IDC agrees to extend repayment date of MC Mining loan
Junior coal miner MC Mining, which is developing South Africa's only hard coking coal mine, says the Industrial Development Corporation has agreed to push back repayment of ZAR160 million (about $10.8 million) in loans, with interest, until the end of July.
The IDC had provided MC Mining with a ZAR240 million facility in 2017, and two drawdowns of a total ZAR160 million had resulted in the IDC becoming a 6.7% shareholder of the group’s subsidiary, Baobab Mining and Exploration, which owns the Makhado Project. The repayment of the first two drawdowns had been due at the end of November 2020, with discussions about again rescheduling the repayment continuing.
MC Mining, formerly known as Coal of Africa, says this is a show of support for its flagship Makhado coal project, which could see its first coal sales in the first half of 2022. MC Mining’s currently relies on the Uitkomst colliery in KwaZulu-Natal for cash generation, but focus is on the Makhado project, which would be South Africa's only producer of hard coking coal.
