The miner said the financials were secured by JBIC along with commercial banks, and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance provided loan insurance to cover the portion provided by the latter.

Suek said it will use the credit line to purchase Japanese mining equipment, as it focuses on continuing and expanding its cooperation with the country. A request for more information on the purchases and a timeline for delivery from MM was not returned by press time.

"Suek has strong ties with Japan; we sell our products to Japanese customers…we buy Japanese industrial equipment and goods [and] we receive financing from Japanese banks," CFO Nikolay Pilipenko said.

"Signing this credit line deal is one more step towards exploring, creating and using opportunities for the mutual benefit of our countries as well as our organisations."

The MoU between Suek and NEXI was inked on June 6th. The agent for the deal was the Tokyo branch of Citibank.

Suek has 19 open-pit operations and eight underground mines.