Troilus Secures $850 Million Debt Commitment for Quebec Gold-Copper Project

Troilus Mining Corp. said it has received credit-approved underwriting commitments totaling US$850 million from KfW IPEX-Bank and Société Générale for development of its Troilus gold-copper project in Québec. The commitments are intended to form most of a planned US$1.1 billion debt package, while a proposed US$250 million contribution from Export Development Canada still requires EDC’s final approvals.

The announcement moves a large portion of the proposed project debt beyond the earlier mandate stage, but it is not the same as a completed financial close. Troilus said the commitment letter remains subject to several conditions, including commitments for the full US$1.1 billion facility, approvals from applicable export credit agencies, completion of ongoing diligence, definitive financing and support documents, required regulatory approvals and the absence of a material adverse change.

Debt package advances from mandate to credit-approved commitments

Troilus has been expanding its financing framework as engineering work on the project has progressed. In May, the company increased its senior project debt financing mandate to as much as US$1.2 billion, with Société Générale, KfW IPEX-Bank and Export Development Canada named as the mandated lead arrangers. The new US$850 million commitment narrows the gap between that financing mandate and a fully committed construction funding package.

The proposed facilities are senior secured project-finance debt. Troilus said they are being structured with anticipated support from European export credit agencies and would include up to a three-year repayment grace period during construction. That would be followed by a sculpted repayment schedule over a notional 10-year period designed to track the project’s expected cash-flow generation. Final pricing and other terms are expected to be disclosed when definitive financing documents are executed.

EDC’s proposed US$250 million contribution remains a separate approval step. If EDC gives final approval, Troilus said total credit-approved debt commitments would reach US$1.1 billion. The company is also continuing work with participating European export credit agencies on support arrangements connected with the broader financing package.

The distinction between an underwriting commitment and financial close is important. The lenders have completed enough work to issue credit-approved commitments for US$850 million, but Troilus still has to satisfy the conditions in the commitment letter and complete the remaining pieces of the financing. Management said its focus is now on definitive facility agreements, the rest of the funding package, a final investment decision and financial close.

Updated project study puts initial capital at about US$1.43 billion

The financing effort follows an updated technical report released earlier this month. Troilus said its September 2026 study estimates initial capital at approximately US$1.428 billion and outlines a roughly 26-year mine life. At the study’s base-case assumptions of US$3,600 an ounce for gold, US$5 a pound for copper and US$50 an ounce for silver, the project has an estimated after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate of about US$3.2 billion, an after-tax internal rate of return of 22% and a 3.6-year payback period.

The updated Troilus technical report also estimates life-of-mine payable production of about 5.63 million ounces of gold, 472 million pounds of copper and 10.88 million ounces of silver. The planned operation is a conventional 50,000-tonne-per-day open-pit mine and processing complex. Troilus said the capital estimate followed completion of basic engineering and reflects about 95,000 engineering hours, with roughly 90% of pricing inputs validated against current market quotations.

Those figures help explain the scale of the debt package. A US$1.1 billion facility, if fully approved and closed, would cover a large share of the estimated initial capital requirement, but it would not by itself equal the entire construction budget. Troilus has described the senior debt as a cornerstone of its broader financing plan rather than the sole funding source.

The project also has existing infrastructure from the former Troilus mine, including road access, a 137-kilometre Hydro-Québec transmission line and site facilities that can be reused. In June, the project received a 70-megawatt hydroelectric power allocation from Hydro-Québec and Québec’s Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy, another item the company has cited as part of its construction-readiness work.

Permitting and financial close remain key steps before construction

Troilus is advancing detailed engineering, procurement, permitting and financing in parallel. The September technical report says construction is anticipated to begin in 2027, subject to required approvals and financing, with first ore targeted for September 2029 and commercial production in March 2030.

The company has also been linking equipment procurement and export-credit support to the financing plan. In August, Troilus said Finland’s export credit agency Finnvera had issued a non-binding letter of interest for potential support of up to about US$132 million related to Metso equipment and services. That potential support is separate from the US$850 million credit-approved commitment announced Monday and remains subject to its own process.

For now, the most concrete change is that KfW IPEX-Bank and Société Générale have moved US$850 million of proposed project debt to the credit-approved commitment stage. The remaining milestones are more definitive: EDC’s decision on its proposed US$250 million contribution, completion of export-credit approvals and diligence, execution of final financing documents, a final investment decision and financial close.