A company looking to restart production of tin and the rare metal tungsten at its mine in Devon has announced it has raised £1.8m by way of Tranche C of the 2023 convertible loan notes.
Tungsten West, which owns the Hemerdon mine site near Plymouth, confirmed in May 2023 that it had raised a total of up to £6.95m by way of convertible loan notices, in two tranches. The AIM-listed firm confirmed that the terms and conditions of the Tranche C CLNs are "substantially" the same same as the Tranche A and B CLNs.
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The proceeds of Tranche C are to support the company as it continues to progress its activities in permitting, updating its Feasibility Study, and associated financing.
It is expected that Tungsten West will require further funding via an additional Tranche D under the existing CLNs, or other instrument, in Q1 2024 to complete the Feasibility Study and allow the company to complete its main financing round. In addition, the company is exploring the sale of certain assets. The CLN holders have released their security over these assets to allow the company to do so.
On December 6 2023, Devon County Council approved Tungsten West's Section 73 application to vary the tonnage cap associated with the existing permission for 50 truck movements per day from the site, in order to facilitate the sales of secondary aggregates.
Neil Gawthorpe, chief executive of Tungsten West, commented: "The Company has continued to progress towards securing the Mineral Processing Facility permit over the past few months whilst furthering its cost control measures, with focus on planning, permitting, capital raising, and ensuring compliance.
"On planning, I am pleased to share that Devon County Council has now approved the Section 73 application for increased aggregate volume movements. This coupled with the positive results on the aggregates test work, lay the foundations of a robust aggregates opportunity alongside our core tungsten and tin businesses.
"We look forward to updating the Feasibility Study with permits in hand so that we can secure the future of the Hemerdon Mine."
