Newmont raise US$800 million loan

Newmont Mining Corp. plans to raise as much as $800 million in loans by next month to help fund expansion. PT Bank Mandiri Tbk, BNP Paribas, and Sumitomo Mitsui Bank Corporation will help Newmont for arrange US$600 milion loan. The fritter US$200 milion loan will be obtaine from one bank.

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara' investors held back approving a proposal to sell new shares in an initial public offering in the first quarter, until the parent fulfils a government directive to reduce its stake in the unit.

Newmont Mining, the largest U.S. gold producer, is selling its stake to local partners. Newmont Nusa plans to sell 1.13 billion new shares in an IPO and to raise up to $800 million from banks, investors or other third parties for its capital expenditure and will provide as security all or a majority of its assets.

The share sale may help Newmont Nusa Tenggara fund an expansion of its Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Indonesia as metal prices rebound in the global economic recovery. Batu Hijau,
based in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara province, is Indonesia's largest copper mine after Grasberg mine in Papua operated by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

Stake Sale Newmont Mining owns 48.5 percent of the venture, including a 17 percent interest obtained as collateral from shareholder PT Pukuafu Indah, the U.S. company said in May. It must sell a total 31 percent stake under the government divestment agreement,
and offered the final 7 percent in April for $444 million. The Indonesian government asked Newmont Nusa to reduce the price for the final stake to a similar level when it sold a 7
percent stake for $246.8 million last year.
Other partners include Sumitomo Corp. and a venture of PT Bumi Resources, Indonesia's largest coal producer by volume, and three local administrations in West Nusa Tenggara.

Newmont and the government hopefully can agree on the price for the final 7 percent stake later this month for the divestment process to be completed by the end of November.

Newmont Mining expects its share of gold and copper production at Batu Hijau to reach
365,000 to 400,000 ounces and 265 million to 290 million pounds respectively this year, it said in its earnings statement last month.