After narrowing it down from six proposals received, ZYL chose Standard Chartered Bank and Nedbank Capital as the two companies most suited for project financing.
Standard Chartered Bank has a long-standing presence in Africa, boasting 150 years in the country and an established network in 16 African countries.
Nedbank Capital is the investment banking business of the Nedbank Group, one of the four largest banking groups in South Africa.
Both banks have been involved in a handful of significant coal industry transactions in recent years.
ZYL chief executive officer Ian Benning said he was happy to progress with the project financing with two high-calibre institutions selected.
“Both banks have provided indicative proposals of between $A60 million and $75 million and ZYL will work with each towards development of mutually acceptable funding terms,” he said.
The Mbila tenement is situated in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province and has a JORC-compliant resource of 125 million tonnes.
The project is scheduled to start production in 2013.
