Another year of nil revenue as Ironveld continues development

7th Dec 2016 08:22

(ShareCast News) - Ironveld, the owner of a high purity iron, vanadium and titanium project located on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex in Limpopo Province, South Africa, announced its final results for the 12 months to 30 June on Wednesday.The AIM-traded company said the period saw a number of important milestones achieved as the firm moved towards delivering the project.Despite another year of nil revenue as it continued its development phase, Ironveld did narrow its operating loss to £0.49m from £0.52m a year earlier.On the operational front, Ironveld said offtake was secured for 100% of all three products for the first five years of the life-of-mine.Approval was gained for the Section 11 transfer, transferring the Mineral Right to HW Iron, and a key mining right was executed to mine magnetite on the Harriets Wish 393LR, Cracouw 391LR and Aurora 397LR Farms.Ironveld said approval was also granted for the Environmental Management Program on those farms.A full EIA for Pan Palladium was granted, with the Mining Right expected to be granted and transferred in Q1 2017, and the prospecting right on the farm Non Plus Ultra 683LR was executed.The board said a formal letter was received from Eskom confirming power supply availability for the project, while implementation of the critical infrastructure program with the design of the electrical infrastructure was completed ahead of schedule and below budget.An IDC debt and equity ZAR 244.08m ($17.9m) funding package - including full BBBEE capital contribution - was approved, alongside the company's successful placing to raise £1.8m, with proceeds to be used for working capital and advancing the development of the project."The focus for the period was on achieving key milestones that would enable Ironveld to move towards financial closure; we have made excellent progress in this respect, which is testament to the hard work of the company," said CEO Peter Cox."Events such as securing the mining right, EMP approval and receiving confirmation from Eskom for power supply represent tangible milestones towards bringing our world class HPI, vanadium and titanium project into production."Cox said offtake demand for all three products was strong with multiple offers being considered."This is being run in tandem with positive discussions around financial arrangements for the Project and near term finalisation is expected."We continue to see currency movements that benefit project economics and which are expected to result in a positive cash flow impact," he explained."It is a tremendously exciting time for the Company and we look forward to progressing the project through financing and into the construction stage later in 2017."