Albidon says gets $60 mln for Zambia nickel mine

Australia’s Africa-focused miner Albidon Ltd said on Monday it had secured $60 million of senior debt financing from two major European banks for its flagship nickel project in Zambia.

“The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Barclays Capital have formally approved and signed a senior debt finance facility of up to US$60 million for the Munali Nickel Project,” Albidon said in a statement.

Albidon said the funds would be spent on construction, working capital and exploration at the Munali nickel mine.

The debt would come on top of $25 million in funding agreed with China’s top nickel producer Jinchuan Group, which has also agreed to take all the nickel production produced by the mine, and around $40 million in cash.

Australia-headquartered Albidon, which has a share listing on London’s junior AIM market as well as in Australia, is due to start production at the Munali nickel project in Zambia in mid-2008.

Munali is located around 60 km south of the capital Lusaka and is expected to produce 8,500 tonnes per year of nickel in concentrate after a ramp-up period in 2008, according to Albidon’s Web site. The project, expected to cost $65 million, has a mineral resource of 109,000 tonnes of nickel and 223,000 ounces of platinum group metals.

Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of British bank Barclays Plc . EIB is the long-term financing institution of the European Union.

Information from: Reuters via asia.news.yahoo.com