Dr. Andor
Lips
Senior Adviser
Andor has over 30 years of mining sector experience, which spans the whole value chain, from geology to grassroots exploration, business development, (pre)-feasibility study design and evaluation, funding strategies and execution, project risk analysis, ESG risk analysis, credit risk analysis, corporate governance, stakeholder management, public disclosure, contractual arrangements, marketing.
About Dr. Andor
Andor works in his own consultancy practice MGE BV Andor provides technical, financial, and strategic advice to various mining corporates and governments. Previously he worked for Eldorado Gold until end 2019 as Vice President European Strategy & Corporate Sustainability. He has previously held positions with Lydian International Ltd, ING Bank N.V., the Commodity Discovery Fund, and BRGM.
Andor is leading the work on AfricaMaVal, the EU-Africa Partnership on Raw Material Value chains which aims to engage the EU in strategic partnerships with resources-rich African countries, developing sustainable critical mineral value chains in a co-development perspective.
Key past transactions include:
ING: involved in the origination, structuring and execution of numerous (debt) financing transactions as a team member and/or deal principal, including several Russian gold corporates, Alacer Gold, Minas Aguas Tenidas, Endeavour Mining Corp, First Quantum Minerals, Wolf Minerals, Guyana Goldfields, and others
Alacer Gold, Turkey: US$ 250m project financing for the expansion of the Cöpler gold mine, Andor acted as Deal Principal for ING Bank. Key challenges included providing a funding structure where the Turkish borrower could benefit from ING’s in-country account structure
First Quantum Minerals, various African and European jurisdictions: US$ 3bn structured corporate financing to refinance existing indebtedness following the acquisition of INMET and to finance construction of a copper smelter in Zambia, and the construction of the Sentinel copper mine in Zambia. Andor acted as Deal Principal for ING Bank. Challenges included determining the appropriate leverage ratios for FQM during the earlier years of the loan facility, where FQM targeted significant capital investments ahead of increased production and improved cash flows
Endeavour Mining Corp, West Africa: US$ 350m structured corporate financing to assist Endeavour Mining in its capital projects (PFM Africa Mining Deal of the Year 2013). Andor acted as Deal Principal for ING Bank. The financing structure was enhanced with a novel equity PRI at the level of each of its four West African operating companies (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali)
Wolf Minerals, United Kingdom: £ 70m project financing of the Hemerdon tungsten-tin project (PFM Europe Mining Deal of the Year 2013). Key challenges included understanding the long-term world tungsten market and the determination of an appropriate price deck. The financing structure included two tungsten end-users and a partial German UFK senior debt guarantee