Pilbara Minerals Pty Ltd (ASX: PLS) is an Australian lithium-tantalum producer listed within the top 200 companies in Australia (ASX200 index). Through the development of its 100%-owned Pilgangoora Lithium-Tantalum Project (Pilgangoora Project), Pilbara Minerals is set to become one of the biggest lithium raw materials producers in the world by 2020.

The Pilgangoora Project is located in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and is considered one of the largest hard rock lithium-tantalum deposits globally. The significant scale and outstanding quality of the Pilgangoora project has seen Pilbara Minerals progress it from first drill hole to production in under four years.

BurnVoir Corporate Finance acted as financial arranger for the US$100 million senior secured bond for Pilbara Minerals and financial adviser on the A$95 million equity placement to fund the development of the Pilgangoora Project.

As part of that financing, BurnVoir arranged for Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to provide US$15 million in debt funding – their first investment of this type in the mining sector.

BurnVoir also advised on and arranged:

• A$50 million equity subscription from Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co Ltd and binding long-term offtake agreement for production from the Pilgangoora Project;
• The $28M equity subscription and offtake agreement signed with Great Wall Motor Company for 75,000 tpa of Stage 2 production, plus US$25M prepayment facility to secure a further 75,000 tpa;
• An A$80 million equity subscription from Korea’s POSCO in February 2018, plus a further A$80 million by way of as convertible note, in tandem with up to 240,000 tpa spodumene concentrate offtake to a lithium hydroxide plant to be developed in joint venture between POSCO and Pilbara Minerals;
• US$15 million working capital facility and foreign exchange and interest rate hedging facilities with BNP Paribas and;
• A$19.5 million concessional loan from Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) for the upgrade of the Pippingarra Road, connecting the Pilgangoora Project to Port Hedland.