Fm Beaufort Securities1 Dec 2017 14:44
Cradle Arc
Cradle Arc PLC (formerly Alecto) will soon have completed the purchase of the Mowana copper mine in Botswana. The mine has had >$155m spent on it, roughly 25% in drilling and soft costs, 75% on mining, surface infrastructure and the plant. Via a cash and shares transaction, Cradle Arc PLC will own 60% of Mowana with 40% owned by ZCI, the mine�s historical lender.
Cradle Arc took over operations in March, the first production blast was April 29th, since when tonnage has ramped up to a current rate of 60kt per month and circa 550 tonnes of copper metal per month. The mine is now fully funded and will ramp-up to an annual rate of 12,000 tonnes of copper by December, then expand to 23,000 tonnes by 4Q18.
The Mowana Mine has an initial 11-year mine plan from two open pits. However, the 30m wide orebody is also open down dip and along strike and has excellent additional open pit and underground potential. We expect the transaction to complete and for Cradle Arc to return to AIM this month (November). We then anticipate positive operational updates as the mine ramp-up progresses and operating cashflow turns positive. - 08/11/2017