Unsecured bridging finance facility and extension of maturity date of loan notes

EMED Mining Public Limited, the Europe-based minerals development and exploration company (“EMED”) has reached financial close and first drawdown on an unsecured bridging finance facility for up to US$30 million (the "Facility") with Trafigura Beheer BV, Orion Mine Finance (Master) Fund I LP (“Orion”) and Hong Kong Xiangguang International Holdings Limited ("Hong Kong Xiangguang"), an affiliate of Yanggu Xiangguang Copper Co. Limited (“XGC”). In connection with the extension of the Facility, XGC and Orion, holders of £9,582,000 convertible secured notes issued by EMED in June 2013 (the “Notes”), agreed to extend the maturity date of the Notes so as to be consistent with the maturity date of the Facility. The proceeds of the Facility are intended to provide sufficient working capital for EMED to continue with its development of the Rio Tinto Copper Project in Spain (the "Project") to the end of February 2015 whilst it finalises negotiations with key stakeholders in relation to funding the Phase 1 development plans for the Project. XGC, located in Shandong Province, China operates one of that country’s largest copper smelters. Fasken Martineau advised Hong Kong Xiangguang and XGC on this transaction with a team comprising Thomas Wexler (banking & finance) and Jodi Katz (corporate).