Exploration work at Troilus. Image supplied.
Canadian mining developer Troilus Mining Corp. plans to issue subordinated debt and other potential non-equity instruments to help advance its gold and copper project in Quebec.
The new financing will range from $300 million to $400 million and is expected to be announced within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified because the matter is still private. The debt sale would lift the amount raised for reviving a mine in north-central Quebec to around $1.5 billion.
Troilus has already secured as much as $1 billion in financing from KfW, Societe Generale SA, Export Development Canada and other export agencies to restart the mine, which will also produce copper as a byproduct. The company sold C$173 million ($126 million) in shares in November.
In an emailed statement, the Montreal-based company said it’s evaluating a range of financing instruments that may include subordinated debt, but no decisions have been finalized. Shares of Troilus fell more than 6% in Toronto on Thursday.
The mine project comes at a moment when metals markets are soaring. Gold surged to a fresh record in January and has been hovering above $5,000 an ounce, fueled by an increasing appetite for haven assets amid geopolitical tensions. Copper also reached a record high at the end of January, thanks to supply concerns and increasing demand for the wiring metal.
Troilus, which has a stock market value of about C$1 billion, has seen its shares jump more than fivefold in the past 12 months. The company counts pension fund manager Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec among its top shareholders, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Quebec’s government has also approved an electricity deal with the company, the people said. Terms of the agreement with provincially owned utility Hydro-Quebec haven’t been disclosed.
Troilus signed supply agreements last year with Germany’s Aurubis AG and Sweden’s Boliden Commercial AB to provide semi-processed copper from the project.
(By Paula Sambo and Mathieu Dion)