True North revived with $50m recap

After a period in administration, $50 million has been raised to revitalise True North Copper.

The funds will be used to extinguish all debt and focus on a revised business strategy, where targeted exploration and resource definition drilling are the priorities.

This means True North will pause work on its production ramp-up at the Cloncurry copper project while the company rethinks its production strategy.

Debts of $32.3 million will be paid to Nebari Resources Credit Fund II LP, with $3.9 million of that being converted into equity in True North.

Tembo Capital Holdings UK committed $15 million to the recapitalisation, making it True North’s largest shareholder at about 29 per cent, while Regal Partners committed $6 million, making it the second-largest shareholder at 14 per cent.

Glencore, which holds an offtake and toll-milling agreement with True North, also subscribed for a 9.9 per cent stake in the company.

True North managing director Bevan Jones said the recapitalisation demonstrated the strength of the company’s copper assets.

“With a strong cash position, zero debt and a new experienced board and leadership team, we now have the opportunity to refocus our strategy and explore growth opportunities,” Jones said.

Jones said there were several exploration opportunities across True North’s portfolio.

“We have recently completed extensive surface mapping at Mt Oxide including rock chip sampling and a very successful GIS IP (induced polarisation) survey,” he said.

“We have found that there are previously unknown, multiple mineralised zones that point to a district-size mineral system much bigger than just the Vero deposit.”

The Cloncurry project also boasts exploration potential.

“Geophysical surveys have produced potential mine-scale-changing targets within our current mining leases (at Cloncurry),” he said.

“Exploration around our Wallace North lease package has also led to potential underground extensions to the orebody.”

Adriatic Metals co-founder Paul Cronin will be appointed True North’s non-executive chair following the recap, with Jones to remain in his managing director position going forward.

True North’s toll-milling agreement with Glencore will see ore treated at either the Mt Isa or Ernest Henry processing operations, while the company has inked a new memorandum of understanding with Copper Resources Australia to evaluate potential processing at the Rocklands copper plant located 20km from the Cloncurry project.