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LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Pensana Rare Earths is
in early stage talks with lenders including Barclays,
South Africa's Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and funds including
Fidelity to secure more funding for its Angola project, its
chairman said on Monday.
Chairman Paul Atherley said the miner planned to raise
between $30-$50 million of working capital from the banks while
funds would be tapped for about $25 million in equity for the
construction of the mine.
State-owned China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC)
will provide the rest of the up to $170 million required to
build the rare earths project in Angola, Pensana said.
RMB, Barclays and Fidelity did not respond to requests for
comment.
Rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used in anything from
consumer electronics to military equipment and wind generation,
are predominantly mined and processed in China.
Western powers have put them on lists of strategic minerals
and are trying to develop their own supplies, but analysts say
China's dominance will be hard to shake.
Construction of the Angolan project should begin in January,
and the working capital will need to be secured towards the end
of 2021, Pensana said.
Angola's government is in the throes of sweeping reforms to
diversify the economy away from oil, gas and diamonds.
The country's sovereign wealth fund, which is Pensana's
largest shareholder, was at the centre of a scandal involving
the former president's son, Jose Filomeno de Sousa dos Santos,
who allegedly transferred $500 million from the bank to a Credit
Suisse account in London.
Credit Suisse said documents used in the fraud purporting to
be from Credit Suisse were found to be fake.
"There has been no impact regarding Credit Suisse and its
clients nor otherwise any related transactional activity or
receipt by Credit Suisse of illicit funds," the bank said.
Pensana's Atherley said he was confident in the current
government.
"We are totally transparent and we believe that this new
government is a very open book," he said.
(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; editing by Barbara Lewis)
