TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Mar 17, 2014) - Aura Minerals Inc. (ORA.TO) is pleased to announce that the Company has obtained a US$22.5 million gold loan (the "Loan") from Auramet International LLC (the "Lender"), a subsidiary of Auramet Trading LLC. The proceeds of the Loan will be used to settle the Company's entire outstanding obligations pursuant to the Company's credit facility dated March 18, 2011, as amended.
The Loan will be repaid in 40 weekly installments of 458 ounces of gold commencing on April 7, 2014. The Loan may be repaid at any time with no prepayment penalties. In addition to fixing the price of the 18,320 ounces of gold deliverable under the Loan the Company has hedged a further 10,000 ounces of gold with the Lender at an average fixed price of $1,373 per ounce as well as 15,000 ounces of gold with a $1,300 floor price and $1,423 ceiling price.
In partial consideration of the Loan, the Company has issued 4,500,000 non-transferable common share purchase warrants (the "Warrants") to the Lender, with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one common share in the capital of the Company. Each Warrant has an exercise price of $0.36, being equal to a 100% premium over the 20 day VWAP of the Company's common share price as at March 16, 2014. Each Warrant has an expiry date of 12 months from issuance. The Warrants and the common shares underlying the Warrants are subject to a four-month hold period pursuant to Canadian securities laws. The issuance of the Warrants is subject to the customary final approval conditions of the TSX.
The Loan is guaranteed by the Company's interests in its Aranzazu, San Andres, Sao Francisco and Sao Vicente operating entities and is secured by a continuing security interest in all of the Company's present and future personal property.
In furtherance of the Loan, the Company has entered into gold purchase agreements in respect of all of the gold produced at the Company's San Andres, Sao Francisco and Sao Vicente mines. The gold will be sold at market rates for a period of two years from the date of the Loan.
"This gold loan provides a source of repayment of our existing credit facility, which is set to expire on June 30, 2014, as well as locking in gold prices on a significant portion of our production at a good moment in the gold market," said Jim Bannantine, the Company's President and CEO. "We are also continuing to work on additional long term financing to help fund our Aranzazu copper project expansion."
About Aura Minerals
Aura Minerals is a Canadian mid-tier gold and copper production company focused on the development and operation of gold and base metal projects in the Americas. The Company's producing assets include the copper-gold-silver Aranzazu mine in Mexico, the San Andres gold mine in Honduras and the Sao Francisco and Sao Vicente gold mines in Brazil. The Company's core development asset is the copper-gold-iron Serrote da Laje project in Brazil.
Cautionary Note
This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements", as defined in applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the Company's current estimates, predictions, expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, without limitation, statements with respect to settlement of other credit obligations and the repayment of the Loan. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions.
Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to predict or control, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Specific reference is made to the most recent Annual Information Form on file with certain Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities for a discussion of some of the factors underlying forward-looking statements, which include, without limitation, gold and copper or certain other commodity price volatility, changes in debt and equity markets, the uncertainties involved in interpreting geological data, increases in costs, environmental compliance and changes in environmental legislation and regulation, interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations, general economic conditions and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the forward-looking statements.
All forward-looking statements herein are qualified by this cautionary statement. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. If the Company does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.