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Sheffield awards A$366M EPC contract for Thunderbird, inks US$175M debt facility

Sheffield Resources Ltd. awarded GR Engineering Services Ltd. a A$366 million engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Thunderbird mineral sands project in Western Australia, according to a Nov. 12 release.

The contract covers about 80% of Thunderbird's total stage-one CapEx of A$463 million. It will require GR Engineering to build a 7.5-million-tonne-per-annum mineral processing plant and supporting infrastructure.

Construction and commissioning are expected to start in the second quarter of 2019. Based on this timeline, initial zircon products will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2020, while first ilmenite products are expected in the second quarter of 2021.

Sheffield also secured a seven-year US$175 million debt facility from Taurus Mining Finance Fund and Taurus Mining Finance Annex Fund, which will be used to partially fund the project's construction. The facility will be distributed in two tranches, with the initial tranche to bear interest at the U.S. dollar London Interbank Offered Rate plus 4.5% per year, and the second to bear interest at 8.5% per year.

The Taurus facility follows the A$95 million in loan facilities the company secured from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility board in September.

Sheffield said these agreements will substantially advance and de-risk the development of Thunderbird.