Shares in Aussie miner Fortescue have leapt after it secured a four-and-a-half billion dollar credit facility to refinance its existing debt and provide the company with some ready cash.

The iron ore digger dropped 15% in one day last week on reports it had asked lenders to waive all its debt covenants for the next 12 months.

If Fortescue had breached its covenants, it would theoretically have to pay up the $9bn in gross debt it owes.

However, the share price rebounded 17% on Tuesday after the firm announced the access to new funds, which is fully underwritten by Credit Suisse and JP Morgan.

The deal means the earliest repayment date for any of the company's debt will be November 2015, as well as removing financial maintenance covenants which applied under previous facilities.

The company also said it was in talks to sell some of its assets.

"Strong interest has been expressed to Fortescue by a range of parties interested in partnering with Fortescue in certain of its assets," its statement said.

It added it was evaluating these approaches and would only act if any deal was to "clearly add shareholder value".

Fortescue has been hit by the falling price of iron ore, which analysts say needs to rise substantially to help the firm.

If the iron ore price rises up to $120 a tonne, analysts think Fortescue will be fine.

But if it were to remain around at $100, the company could be in trouble.

Iron ore has been trading in the range of $100 - $110 a tonne recently, according to traders.

Analysts have blamed an oversupply of steel, of which iron is the main constituent, mainly due to a slowdown in demand from China.

However, the commodity has enjoyed a boost recently due to Beijing approving more than $150bn in infrastructure projects and the US Federal Reserve pumping billions more dollars into the system through quantitative easing.

There has also been some evidence of bigger demand for steel from Chinese factories.

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