Introduction

Appointed by a consortium of commercial banks and a development bank for due diligence, construction and loan monitoring on financing of two new gold mines in Turkey.

Mandate

Palaris have been engaged by lenders since 2017 to provide independent technical advice from feasibility studies on the assets through construction and into the current operational phase over the loan life. 

The loan covers two separate mines, the first being an original open pit only mine with CIP gold plant, later expanded to include underground cut and fill mining operations. The project operates a dry-stack tailings disposal circuit and storage facility. The second mine is a large-scale open pit mine feeding a multi-stage crushing-HPGR circuit for emplacement onto a heap leach facility along with gold recovery circuit.

Approach

Palaris deployed its London advisory team to cover all technical aspects of the due diligence and monitoring. This has included team members experienced in both the construction and operation of gold plants. Throughout the construction and commissioning, Palaris have been pro-active to both identify risks to Lenders, but also suggest potential solutions to mitigate them, working in with the mine owner as the projects have been brought into full production. As required Palaris has drawn on its own engineering groups expertise in providing technical advice beyond geology, mining and processing. 

Outcome

Both mines were successfully financed, constructed and achieving targeted production rates and in some cases beyond. The mine owner continues to consider expansion options with Palaris retained to advise lenders on these positive additions to the assets.