Trafigura Signs USD 70 Million Prepayment With CVK Maden, Repaid in Ore Deliveries

CVK Maden Isletmeleri and Trafigura Pte. Ltd. signed a USD 70 million prepayment agreement on July 27, 2026, with repayment to come not in cash but as deductions against ore deliveries under off-take contracts still to be signed between the two parties.

The structure puts a commodity trader in the seat normally occupied by a bank syndicate or an equity issue. Trafigura advances the cash now; CVK Maden settles it by shipping metal later, with the value of each delivery offset against the outstanding balance.

The agreement followed a letter of intent announced on July 21, 2026, and took effect on July 27, 2026. The strategic cooperation between CVK Maden and Trafigura had been disclosed to the public disclosure platform KAP on July 21, 2026. A further filing to KAP on July 28, 2026 set out how the money will be spent.

CVK Maden will direct the funds to capital expenditure at the Sarialan gold operation in Balikesir, at the Yenipazar polymetallic mine, and across its chrome operations, alongside general corporate needs.

Sarialan is a recent addition. CVK Maden bought the project, located at Ivrindi in Balikesir province, from Demir Export, a company operating within Koc Holding, in October 2025 for USD 18.5 million. Payment on that acquisition is spread over two years, and a 3% net smelter return royalty goes to Demir Export once production begins at the site.

The resource base behind the prepayment is modest by global gold standards. The acquired site holds roughly 69,626 ounces of measured gold reserves, 35,430 ounces of indicated gold, and 467,838 ounces of measured silver reserves, according to the latest published data.

Set against those figures, the USD 70 million advance is close to four times the purchase price paid for Sarialan. The financing therefore covers development work across three separate asset lines rather than a single mine build, since Yenipazar and the chrome operations draw on the same fund.

CVK Maden Isletmeleri is run by the Cevik family.

For a producer at this scale, the appeal of a prepayment is that it converts future physical output into present capital without diluting shareholders or pledging assets to a lender. The trader gains contracted access to metal volumes and the offset mechanism to recover its outlay, with repayment tied to delivery performance rather than a fixed cash schedule. The off-take contracts that will govern those deliveries are still to be signed.

The filings identify the parties, the amount, the effective date, and the repayment channel; the pricing terms of the ore offsets sit inside the off-take documents yet to be executed.