Lucapa Diamond Company Limited announced amendments to the repayment terms of the Equigold loan agreement (the Agreement) entered into earlier by the Company and Equigold Pte Ltd, which is an entity associated with prominent Singaporean-based resources investor, and major Lucapa shareholder, Simon Lee AO. 

The original terms of the Agreement had stipulated for Lucapa to repay the outstanding amount of US$ 7.5 million loan balance in 2020 in four quarterly instalments of US$ 1.9 million, commencing on January 1, 2020.

“The amended Agreement delays the next repayment, extends the repayment term and reduces the repayment amounts to eight quarterly instalments of US$ 0.9 million each,” Lucapa stated in its announcement.

The impact of the new terms is that the next repayment tranche has been deferred to April 1, 2020; and the final of the eight scheduled payments will now be due on January 1, 2022.

“The amended Agreement retains all other obligations and rights, including the right to convert the final US$ 1.9 million of capital repayments (i.e. the last two amended quarterly repayments) into ordinary fully-paid Lucapa shares at Equigold’s election,” Lucapa affirmed.

The Company also clarified that no additional fees or penalties will be payable by Lucapa under the amended Agreement with Equigold.

Lucapa stated that it had utilised the 2017 Equigold loan to help finance the development of the Company’s second high-value diamond project, the new 1.1 million tonne per annum Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho.

Lucapa Managing Director Stephen Wetherall commented: “The amended loan repayment schedule will give Lucapa and its respective project partners additional flexibility in both the scheduling of rough diamond tenders and the sale of select manufactured diamonds under the Group’s cutting and polishing strategy.”

He added: “We extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to Equigold for its continued support of Lucapa’s strategy to grow as a producer of high-value diamonds.”