Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
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US Strategic Metals (USSM) has been tapped by the Export-Import Bank of the United States for a loan package worth $400 million with a term of 15 years to support the development of its mining and metallurgical project in Missouri.
Established in 2018, USSM (formerly Missouri Cobalt) currently recycles essential metals from lithium-ion batteries and processes third party concentrates at its metallurgical plant.
The company also plans to mine what it considers to be the largest cobalt reserve in North America. It holds an 18-year mineral supply of cobalt (plus nickel and copper) on a 7.3-square-kilometre site, known as the Madison mine project.
The Madison project hosts an existing private mine that operated from 1844 to 1961. In 2003, the US Environmental Protection Agency designated the area as a Superfund site due to the erosion of tailings and initiated clean-up efforts. As part of its acquisition in 2018, USSM partnered with local government and the EPA to execute a five-year clean-up plan.
In 2020, the geologic and block models were updated to survey mine reserves, including a pre-feasibility study on a well-drilled resource that is estimated to hold 72 million lb. of recoverable cobalt, 105 million lb. of nickel and 103 million lb. of copper.
The EXIM loan, in combination with existing equity and credit facilities, would provide funding for substantially all of the anticipated construction and development capital required to complete the project, USSM said in a press release.
Following USSM’s formal application for debt funding, EXIM Bank will begin their formal due diligence process and conduct the required comprehensive underwriting to determine the appropriate terms and conditions of the loan.
By the end of 2023, USSM has obtained nearly $500 million in funding and commitments, the most recent being a $230 million financing from affiliates of Appian Capital Advisory LLP. Past funding commitments include $120 million from HPS Investment Partners and $50 million from offtake and sourcing partner Glencore.
