Sirius Minerals plc, earlier today announced it had cancelled plans to raise US$500 million through a bond issue, and that the scope of construction activities at its North Yorkshire polyhalite mine and processing project under development in northeast England will now be adjusted while a strategic review is undertaken. That strategic review will include the potential to bring in a partner for the acquisition of “a significant part” of the polyhalite project, it said.
The company early last month temporarily suspended the proposed bond offer, citing prevailing market conditions. But it had hoped to revisit the market when conditions improved later this quarter.
The US$500 million bond had been a critical part of Sirius’ ambitious US$3.8 billion Stage 2 financing needed to complete its polyhalite project; the full bond sale before Oct. 30 had been a requirement to unlock a US$2.5 billion revolving credit facility from JP Morgan Securities LLC. Sirius said it intends to cancel the RCF commitment in the coming days.
Sirius now plans to conduct a comprehensive strategic review over the next six months to assess and incorporate optimizations to the project development plan and to develop a different financing structure for the funds required. It previously had identified strategic partners as a way to bring capital into the project, and it said with the current delay to the stage 2 financing, it now intends to undertake a much broader process “with the possibility of the acquisition of a significant part of the polyhalite project”.
“Due to the ongoing poor bond market conditions for an issuer like Sirius, we have not been able to deliver our stage 2 financing plan,” said Sirius Minerals Managing Director and CEO, Chris Fraser. “As a result, we have taken the decision to reduce the rate of development across the project in order to preserve funding to allow more time to develop alternatives and preserve the significant amount of inherent value in this world-class project.”
The company said its unrestricted cash reserves of £180 million – approximately US$224 million at current exchange rates – (of which £117 million was uncommitted) as at Aug. 31, provides sufficient liquidity for it to explore all strategic options during the strategic review.