Tech Metals: Northern Sews Up Funding To Continue Browns Range Development
Barely a week after receiving the good news about its eligibility for Australia R&D tax offsets, Northern Minerals (ASX:NTU) has entered into a funding agreement with Lind Partners’ Lind Global Macro Fund.
Under the agreement, the company will receive a net amount of $2.5m from the issue of an unsecured convertible note with a face value of $3m.
Lind may convert the note at any time before the maturity in 24 months into up to 100 million NTU shares at the lesser of 90 per cent of the average of the five lowest daily volume weighted average prices during the 20 days prior to conversion or 4.5c.
Proceeds from the agreement, which are expected to be received this week, will be used for continued development of Northern’s Browns Range rare earths project in Western Australia’s East Kimberley region.
Last week, AusIndustry reversed its initial findings and decided that most of the company’s activities were actually in fact eligible for the R&D tax offset.
Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8) has appointed vanadium expert Leslie John Ford to act as the lead consultant for the company’s scoping study into the production of vanadium pentoxide from the Steelpoortdrift project in South Africa.
Ford has over 40 years’ experience constructing, developing and producing vanadium projects.
He was involved in the redesign of the Windimurra Vanadium plant in Australia and Glencore’s Vantech operations in South Africa, along with the development and construction of producing vanadium mines as managing director for Largo Resources in Brazil and Vantech.
For the scoping study Ford will complete the process design and costing using data from the upcoming metallurgical test work on concentrate from 2019 drilling and the reserve calculation by the company’s mining technical advisors.
Upon successful completion of the scoping study, Ford will also consult for the company in relation to the various studies required to develop Steelpoortdrift’s titano-vanadium magnetite resource up to and including the production of vanadium pentoxide.
Vanadium Resources believes the upcoming test work will show it can achieve recoveries similar to its industry peers in the Bushveld Complex.
The company has the right to acquire up to 74 per cent of the project, which currently has a global inferred and indicated resource of 612 million tonnes grading 0.78 per cent vanadium pentoxide.
www.ferroalloynet.com
