Tawana Secures $40 Million in Funding for Bald Hill Lithium Merger

As part of a final push to get Alliance Mineral Assets listed on the ASX, Tawana Resources (ASX:TAW) has secured a $40-million funding package.

The funding package was delivered to Tawana by a “consortium” of lenders led by Tribeca Investment Partners. Of the $40 million, $20 million will go towards a debt facility for Tawana.

The other $20 million will be considered a standby line of credit in the event that Tawana successfully merges with Alliance and the latter receives ASX approval.

Of the money devoted to Tawana’s debt facility, $15 million will be used to advance the dense media separation (DMS) fines circuit and upgrade the tantalum circuit at the company’s Bald Hill project, along with working capital. The remaining $5 million will go to repaying the company’s Red Coast loan, which was obtained in February for Bald Hill.

Meanwhile, the second $20-million amount will be available to the group that is formed by the merger between Alliance and Tawana, though it is conditional on the success of the merger. Tawana predicts the merger will be completed in November 2018.

Tawana Managing Director Mark Calderwood commented on the potential deal in a statement, explaining it will help with Bald Hill’s balance sheet.

“Tawana and Alliance have always remained committed to an ASX listing of the Merged Group and the Conditional MergeCo Facility will increase balance sheet liquidity as we ramp up lithium production and advance optimization of the mine and the processing facilities,” he said.

Calderwood continued, “[w]e also believe it paves the way towards an expeditious listing of Alliance on ASX. We have received exceptional support from Tribeca Investment Partners and other investors which is a great endorsement of the Bald Hill lithium and tantalum mine.”

Bald Hill is currently co-owned by Tawana and Alliance in a 50/50 joint-venture, and saw its first production of lithium concentrate in March 2018.

Located 50 kilometers southeast of Kambalda, Western Australia, the mine has a lithium ore reserve of 11.3 million tonnes at 1.01 percent lithium oxide and 160 parts per million tantalum oxide.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.