Shares in AIM-listed tantalum concentrate supplier Noventa lifted on Friday as the company announced that it had entered into an equity finance facility with Darwin Strategic.

Darwin is a majority owned subsidiary of Henderson Global Investors' Volantis Capital (Henderson Volantis) which manages approximately $1.5bn of assets.

Noventa reported that the equity finance facility agreement with Darwin and Henderson Volantis provides it with a facility of up to £5.0m which can be drawn down at any time over the next three years subject to certain restrictions.

The company reported that it was under no obligation to make a drawdown and could make drawdowns at its discretion, up to the total value of the equity finance facility, by way of issuing subscription notices to Darwin.

Operations updateIn addition to announcing the new equity financing facility, Noventa also provided an update of its group operations. It reported that tantalum pentoxide concentrate "remains at low levels" and said the board was expecting tantalum concentrate to be between 1,700 and 1,900lbs for February.

The group added that the new production plant at Marropino continued to experience a number of technical issues that resulted in minimal levels of production from the plant.

The follow-on analysis of ore grades in the pit at Marropino remain "materially in line" with those outlined in the announcement of February 11th 2013, the group reported and it said that there have been no material developments at its other interests in Mozambique or the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tantalum is a rare speciality metal which is used widely in the consumer electronics industry.

Noventa's share price was up 20.69% to 1.75p at 12:26 on Friday.
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