McEwen Copper Completes Oversubscribed US$81.85 Million Offering Including a $25 Million Investment by Nuton, a Rio Tinto Venture
August 31 2022 - 1:21PM
McEwen Copper Inc., a subsidiary of
McEwen
Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX), is pleased to announce
the closing of the third and final tranche of the previously
announced private placement offering (the “Offering”) of up to
8,000,000 common shares of McEwen Copper Inc.
priced at
US$10.00 per common share. The third
tranche is comprised of a
$25 million investment
by Rio Tinto’s copper leaching technology venture,
Nuton (“
Nuton” or the
“
Investor”), and
$1.85 million
from other investors. The total Offering has been increased to
8,185,000 common shares, with the amounts raised
in the three tranches of the private placement totalling
$81.85 million.
McEwen Copper is well-funded to advance
its Los Azules Project, located in the mining friendly province of
San Juan, Argentina. The next milestones are the upcoming drilling
season from October 2022 to June 2023, the completion of an updated
preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in early Q1 2023, and the
planned IPO of McEwen Copper in H1 2023.
In connection with the Offering, McEwen Copper
entered into a collaboration agreement with Nuton (the "Nuton
Collaboration Agreement”) to advance our understanding of the
potential application of heap leach technology at Los Azules,
including the testing of Nuton® Technologies for
compatibility with Los Azules copper mineralization. Leaching has
many potential economic and environmental benefits over a
conventional milling scenario, including lower water and energy
consumption, no large tailings storage facility or dam, and
typically lower capital and operating costs.
McEwen Copper Chief Executive Rob McEwen said:
“Los Azules is among the largest undeveloped copper assets
in the world. We recognize the potential opportunity of using Nuton
Technologies to produce copper in greater amounts, more rapidly,
and with less impact on the environment and water resources. I
trust that our relationship with Nuton and Rio Tinto will
accelerate the process of realizing the enormous potential of Los
Azules.”
Rio Tinto Chief Executive Copper Bold Baatar
said: “This agreement will allow us to evaluate the
potential to commercially deploy Rio Tinto’s innovative Nuton
Technologies for copper leaching in McEwen Copper’s planned
development of Los Azules. Our Nuton Technologies have the capacity
to unlock increased copper production for Rio Tinto and our
partners, with a low carbon footprint and leading environmental
performance.”
The principal terms of the Nuton Collaboration
Agreement include:
-
Nuton will invest $25 million in McEwen
Copper, acquiring 2.5 million common shares at $10.00 per
common share, for post-closing ownership of 9.73%.
-
McEwen Copper and Nuton will jointly
undertake copper leach testing using Nuton
Technologies with samples from Los Azules. McEwen
Copper has agreed to grant exclusivity to Nuton for one year in the
area of novel, patented or trade secret leaching technology, while
it will continue its independent test work and studies using
conventional leach technologies.
-
Nuton will have the right to select one nominee who will be
appointed as a director or observer to the Board of McEwen
Copper. This right will continue for as long as Nuton
holds greater than 7.5% of the issued and outstanding shares of
McEwen Copper.
-
McEwen Copper and its controlling shareholders will not
complete a liquidity event (such as the planned IPO) until after
March 31, 2023.
-
McEwen Copper has agreed to limit related party
transactions in certain situations until the earlier of
the planned IPO (or alternative liquidity event) or Nuton ceasing
to hold 7.5%.
-
Customary standstill and lock-up agreement between
the Investor and its affiliates and McEwen Copper and its
affiliates.
-
Other customary representations and warranties.
About McEwen CopperMcEwen
Copper Inc. holds 100% interest in the Los Azules copper project in
San Juan, Argentina and the Elder Creek project in Nevada, USA.
McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE/TSX:MUX) owns a 68% share of McEwen
Copper.
About Los AzulesLos Azules was
ranked in the top 10 largest undeveloped copper deposits in the
world by Mining Intelligence (2022). Its current copper resources
are estimated at 10.2 billion pounds at
a grade of 0.48% Cu (Indicated category) and an
additional 19.3 billion pounds at a
grade of 0.33% Cu (Inferred category).
About NutonNuton is an
innovative new venture that aims to help grow Rio Tinto’s copper
business. At the core of Nuton is a portfolio of proprietary
copper leach-related technologies and capability – a product of
almost 30 years of research and development.
Nuton® Technologies offer the potential to economically unlock
copper sulphide resources, copper bearing waste and tailings, and
achieve higher copper recoveries on oxide and transitional
material, allowing for a significantly increased copper production.
One of the key differentiators of Nuton is the potential
to deliver leading environmental performance, including more
efficient water usage, lower carbon emissions, and the ability to
reclaim mine sites by reprocessing mine waste.
About Rio TintoRio Tinto is the
second largest mining and metals company in the world, operating in
35 countries, and producing the raw materials essential to human
progress. It aims to help pioneer a more sustainable future, from
partnering in the development of technology that can make the
aluminum smelting process entirely free of direct greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions, to providing the world with the materials it needs
– such as copper – to build a new low-carbon economy and products
like electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and
smartphones.
This press release shall not constitute an offer
to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be
any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such
offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTSThis news release contains certain forward-looking
statements and information, including "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. The forward-looking statements and information expressed,
as at the date of this news release, McEwen Mining Inc.'s (the
"Company") estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or
beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements
and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates
and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management,
are inherently subject to significant business, economic and
competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies, and there can
be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to
be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could
differ materially from those anticipated in such statements and
information. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or
future events to differ materially from current expectations
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and
information include, but are not limited to, effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in the market price of precious
metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and
security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of
the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or
other approvals required in connection with operations, risks
associated with the construction of mining operations and
commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks
related to litigation, the state of the capital markets,
environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of
mineral resources and reserves, and other risks. Readers should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information
included herein, which speak only as of the date hereof. The
Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update
forward-looking statements or information as a result of new
information or events after the date hereof except as may be
required by law. See McEwen Mining's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 and other filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption "Risk
Factors", for additional information on risks, uncertainties and
other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and
information regarding the Company. All forward-looking statements
and information made in this news release are qualified by this
cautionary statement.
The NYSE and TSX have not reviewed and do not
accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents
of this news release, which has been prepared by management of
McEwen Mining Inc.
WEBSITEwww.mcewenmining.com CONTACT
INFORMATION150 King Street West Suite 2800, P.O. Box
24 Toronto, ON, Canada M5H 1J9 Investor
Relations: (866)-441-0690
Toll-Free (647)-258-0395 Mihaela Iancu
ext. 320 info@mcewenmining.com |
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