Coolabah Metals signs offtake financing deal with Hartree ahead of Broken Hill Mines rebranding
Ahead of rebranding itself as Broken Hill Mines (ASX: BHM), Coolabah Metals (ASX: CBH) has signed a binding conditional term sheet with Hartree Metals for a financing facility of approximately $39.5 million (US$25m) and a significant offtake of lead concentrate.
The company will use the new funding on growth activities at its recently acquired Rasp and Pinnacles mines.
The rebranding comes after Coolabah completed a strategic consolidation of two of the three mining companies that control all current silver, lead and zinc operations at Broken Hill.
Four-year facility
The Hartree offtake financing facility will run over four years including a 12-month principal repayment grace period, followed by a straight-line repayment structure.
It contains secured overnight financing at the present rate plus 3.5%, with flexible drawdown across three tranches over the first 12 months.
The facility replaces the previously proposed transaction with Trafigura Group for approximately $15.8m (US$10m) in financing and the purchase of 200,000 tonnes of lead concentrate from the Rasp and Pinnacles operations.
Hartree – a US-based global resources financier – will now purchase the same quantity of lead concentrate at competitive market terms and industry-standard payability for lead and by-product metals including silver.
Asset acquisition
Coolabah completed the acquisition of the Rasp mine and associated assets from CBH Resources, along with the purchase of 100% of the issued capital in Broken Hill Mines, in October 2024.
It also secured an option over a 70% profit-sharing interest in the development and operation of the Pinnacles mine, located 15 kilometres from Rasp.
Rasp has an existing mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 10.1 million tonnes at 9.4% zinc equivalent, while Pinnacles has an MRE of 6.0Mt at 10.9% zinc equivalent.
Coolabah expects to finalise the deal, which remains subject to the customary approval process, by July 2025.