Iberian Back In Black With Hedges

Vancouver — Iberian Minerals (IZN-V, IZNFF-o) is now debt-free at its Aguas Tenidas copper-zinc project, 110 km northwest of Seville, Spain.

Last year, Iberian lined up US$200 million in debt to build the mine, subsequently using US$160 million of the total.

And although it wasn’t required to begin paying the loan back until next summer, by entering into hedge contracts on production — as part of its agreement with lead financing institutions Investec Bank, BNP Paribas and Socit Gnrale — Iberian has been able to raise US$225 million and pay the loan back ahead of schedule.

With that sum, not only has Iberian eliminated its project debt, but it also has US$65 million left over, enough to finish building the 1.7-million- tonne-per-year mine.

Iberian has pegged proven and probable reserves at Aguas Tenidas at 10.66 million tonnes grading 1.03% copper, 6.62% zinc, 1.99% lead, 67.5 grams silver per tonne and 0.81 gram gold in the polymetallic zone.

The copper-rich zones weigh in at 8.35 million proven and probable tonnes grading 2.19% copper, 1.24% zinc, 0.27% lead, 28.6 grams silver and 0.42 gram gold.

With about 80% of construction complete, pre-commissioning is set to begin this month, along with processing of stockpiles.

On news of its debt-free project, Iberian’s share price rose 1¢ to close at 28¢.

Elsewhere, at its Condestable mine, 90 km south of Lima, Peru, Iberian has added 30% more contained copper to its reserves.

In 2007, Iberian estimated reserves at 7.7 million tonnes grading 1.28% copper.

But based on a recently completed underground evaluation, Iberian now reports proven and probable reserves at 10 million tonnes grading 1.27% copper.

At 6,000 tonnes per day, the new reserves give Condestable a 5-year mine life.