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Overview

ICBC provides a $40 million AUD loan to Norton Gold Fields to facilitate a review of the Bullabulling Gold Mine’s operations and repay a $25 million USD loan from Gold Mountains (Linked to Record ID#93974)

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$36,970,666
Commitment Year•2014Country of Activity•AustraliaDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•AustraliaOverseas Jurisdiction•AustraliaSector•Industry, Mining, ConstructionFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Implementation

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Aug 1, 2014
Last repayment (originally scheduled)
Jul 31, 2017

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% Chinese ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

Receiving agencies

State-owned companies

  • Norton Gold Fields Limited (NGF)

Loan description

ICBC provides a $40 million AUD loan to Norton Gold Fields to facilitate a review of the Bullabulling Gold Mine’s operations and repay a $25 million USD loan from Gold Mountains

Interest type•Variable Interest RateMaturity•3 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

In August 2014, the Perth Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) entered into a $40 million AUD loan agreement with Norton Gold Fields Limited (NGF), an Australian gold producer whose major shareholder is Zijin Mining Group Co., Limited. The loan carried a maturity period of three years and an interest rate based on a floating rate plus a margin of 2.45%. The proceeds of this loan were to be used, in part, to facilitate a review of Bullabulling Gold Limited (BAB)'s operations, to increase its gold production, and to repay a $25 million USD credit loan provided by Gold Mountains (H.K.) International Mining Company Limited, a Hong Kong-incorporated wholly owned subsidiary of Zijin Mining. As of April 8, 2015, $25 million AUD of this loan had been disbursed. In April 2014, Norton had acquired a controlling 83% interest in Bullabulling Gold after a hostile takeover decried by Bullabulling's board. Bullabulling Gold Limited was the owner of the Bullabulling Gold Project, located in Coolgardie in Western Australia, Bullabulling. Consisting of the Bullabulling and Gibraltar gold deposits, the 204 square kilometer development site had a measured, indicated, and inferred mineral resources of approximately 3.22 million ounces.

Staff comments

1. Norton Gold Fields Limited (NGF), later known as Norton Gold Fields Pty Ltd, is one of Australia’s largest domestic gold producers, with recent annual production of up to 200,000 ounces. Norton owns a mining and processing complex in Western Australia’s Kalgoorlie gold region, including a prospective tenement package of over 1,000 square kilometers surrounding the 3.8 Mtpa Paddington Mill.