Its 50%-owned subsidiary Golden Queen Mining Company (GQM LLC) secured the facility from Gauss Holdings and Auvergne, its 50% partners in in the venture that owned the Soledad Mountain mine, in Southern California.

Golden Queen said it had made an initial drawdown of $5 million for general working capital requirements.

The facility carried an 8% coupon on any drawn amount and could be repaid any time before the maturity date of March 31, 2020.

The lenders were issued with 21,486 warrants of GQM LLC, which represented a fully diluted 7.5% interest in the subsidiary.

The facility was secured by a pledge of the company's equity interest in GQM LLC.

Golden Queen also said Soledad Mountain recorded record grades of 0.026oz per ton during the September quarter, which was expected to help push leach pad production up during the December quarter.

Production during the most recent quarter improved to 12,943oz gold and 121,843oz silver.

Through the first 13 benches mined in the East pit, ore production had encountered almost 35% more gold ounces than indicated in the mine plan based on the geological model, the company said.

Golden Queen's Toronto-quoted equity was down 61% in the past 12 months to Friday, trading at C16c apiece. This gave the miner a market value of about $48 million.