Mayur secures K540mil

MAYUR Resources Limited says it has secured US$155 million (about K540 million) through a combination of debt and equity for its lime project in Central.
The US$115 million (about K436.5mil) is a loan from Appian and including US$40 million (about K151.8mil) is from Vision Blue for 49 per cent of the project as announced last November.
Prime Minister James Marape, while welcoming Mayur’s announcement, noted that the Central Lime Project (CPL) in Kido was one of the first approved Special Economic Zones (SEZs) projects.
He said SEZs were a key focus of his Government.
“The funding (about K540 million) will be used to cover construction costs to achieve an annual production capacity of 400,000 tonnes, along with an allocation for expected further expansion. First quicklime production is expected to begin after 18 months,” Marape said.
“The project has the potential to create hundreds of jobs, support service businesses, electricity, roads, education and health facilities for landowners.”
Mayur managing director Paul Mulder said the day marked a key funding milestone in delivering the CLP which would be a transformative development for the landowners, Central and the broader manufacturing sector.
“Hundreds of new jobs, support service businesses, electricity, roads, education and health facilities are all part of the benefits that will be created for landowners, whom to date, have lacked such basic services and have been negatively impacted by isolation,” he said.
“As the nation’s inaugural industrial downstream manufacturing processing hub, the CLP will also materially contribute to the clean energy transition by providing a key input to the processing of energy transition metals in the region.
“The project has successfully attracted finance from both Appian and Vision Blue, bringing both debt and equity to the table in a first for PNG. This investment sets the foundation to showcase PNG’s vast potential for small to medium manufacturing projects connected to its natural resources.”
Mulder said the support provided by the PNG Government was a testament to their commitment to supporting downstream processing and assisting in attracting such reputable investment funds into PNG’s first single factory special economic zone.
“Such support now sets the scene for PNG to compete with the hundreds of billions of dollars already invested into Southeast Asian Special Economic Zones,” he said.