Sundance Resources Ltd. and Moly Mines Ltd. are among Australian mining companies requiring a total of A$26 billion ($22 billion) in funds to build new projects amid a global credit crisis that's raised borrowing costs, UBS AG said.

    ``Financing new resource projects just got tougher,'' UBS Sydney-based analysts led by Jo Battershill said in a report yesterday. BHP Billiton Ltd. and competitors are seeking to build A$59 billion in new projects with A$33 billion already raised, spent, or to be funded through cash, it said.

    Turbulence in global credit markets has locked corporates out of capital markets after financial companies booked more than $513 billion in writedowns and credit-market losses since last year. So-called junior mining companies will struggle to raise money during the credit crisis, Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty said yesterday.

    ``There is no doubt it is a more challenging environment in the last year so the ranges of options are perhaps somewhat more limited,'' Don Lewis, chief executive officer of Perth-based Sundance, planning a $3.3 billion iron ore project in Cameroon, said today by phone. ``Financing is going to be more difficult than it was two years ago, but it is still achievable.''

    Sundance gained 4.4 percent to 23.5 cents at 2:40 p.m. Sydney time on the Australian stock exchange. Perth-based Moly Mines, seeking to build a A$1.1 billion molybdenum mine in Western Australia state, fell 5.6 percent to A$1.53.

    ``In the new credit strapped environment, cash and cash flow are now probably the most valuable commodities,'' UBS's Battershill said. ``Some projects are clearly on the back burner due to either current funding difficulties, adverse commodity pricing or geopolitical issues.''

    Project FundingSundance took potential sales partners to the mine for the first time in the June quarter and will seek to sign sales contracts with partners that will also offer funding for the mine, Lewis said today. The company is talking to steelmakers in Asia and Europe to secure funding and sales contracts and expects to complete agreements by the end of the year, he said.

    ``Junior resources companies wishing to finance greenfield projects that would have had little difficulty in raising either debt or equity eighteen months ago, would likely struggle today,'' Goldman Sachs analysts led by Melbourne-based Malcolm Southwood said in a report. ``Financing, we suggest, has become a very real constraint on supply growth which, ultimately, will prove to be a further part of the `stronger for longer' commodity price theme.''

    Interim LoanMoly is completing an interim loan of $150 million to help fund initial construction work, the company said in a Sept. 17 statement. It ``continues to focus on full project funding through its negotiations with prospective strategic investors and with its work with its investment banking advisors,'' the statement said. Company Secretary Andrew Worland declined to comment further when contacted today by phone.

    Vulcan Resources Ltd., an Australian minerals company seeking to build a $170 million mine in Finland, yesterday had its shares halted from Sydney trading as it reviewed funding for the project following the deterioration in debt and equity markets. Kinross Gold Corp., the world's fourth-largest gold producer by market value, said this month junior mining companies will battle to raise money during the credit crisis.