TINASHE MAKICHI
Prospect Resources Ltd has received a $10 million Export Finance Facility from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe through CBZ Bank Limited.
The Facility carries an interest rate of 7,5 percent and a capital repayment holiday of 12 months, after which monthly capital repayments are to be made for 24 months.
The purpose of the Export Finance Facility is to foster the development of existing and new export-focused businesses in Zimbabwe.
“Prospect is pleased to announce that its 70 percent owned Zimbabwe subsidiary, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited, has received a US$10,000,000 Export Finance Facility from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (the Facility) through CBZ Bank Limited,” said the company in a statement.
Funds drawn from the facility are expected to be used to meet local costs on the mine development including the construction of the tailings facility, pre-strip of the mine site and building construction.
“Prospect sees this loan as another building block in the financing of the Arcadia Lithium Mine and tangible evidence of the government’s support for the Arcadia Lithium Mine.”
Prospect is an Africa-focused battery minerals company based in Perth with operations in Zimbabwe, and exploration activities in Zimbabwe and the DRC.
Prospect’s flagship project is the Arcadia Lithium Project located on the outskirts of Harare in Zimbabwe. The Arcadia Lithium Project represents a globally significant hard rock lithium resource and is being rapidly developed by Prospect’s experienced team, focusing on near term production of petalite and spodumene concentrates.
Prospect has a strong team split between Africa and in Perth who have the optimal experience to rapidly develop the Arcadia Lithium Project alongside building Prospect’s portfolio of battery metal projects.
Pre-development of world-class Arcadia Lithium Project is underway and following completion of the pre-feasibility Study in June 2017 (updated in March 2018), the company is now focusing on securing off-take and funding plans for development of Arcadia towards production, anticipated to be in the second quarter of 2019.
