Germany’s SMS eyes TNG vanadium mine with ECA support

(The Australian, Canberra, 5 May 2016) The Germans missed out on the Australian submarines contract to the French. But it looks as if they are about to get deeply involved in the $970 million Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project in the Northern Territory, owned by ASX-listed TNG.TNG went into a trading halt yesterday pending an announcement involving the German engineering and construction giant SMS, previously flagged as a group likely to become involved in the building of the refinery for Mount Peake product at Darwin. When TNG comes back from a trading halt it wouldn't be surprising if it had put out a smallish placement to SMS to cement their new relationship. But more to the point is SMS's history of being a regular user of Germany's Export Credit Agency scheme, meaning it could help provide part of the financing that needs to be secured before Mount Peake becomes a reality.