Normandy lines up gov.’t funds for magnesium project

Normandy Mining‘s (NDY-T) 62%-owned subsidiary Australian Magnesium Corporation (AMC) has lined up a large portion of the estimated $525 million needed to develop the proposed 90,000-tonneper-year Stanwell magnesium project in Australia.

The country’s federal and Queensland governments have provided AMC with $100 million each, either as loans or as loan guarantees.

As part of and conditional on AMC’s capital raising plans, Normandy has agreed to subscribe for $100-million worth of AMC shares between Oct. 31, 2002, and Jan. 31, 2003, at a price equivalent to the price paid for ordinary shares in AMC’s capital raising. This subscription will leave Normandy’s holding in AMC at about 28.4%.

Normandy has agreed to lend another $10.6 million to AMC until it completes its capital raising. This is in addition to a $90-million “contingent-equity facility” arranged between Normandy, AMC and its lenders in June 2001.

Normandy notes that its commitments to the Stanwell project are within the bid conditions of AngloGold’s recently announced offer for Normandy shares.