- Project developer and miner with Australian assets
- Holdings include the Hellyer mine in Tasmania, and the recently-acquired Beaconsfield gold mine
- Serial entrepreneur David Lenigas chairs the business
What NQ Minerals does:
NQ Minerals PLC (LON:NQMI) is a project developer and miner with Australian assets that have plenty of near-term appeal.
The company is led by an experienced team that includes veteran venture capitalist Walter Doyle, who is CEO, and serial entrepreneur David Lenigas, who chairs the business.
Its holdings include the Hellyer mine in Tasmania, the Mount Block permit surrounding the project and the recently-acquired Beaconsfield gold mine.
NQ also owns the Ukalunda precious metals deposit in north Queensland, on which it has identified 33 prospects for follow-up work, including the Sunbeam mine, for which it has secured a mining permit.
At SquarePost, also in north Queensland, NQ has found both breccia and vein-hosted gold mineralisation. And it has increased its investment in battery metals specialist TEM.
How is it doing:
Quarterly production and financial results for its wholly-company, Hellyer Gold Mines showed lead concentrate production, at 11,865 tonnes of concentrate, was up 35% from the previous quarter and up 78% compared to the same quarter last year.
Zinc concentrate production was up 8% from the previous quarter, at 4,585 tonnes of concentrate, and up 38% compared to the same quarter last year.
Unaudited net revenue from Hellyer for the quarter was A$19.1mln and gross profit realised for the quarter was A$10.7mln.
In December, NQ signed a US$55mln loan facility with ING.
The funds from the ING Facility are being used to retire all project debt maturing in 2020. This debt was secured over the assets of, and shares in, Hellyer, the company’s tailings reprocessing project in Tasmania, Australia.
Inflexion points:
- Further news from Hellyer Mine
- Progress on Beaconsfield refurbishments
What the boss says:
“The signing of this US$55 million facility with ING is a major milestone in NQ’s corporate evolution and bodes well for the future of our mining operations at Hellyer and elsewhere in Australia,” said NQ chairman David Lenigas in a statement.
“The completion of this refinancing transaction allows us to both reduce funding costs and align funding maturities in line with mining operations,” he added.
