MNB receives 2nd tranche of Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund’s investment

Minbos Resources (ASX: MNB) just received US$2.43M in cash from the Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund.

The cash was the second of three tranches from the US$10M strategic Investment signed with the Sovereign Wealth Fund back in November last year.

MNB will receive the final US$1.17M once the next phase of works begins:

The cash coming into MNB’s account also means that the civil contractors are now officially on site and construction work is progressing:

MNB’s Managing Director Lindsay put up a pretty good update picture on Linkedin too:

(Source)

Finally after years of building up to it, MNB is on the ground and has started construction works on its phosphate mine which it has previously forecast will deliver EBITDA of US$55M per annum over a 20 year mine life.

(That was based on the company’s DFS in 2022, assumptions in that study may have changed now, so that EBITDA number could also be different if live prices were used).

After almost 2 years of trying to get the funding in place to start construction, late last year MNB put out a few pretty strong financing announcements over the course of a few days.

MNB announced:

• 2nd December 2024 - Monday - The first Sovereign Wealth Fund cash hits MNB bank account (US $6.4M out of US $10M)
• 6th December 2024 - US$12M credit facility final term sheet signed with Bancio BAI (Angola’s biggest bank).

So far MNB is almost 2/3 of the way through fully funding its project:

1. ✅ MNB has completed the US$10M from the Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund
2. ✅ MNB has a signed term sheet with Angola’s biggest bank (Banco BAI) for a US$12M credit facility.
3. 🔄 The only one left to unlock is the US$14M loan from the International Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa

MNB has already executed that loan with the IDC, the only conditions left before MNB can access the cash is a binding offtake agreement.

(MNB already has an MoU in place... it just needs to convert it into a binding deal).

That MoU is contingent on MNB proving its phosphate rock is suitable to be used as fertilizer.

In today’s announcement MNB included an update on field trials which showed that on average yields using MNB’s phosphate increased by 80%:

We are hoping this is a signal to the market that MNB is getting close to securing that offtake and the US$14M IDC loan.

With construction now underway and some financial cushioning we are hoping for a big year from MNB in 2025.

What’s next from MNB?

🔄 Construction and assembly of MNB’s Phosphate Fertiliser Plant

First of all, we want to see MNB complete construction works and get its plant operation ready.

We should see a fair bit of newsflow on this front between now and the end of this year.

🔄 Lock in remaining financing to get the project into production

At the same time, we want to see MNB lock in the remaining funding deals that are being worked on right now.

We especially want to see MNB secure the US$14M IDC loan.