From the FT on the 19th June

http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=040619001094&query=kenmare&vsc_appId=totalSearch&state=Form

COMPANIES UK & IRELAND: Kenmare negotiates $269m loan
By John Murray Brown
Financial Times; Jun 19, 2004



One of the largest debt financings for an independent mining company was announced yesterday when Kenmare Resources agreed a $269m (146.5m) facility to develop the Moma titanium mine in Mozambique.

Drawdown of the debt is contingent on the Irish company raising equity of $79m, lifting the value of the project to $345m.

The company already has commitments of $55m from a number of large investment funds.

Documents will be posted to shareholders on Monday for an open offer to raise up to $42m.

A banker at NM Rothschild, lead advisers on the financing, said the debt package represented three times Kenmare's market capitalisation of $90m.

"I do not think there have been any listed mining companies who have done that," he said.

Among the lenders, the African Development Bank is lending $40m and the European Investment Bank $15m in senior debt and a $40m subordinated loan, reflecting the vital economic benefits to what is the poorest region of one of Africa's poorest countries.

Martin Curwen, of the EIB, said this was the first deal signed under the 2000 Cotonou agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

He said EIB's presence would "provide comfort" to other lenders. "It is part of our mandate to support projects where the funding would not have been available from the financial markets," he said at yesterday's signing ceremony, attended by Castigo Langa, Mozambique's minister of mineral resources and energy.

KFW, the German development finance institution, is providing $50m, partly tied to the supply of electrical equipment by Siemens.

The Dutch development agency FMO is lending $15m. The only commercial bank involved is ABSA, the South African bank, which is lending $80m to support the purchase of South African goods and services by the mine.

The mine is expected to be in production in the second half of 2006, with annual output of 600,000 tonnes of ilmenite and other titanium minerals that supplies white pigment used in paint and toothpaste.

The company has already raised 4m to purchase a mineral separation plant in Western Australia, which is being dismantled and shipped to the site.

At full production, the mine will account for about 5 per cent of world supply. About two-thirds of world production is controlled by RTZ and Iluka, an Australian company spun out of the old Rennison Goldfields.

FT Comment

* There have been similar financings in the minerals sector but never where the borrowing is three times the borrower's market valuation. The Lihir gold project in Papua New Guinea raised $300m in 1995 but lenders had the comfort that Rio Tinto Zinc owned about 40 per cent of the company. Kenmare's project is 100 per cent-owned by Kenmare, a company that has no cash flow and would have reported a small loss of $40,000 last year but for interest on its bank deposits. This project clearly could transform its fortunes. There are offtake agreements in place for more than half the first five years' production with Dupont and Mitsui. Prices for mineral sands tend to be more stable than base metals, which behave more like a commodity dependent on capital goods demand. The current market cap is little more than the value of a year's production from the mine. An upgrade seems inevitable. Canaccord, the company's broker, has a current price target of 35p. This compares with a close of 17p, down 2p yesterday.


Copyright The Financial Times Ltd

Article in Irish Independent on Sunday with Michael Carvill MD, should see mine grinding into life this weekend or next? Also additional resourses which will have "a material impact on the company" these are yet to be concluded?
cyril

nice one cyril, lets have another one (good rns that is) ;0)

Alot of jumping around by the MM's this morning...this mine seems slow in starting up ...does anyone know anytime scales as it is probably just me being impatient..this is the longest share I have held...4yrs
Di

I think Dynamite, preliminary results were due yesterday. Perhaps they are waiting for the mine to commence production before they make the combined announcement. There is clearly some delay,not unusual with mining companies, but I think we are still on track.

I beleive they are due wednesday.

Thanks Boxer and Zeibcmva

Have to be published by April 30, 120 days after year end I think.
Looking forward to a Ti collar, Di - lol!

Well SD I can go one better now ...a Ti nail in my leg!!!!

Yes Dynamite, Ti in leg is a lot better than stainless steel as Ti is not only tolerated by the body but actually integrates with bone. Trust me, I`m a dentist.
Thanks stockdog, Apr 30th not far away.

Thanks Zeibcmva...well thats good to know and so many uses for Titanium...I hadn't though of bone repair until it happened to me. I bet I will set off the alarms going through airports though :-)
Di

Hi dynamite, apparently metals such as titanium are less likely to set off detectors.


25 April 2007

Mining and heavy mineral concentrate production has started at
Kenmare's Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in northern Mozambique, which
contains one of the largest deposits of titanium-bearing mineral
sands in the world.

The mining process will initially utilise one of two dredges to mine
the mineral-bearing sands, with both dredges to operate in a few
months time once the dredge pond is enlarged. The ore mined is being
processed through the Wet Concentrator Plant to produce a heavy
mineral concentrate. This concentrate is currently being stockpiled
for separation into final products (ilmenite, rutile and zircon) when
the Mineral Separation Plant commences operations shortly. Section
one of the project, which includes the mining pond, dredges, Wet
Concentrator Plant and related infrastructure, has been taken over
by Kenmare, and a taking-over certificate has been issued to the
contractor.

Kenmare expects to achieve annual production levels of 800,000 tonnes
of ilmenite, (the main titanium bearing mineral), 21,000 tonnes of
rutile and 56,000 tonnes of zircon (a zirconium mineral used in the
ceramics industry). Expansions are planned so as to increase
production levels to 1.2 million tonnes per annum of ilmenite plus
co-products by the end of 2009. Moma will operate at a low point on
the production cost curve.

Kenmare is also pleased to announce a significant increase of the
resource base at Moma following a recent drilling programme at the
Nataka zone, close to the Mineral Separation Plant at Moma. The
total resource under licence to Kenmare has increased by more than
60%, from 101 million tonnes to 163 million tonnes of contained
ilmenite, with associated increases in co-products to 12.4 million
tonnes of zircon and 3.6 million tonnes of rutile. The inferred
resource at Nataka has increased from 49 million tonnes to 110
million tonnes of contained ilmenite, with associated increases in
co-products to 8 million tonnes of zircon and 2 million tonnes of
rutile.

Kenmare's Chairman, Charles Carvill said "We have been waiting for
this day for a long time and are delighted that mining is underway.
It is great news for our staff, our shareholders and our customers.
Additionally the increase in the resource base will allow us to push
production levels significantly above our present anticipated level
while still having a very long life mine. In the meantime the
product market is moving in a positive direction with rising prices.
We are confident our customers will be able to absorb increased
production levels."


For more information:

Kenmare Resources plc
Michael Carvill
Managing Director
Tel: + 353 1 671 0411
Mob: + 353 87 674 0110

Conduit PR Ltd
Leesa Peters
Tel: + 44 (0) 207 429 6600
Mob: + 44 (0) 781 215 9885

Murray Consultants Ltd
Elizabeth Headon
Tel: + 353 1 498 0300
Mob: + 353 87 629 1453


www.kenmareresources.com

Good news .

Were on our way now.

As a holder of 3 years plus, (bought the shares - got the warrants) it is so gratifying to see that things are underway.

Well done Kenmare

capa

yes, yes , yes !!! My biggest holding is in KMR and I intend to keep holding for those lovely profits :-))))))
Di

here we go, here we go, here we go,here we go.

From the other side :


From UK Analyst

Kenmare shares have trod water, at 46.5p, since our last update with the market waiting for the company to announce the beginning of ilmenite production and shipping from the Moma Titanium Minerals project, located on the coast of Mozambique. Feasibility studies on the project were completed in February 2001, confirming the technical and commercial viability of the project.
Moma is a new mine containing considerable reserves of the titanium minerals, ilmenite (approximately 101 million tonnes) and rutile (approximately 2.7 million tonnes), as well as large quantities of zircon (approximately 7.8 million tonnes). The market price for ilmenite, rutile and zircon has risen sharply over the past five years, largely in response to increased demand from China, India and other rapidly industrializing nations.
Kenmare was expected to bring Moma into production in the first quarter of 2007, with extraction and shipments expected to start in the first half of the year. We expect confirmation that this has happened shortly. Moma has an expected production capacity of 701,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 17,000 tonnes of rutile and 60,000 tonnes of zircon per annum for at least 20 years. The value per tone of the last two minerals is considerably more than the ilmenite's value per tonne. Project financing is based on a 20 year mine plan with reserves of 16.4 million tones of ilmenite, 0.5 million tonnes rutile and 1.3 million tonnes zircon. The company expects to accelerate production output by the second half of 2007, from 700,000 tonnes to 800,000 tonnes per annum, with an increased output commitment to 1 million tones of ilmenite per annum from 2008 onwards.
To date, Kenmare has signed a number of multi-year off-take contracts for a significant component of ilmenite, rutile and zircon production. Kenmare is in discussions with a number of other consumers regarding the remaining uncommitted production from Moma. The largest demand for titanium minerals ilmenite and rutile is in the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigment, which accounts for in excess of 94% of total demand for titaniferous feedstocks. The balance of the demand for titanium minerals comes from titanium metal producers and welding electrodes.
We value the base case Moma mine (output 703,000 tones per annum) at 59.1p per share using a cautious DCF model and a 1 million tone mine would be worth 70.6p per share to Kenmare. We are working on new forecasts and a new valuation over the next few weeks, as we prepare a more detailed note but we see no reason why those forecasts and valuation will not be significantly higher than our current numbers.

For anybody whose not read the above all very positve but months old. Their updated valuation is still to be released.

At last here we go, need to recoup my chaco losses, and iph, not been a good month, sold rdg early as well:-(.

Still learning, but not letting go of these.. Happy days ahead, new increase in resources very welcome should value company well over 100p in time.

yay that is my shares in KMR doubled at 50p...bought them from 14p to 34p... alot of activity today :-)

I got in just over 2 years ago 21p. I confess i've commited the cardinal sin of only having 1 egg im my basket, after countless topping up i'm holding circa 1/4 mill. Hope this stratagy doesn't come home to haunt me!. Blue skies at present but keeping my eyes peeled.