Serabi Forms Exploration Alliance with Vale
Serabi Gold plc
(AIM:SRB,TSX:SBI) (“Serabi”), the
Brazilian-focused gold mining and development company,
is pleased to announce the signing of a
strategic exploration alliance (“Exploration Alliance”) with Vale
S.A., through its subsidiary Salobo Metais S.A.,
(both “Vale”) focused on its Matilda
prospect and other large regional targets in the Tapajos region of
Para, Brazil.
Highlights
- Exploration Alliance focused on the discovery of large-scale
copper projects within Serabi’s Palito Complex tenement area
- Vale represents an excellent partner being Brazilian based and
one of the world’s largest diversified mining companies
- Exploration Alliance structured over a number of phases:
- Phase 1:
Vale to sole fund up to US$5.0 million exploration programme.
- Phase 2:
Vale may elect to continue exploration activities and to sole fund
one or more selected copper projects to Pre-feasibility Study
(“PFS”) stage
- Phase 3:
Vale will have an option to, acquire a 75% shares of a legal entity
to be incorporated by Serabi (“JV Company”), . Immediately after
the incorporation of the JV Company, Serabi shall transfer to the
JV Company the copper project. Serabi shall sell 75% of the JV
Company ownership to Vale for US$5 million (“Exercise Price”). Vale
will continue to sole fund the JV by capital contributions to
completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”), while Serabi
retains a 25% interest.
- Phase 4:
Vale can acquire an additional 15% interest in the JV Company or a
further payment of the higher of US$5 million or 1.5% of the net
present value of the project, taking their interest to 90%. Serabi
then has a put option to sell their remaining 10% interest in the
JV Company for a further US$10 million and a 1.5% Net Smelter
Royalty (“NSR”)
- The JV
Company may acquire additional copper projects from Serabi, in
which case Serabi will be entitled to additional payments of the
higher of US$5 million or 1.5% of the net present value of the
project for each, when a DFS has been completed
Michael Hodgson CEO of Serabi
commented:
“Making the discovery of the Matilda porphyry
prospect in 2022 was a major milestone for Serabi. However,
bringing in a partner with the expertise and resources of Vale,
will enable us to properly evaluate Matilda and the other
significant targets within our tenement area, and move them forward
more quickly. The Exploration Alliance is focused on large scale
copper projects and allows Serabi to maintain its attention on its
gold exploration targets.
“Vale represents an excellent partner for Serabi
and we are delighted to be working with them to begin unlocking the
potential of the Tapajos Region.”
Key elements of the
Exploration Alliance
The Exploration Alliance is primarily focussed
on opportunities for the discovery of copper deposits within the
exploration tenements held by Serabi around the Palito and Sao
Chico mines (the “Palito Complex tenements”), which cover more than
61,000 hectares. This follows the discovery of Copper - Molybdenum
porphyry mineralisation at the Matilda prospect in July 2022 (see
news release 5 July 2022) and the identification of a number of
other high priority exploration targets.
PHASE 1 –
- Vale will fund
an exploration programme of up to US$5.0 million over the Palito
Complex tenements. Phase 1 is expected to last no more than 12
months and the budget is anticipated to be sufficient to finance up
to 15,000 meters of diamond drilling during that time.
PHASE 2 –
- Following on
from the results of Phase 1, and if Vale decides to continue
exploration activities, Vale will fund all further work to progress
one or more copper projects identified in the Palito Complex
tenements to the stage of a PFS.
- The Phase 2
programme is for a minimum of two years but may be extended (i)
annually up to five years, provided the average annual funding by
Vale over that period is US$2 million of more, or (ii) to ten
years, if funding by Vale during the first five years is US$20
million or more.
PHASE 3 –
- After completion
of a PFS, Vale may notify Serabi that it wishes to progress the
relevant copper project. In that case Vale will incorporate a JV
Company into which it will transfer the mineral rights relating to
that copper project. Vale will pay to Serabi US$5 million, for a
75% share of the JV Company. Vale may require the JV
Company to acquire further copper projects that have completed a
PFS, for further payments of US$5 million each, fully funded by
Vale.
- Phase 3 begins
for each project upon transfer of the relevant mineral rights to
the JV Company. During Phase 3, Vale will continue to fund all
activities required for the production of a DFS for each copper
project.
- The Phase 3
programme requires expenditures of at least US$3 million per annum
with dilution provisions if the minimum expenditures are not met.
Phase 3 for a specific copper project will come to an end upon the
completion of a DFS for that copper project.
PHASE 4 –
- At the end of
Phase 3, and if both parties wish to continue, each will be
required to fund their pro-rata share of the expenditures of the JV
Company. At the end of Phase 3, for 90 days from delivery of the
DFS, Vale has a call option to acquire from Serabi a further 15%
interest in the JV Company for a payment of the higher of US$5
million or 1.5% of the net present value of the project (using
consensus commodity prices and a pre-agreed discount rate of 11%).
Should Vale exercise its call option, Serabi has a put option to
require Vale to purchase from Serabi, its remaining 10% interest in
the JV Company for a further payment of US$10 million and the
issuance of a 1.5% net smelter royalty over all projects held by
the JV Company.
During Phases 1 and 2 Serabi is expected to be
the operator of the exploration programmes and will receive a 9%
fee of the total amount paid by Vale for managing these mineral
exploration activities.
Other Details of the
Agreement
Following the incorporation of the JV Company
some other copper projects may still be within the Phase 2 stage of
evaluation and Vale shall continue to be responsible for the
funding of these projects up to and including the completion of any
additional PFS (end of Phase 2) and DFS (end of Phase3). The JV
Company will have the option to acquire any additional copper
projects following satisfactory completion of the respective PFS by
paying Serabi a further US$5 million as the option exercise price.
The option exercise price payable by the JV Company will be funded
by Vale by a non-dilutive issue of equity in the JV Company. Vale
will continue to provide funding to the JV Company for all the
Phase 3 activities for that copper project and for the completion
of a DFS. Should Vale wish to continue with such additional copper
project, Vale will fund the payment to Serabi of the higher of US$5
million or 1.5% of the net present value of the project (using
consensus commodity prices and a discount rate of 11%).
in addition to all option payments, all Phase 2 and Phase 3
expenditures incurred by the JV Company will also be funded by Vale
with a non-dilutive issue of equity in the JV Company.
The Parties can elect, at any time, to exclude
specific areas from the Exploration Alliance and those areas will
revert to Serabi in full. If the Exploration Alliance has completed
a PFS on any potential copper project but such project is not
deemed to be a copper project, (considered to contain a resource of
more than 75,000 tons (seventy-five thousand tons) of contained
copper and with copper plus molybdenum value being greater than the
value of gold), Serabi shall be permitted to develop such a project
at its own cost, in which case, Vale shall have a matching right on
sales of the copper products that are generated from that project
for a period of 15 years from the date of first commercial
production.
During Phase 1 and Phase 2, the work programmes
will be overseen by a working committee, comprising 2
representatives from Valeand 2 representatives from Serabi. Vale
shall have a casting vote over all the decisions made by the
Working Committee. Upon the formation of a JV Company all decisions
will be delegated to the Board of Directors and management of the
JV Company.
The sum of all funding by Vale to Serabi
equivalent to the Mineral Exploration Expenses incurred for the
conduction of the Mineral Exploration during Phases 1 and 2 are
considered as the acquisition price of Vale’s Earn-in Option on
Phase 3.
Each of the parties has provided to the other,
representations and warranties as would be customary for a
transaction of this nature.
The information contained within this
announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside
information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU)
No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
The person who arranged for the release of this
announcement on behalf of the Company was Clive Line, Director.
Enquiries
SERABI GOLD plcMichael
Hodgson t
+44 (0)20 7246 6830Chief
Executive m
+44 (0)7799 473621
Clive
Line t
+44 (0)20 7246 6830Finance
Director m
+44 (0)7710 151692
e
contact@serabigold.com
www.serabigold.com
BEAUMONT CORNISH
LimitedNominated Adviser & Financial
AdviserRoland Cornish / Michael
Cornish t
+44 (0)20 7628 3396
PEEL HUNT LLPJoint UK
BrokerRoss
Allister t
+44 (0)20 7418 9000
TAMESIS PARTNERS LLPJoint
UK BrokerCharlie Bendon/ Richard
Greenfield t
+44 (0)20 3882 2868
CAMARCOFinancial PRGordon
Poole / Emily
Hall t
+44 (0)20 3757 4980
Copies of this announcement are available from
the Company's website at www.serabigold.com.
See
www.serabigold.com for more information
and follow us on twitter @Serabi_Gold
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
The following is a glossary of technical
terms:
“Ag” |
means silver. |
“Au” |
means gold. |
“assay” |
in economic geology, means to analyse the proportions of metal in a
rock or overburden sample; to test an ore or mineral for
composition, purity, weight or other properties of commercial
interest. |
“CIM” |
means the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and
Petroleum. |
“chalcopyrite” |
is a sulphide of copper and iron. |
“Cu” |
means copper. |
“cut-off grade” |
the lowest grade of mineralised material that qualifies as ore in a
given deposit; rock of the lowest assay included in an ore
estimate. |
“dacite porphyry intrusive” |
a silica-rich igneous rock with larger phenocrysts (crystals)
within a fine-grained matrixi |
“deposit” |
is a mineralised body which has been physically delineated by
sufficient drilling, trenching, and/or underground work, and found
to contain a sufficient average grade of metal or metals to warrant
further exploration and/or development expenditures; such a deposit
does not qualify as a commercially mineable ore body or as
containing ore reserves, until final legal, technical, and economic
factors have been resolved. |
“electromagnetics” |
is a geophysical technique tool measuring the magnetic field
generated by subjecting the sub-surface to electrical
currents. |
“garimpo” |
is a local artisanal mining operation |
“garimpeiro” |
is a local artisanal miner. |
“geochemical” |
refers to geological information using measurements derived from
chemical analysis. |
“geophysical” |
refers to geological information using measurements derived from
the use of magnetic and electrical readings. |
“geophysical techniques” |
include the exploration of an area by exploiting differences in
physical properties of different rock types. Geophysical methods
include seismic, magnetic, gravity, induced polarisation and other
techniques; geophysical surveys can be undertaken from the ground
or from the air. |
“gossan” |
is an iron-bearing weathered product that overlies a sulphide
deposit. |
“grade” |
is the concentration of mineral within the host rock typically
quoted as grams per tonne (g/t), parts per million (ppm) or parts
per billion (ppb). |
“g/t” |
means grams per tonne. |
“granodiorite” |
is an igneous intrusive rock similar to granite. |
“hectare” or a “ha” |
is a unit of measurement equal to 10,000 square metres. |
“igneous” |
is a rock that has solidified from molten material or magma. |
“IP” |
refers to induced polarisation, a geophysical technique whereby an
electric current is induced into the sub-surface and the
conductivity of the sub-surface is recorded. |
“intrusive” |
is a body of rock that invades older rocks. |
“mineralisation” |
the concentration of metals and their chemical compounds within a
body of rock. |
“mineralised” |
refers to rock which contains minerals e.g. iron, copper,
gold. |
“Mo-Bi-As-Te-W-Sn” |
Molybdenum-Bismuth-Arsenic-Tellurium-Tungsten-Tin |
“monzogranite” |
a biotite rich granite, often part of the later-stage emplacement
of a larger granite body. |
“mt” |
means million tonnes. |
“ore” |
means a metal or mineral or a combination of these of sufficient
value as to quality and quantity to enable it to be mined at a
profit. |
“oxides” |
are near surface bed-rock which has been weathered and oxidised by
long term exposure to the effects of water and air. |
“ppm” |
means parts per million. |
“saprolite” |
is a weathered or decomposed clay-rich rock. |
“sulphide” |
refers to minerals consisting of a chemical combination of sulphur
with a metal. |
“vein” |
is a generic term to describe an occurrence of mineralised rock
within an area of non-mineralised rock. |
“VTEM” |
refers to versa time domain electromagnetic, a particular variant
of time-domain electromagnetic geophysical survey to prospect for
conductive bodies below surface. |
Assay ResultsAssay results reported within this
release include those provided by the Company's own on-site
laboratory facilities at Palito and have not yet been independently
verified. Serabi closely monitors the performance of its own
facility against results from independent laboratory analysis for
quality control purpose. As a matter of normal practice, the
Company sends duplicate samples derived from a variety of the
Company's activities to accredited laboratory facilities for
independent verification. Since mid-2019, over 10,000 exploration
drill core samples have been assayed at both the Palito laboratory
and certified external laboratory, in most cases the ALS laboratory
in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. When comparing significant assays with
grades exceeding 1 g/t gold, comparison between Palito versus
external results record an average over-estimation by the Palito
laboratory of 6.7% over this period. Based on the results of this
work, the Company's management are satisfied that the Company's own
facility shows sufficiently good correlation with independent
laboratory facilities for exploration drill samples. The Company
would expect that in the preparation of any future independent
Reserve/Resource statement undertaken in compliance with a
recognised standard, the independent authors of such a statement
would not use Palito assay results without sufficient duplicates
from an appropriately certificated laboratory.
Forward-looking statementsCertain statements in
this announcement are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking
statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use
of terms and phrases such as ‘‘believe’’, ‘‘could’’, “should”
‘‘envisage’’, ‘‘estimate’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘may’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘will’’
or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions,
including references to assumptions. These forward-looking
statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the
Directors’ current expectations and assumptions regarding the
Company’s future growth, results of operations, performance, future
capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and
sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business
prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect
the Directors’ current beliefs and assumptions and are based on
information currently available to the Directors. A number of
factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the
results discussed in the forward-looking statements including risks
associated with vulnerability to general economic and business
conditions, competition, environmental and other regulatory
changes, actions by governmental authorities, the availability of
capital markets, reliance on key personnel, uninsured and
underinsured losses and other factors, many of which are beyond the
control of the Company. Although any forward-looking statements
contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors
believe to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure
investors that actual results will be consistent with such forward
looking statements.
Qualified Persons StatementThe scientific and
technical information contained within this announcement has been
reviewed and approved by Michael Hodgson, a Director of the
Company. Mr Hodgson is an Economic Geologist by training with over
30 years' experience in the mining industry. He holds a BSc (Hons)
Geology, University of London, a MSc Mining Geology, University of
Leicester and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals
and Mining and a Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council of
UK, recognizing him as both a Qualified Person for the purposes of
Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and by the AIM Guidance Note on
Mining and Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009.
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, nor any other securities
regulatory authority, has approved or disapproved of the contents
of this news release
Serabi Gold (TSX:SBI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2024 to Jan 2025
Serabi Gold (TSX:SBI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jan 2024 to Jan 2025