Petaquilla lifts burden off assets and production profile
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Petaquilla Minerals has completed an early payout of the existing gold and silver prepayment agreements, as well as a convertible loan previously negotiated with Deutsche Bank, which as a result fully released all existing encumbrances on the company's assets.
Vancouver-based Petaquilla also on Tuesday said that it had reduced a significant portion of its short-term liabilities and reaffirmed its commitment to a policy of balance sheet strengthening by further pursuing opportunities to reduce its other current liabilities.
Petaquilla said that in Panama, where it operates the Molejon gold mine, it plans to ramp up gold output through plant and leaching operations to 4 000 oz/y, at an expected cash cost of $850/oz.
The company is aiming at becoming cash-flow positive in the second quarter of 2015.
Petaquilla stressed that it had enough reserves at its Molejon deposit to continue production at that rate for a further five years.
The company said that added to that, it had about 152 000 oz of gold slated for leaching, which were currently being stockpiled. A plan to reduce general and administrative costs and to align general compensation with the company's new goals would also be implemented with immediate effect, with further cost-cutting measures to be introduced at the beginning of the new financial year.
At the same time, Petaquilla is strategically positioning itself for growth and production in the Iberian Peninsula, focusing in the near-term on mineral resource expansion and developing its Iberian properties. The company is targeting production in Spain and Portugal in the early part of next year.
Petaquilla had recently reached an agreement to completely separate the Molejon mine from base metals miner First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama copper/gold mine.
The companies with neighbouring projects signed an agreement earlier this month that would see Petaquilla transfer large swathes of land to First Quantum, among other things, for total payments of up to $60-million.
Petaquilla’s TSX-listed stock on Tuesday closed down 7.14% at C$0.13, having lost half its value since the start of the year.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation