excavators and eight Komatsu HD785 haul trucks along with some auxiliary equipment for delivery to New Liberty throughout Q4 2017 and Q1 2018, as required under the updated mine plan.
New Liberty gold mine in Liberia has an estimated proven and probable mineral reserve of 7.4 Mt grading 3.03 g/t Au and an estimated measured and indicated mineral resource of 9.6 Mt grading 3.2 g/t Au and an estimated inferred mineral resource of 6.4 Mt grading 3.0 g/t.
The New Liberty mine is located within the Southern Block of the 100% owned Bea Mountain mining licence. This licence covers 478 km² and has a 25 year, renewable, mineral development agreement. The Bea Mountain mining license also hosts additional gold projects of Ndablama, Gondoja, Weaju and Leopard Rock which host indicated and inferred mineral resources.