Canada’s
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (
TSX: T.IVN,
Stock Forum) said it would not be able to develop two mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo unless it gets more funds by the end of June, Reuters reported Thursday.
The admission sent the stock down 12% to $1.59, leaving a market cap of $910.1 million, based on 576 million shares outstanding. The 52-week range is $2.71 and $1.29.
Ivanhoe, which does not have a producing mine, said it would spend most of its funds on its Platreef mine in South Africa, which is estimated to produce about 785,000 ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold per year, the Reuters report said.
The company said it had consolidated working capital of about $149.8 million as of March 31, down from $201.7 million at December 31. It needs about $1.7 billion to bring the mechanized Platreef mine into production.
“We previously highlighted that Ivanhoe needs to secure a partner and/or additional funding to continue advancing the Kamoa (CU) and Kipushi (Zn) projects in the DRC by mid-2014, and therefore view the company’s target of sourcing additional financing in the next 1.5 months as in-line with our expectations,’’ Raymond James wrote in a May 15, 2014 research report.
The Raymond James analysts said they see financing as a more likely near-term source of funds, “as we think Ivanhoe may need more time to complete additional project stake sales at Kamoa and Platreef that we target for later this year.”
Ivanhoe Mines had $89.9 million in cash and cash equivalents and $80.3 million in short-term deposits as at March 31, 2014,
the company said in a press release.