Whitehaven Coal Limited
(ASX:WHC) has been granted approval from its lenders to amend its $1.2 billion debt facility following delays in getting its key Maules Creek project up and running.
The coal miner, has been working with lenders ANZ, Macquarie Group, CBA and NAB to amend its debt facility for several months, amid weak international coal markets damaging its share price.
Following a string of delays in government approvals for the mine in New South Wales, first sales from the project are expected in the first quarter of 2015 at the very earliest.
Whitehaven says the amended covenant accommodates the delays to the Maules Creek project, and is designed to provide flexibility to match the project timetable.
Under the revised conditions, the first date for the interest coverage ratio test has been pushed from December 2014 to as late as December 2015.
Whitehaven Coal slumped to an $82.1 million loss in the 2013 financial year.
