MNB signs US$16M debt agreement with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC)

Our phosphate fertiliser Investment Minbos Resources (ASX: MNB) has now signed a formal debt agreement for US$16M with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC).

MNB is currently building its phosphate project in Angola - construction works are happening right now - check out the latest from site here:

(source)

Here is some images from the September quarterly last year to compare and highlight the progress being made:

(source)

MNB started construction officially back in December 2024 with initial road/earthworks and the concrete slab pouring began in October last year.

To get the project up and running, MNB had three funding deals being progressed:

1. Sovereign wealth fund = DONE
2. US$16M debt agreement with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) = formal debt agreement signed - expecting to tap and draw down in March.
3. Banco BAI loan from local bank - the only outstanding condition for funding is to transfer the Angolan subsidiary borrower to a public limited company, which with the change of leadership MNB hopes can happen soon. (source)

Yesterday’s announcement said that with the IDC funds MNB could “move into its next major construction phase” - basically allowing MNB to transition from site preparation to structural and mechanical installation works.

Phase 1 (initial site works) is expected to wrap up this month (March 2026), with the first drawdown of IDC funds also expected by late March 2026.

The Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund (FSDEA) has confirmed its support for the loan and is forming a "joint task force" with MNB to secure additional working capital.

An update on permitting

MNB’s announcement yesterday also had some commentary out regarding the expiry date of its project’s mining lease.

MNB confirmed that meetings with the National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) have resolved previous contradictions regarding the expiry date of the permits.

And that in a recent meeting with the Chairman of National Agency for Mineral Resources confirmed the contradictory details on the official Mining Licence and have committed to rectify the clerical errors.

Hopefully that unlocks further funding for the project…

Terms of the IDC loan

Here were some of our key takeaways from the IDC loan:

• The loan is for a total of 84 months (7 year loan)
• Total loan amount of US$16M.
• Interest rate = SOFR + 6.26% + 2% (PRI margin), compounding quarterly. (Our rough calculations put that at a nominal interest rate of 11.94% annually as of today).
• MNB gets a 24 month grace period on capital repayments and 12 months on interest. With payments to be due quarterly following the moratorium.

Here are the details from the back of yesterday’s announcement:

(source)

What’s next for MNB?

🔄 Update on Banco BAI and IDC loans

MNB has confirmed that it has term sheets on these, so we await to see them get enacted which will cover the full cost of the project.

MNB has today entered into a US$16M loan with the IDC (source)

🔄 Progress on new strategy to fast track production

MNB has changed strategy and is now looking at a rapid start up opportunity as customers are willing to take product that has not been processed fully.

This will allow for a cheaper startup operation and early cashflow, plus testing out certain aspects of the operation such as logistics and initial processing.

We await for early next year (Q1) where MNB expects to provide an update on first shipment and quantities. (source)

🔄 Progress on Green Ammonia project

We have written about MNB’s green ammonia project in the past.

Things have gone quiet on that front while MNB focused on getting its phosphate project built.

But we did see an agreement signed with TalusAg toward the end of October.

MNB said they will work together to jointly develop the Capanda Green Ammonia Project (CGAP) and collaborate on a joint bid into a major European green ammonia procurement process.

MNB did confirm that a preliminary submission for the EU opportunity had been lodged…

We still like the green ammonia project (because of the access to cheap hydropower in Angola).

See our deep dive on the green ammonia project here: Does MNB have the “most commercially attractive zero-carbon green ammonia project globally”?