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

Looks about right tome, but would not count on any Uranium effect this year. So north of 70p is entirely speculative at this stage. Would be happy at 80p to double my stake.

I think some update on commencement of production is due mid Feb 07, provided all has gone well.Anyone with contacts in Mozambique ?

On the 16/02/07 if my memory serves.

new photograph of mining pond during final stages of commissioning on----www.kenmareresources.com

I noticed this am a 3MILL buy at 47,then it vanished ,it was never included in the total buy column,any suggestions?

It might show up after the close.

Ok thankyou,it was good to see it while it was there!

loads of trades going through at 48p some recorded as buys and some as sells, how can they tell the difference?????

sellers out numbering the buyers, seems strange to me so close to the opening!! does someone know something we dont????

I certainly hope your concern is unfounded but i take your point!.Being so close to handover i expected the SP. to be well in the 50's now.Where is the stampede to get on board? no one seems in a rush to buy in.

softly softly catchee monkey ( baden powell )

Never trust a man wearing a funny hat [ Aldwickk ]

"always drink upstream from the herd" (unknown)

kmr said it should be ready mid feb, i think it is now late feb??? agreed?? oh well whats a couple of days or so!!

delay was due to delivery of the mineral separation plant. photo,s on the website show this nearing completion (taken jan 2007). we are now awaiting news on completion of the whole mine from the contractors which should be about mid march.

Yes humpback321 it all looks very professional and good quality build. As you say the photos are recent and are being updated on a regular basis,the last one after their latest news. Mid March sounds about right. I am in after the recent retraction.

KMR,my only stcok that is blue today.

Are we on the move again?

Looks like it. The warrants are now at a discount to the shares, so that's the 'way in' at the moment.

what price are the warrants for? they currently around 27p so would need to add that to the warrant sp to see if worth buying in to.
Alex