Bear Creek Mining Corporation (TSXV: BCM) (BVL: BCM) (“Bear Creek”
or the “Company”) announces that it has entered into an agreement
with BMO Capital Markets to act as sole bookrunner, on behalf of a
syndicate of underwriters (collectively, the “Underwriters”), on a
bought deal basis, for a private placement of 64,445,000 common
shares of the Company (each, a “Share”), at a price of C$0.225 per
Share (the “Offering Price”) to raise aggregate gross proceeds of
approximately C$14.5 million (the “Offering”). Pursuant to the
Offering, the Company has granted the Underwriters an option to
purchase an additional 9,666,750 Shares pursuant to the Offering
for additional gross proceeds of approximately C$2.2 million (the
“Underwriters’ Option”). The Company further announces the
retirements of Mr. Andrew Swarthout and Ms. Sandra Daycock from the
Board and is pleased to announce the appointments of Peter C.
Mitchell and Ian Grundy to the Board. In addition, the Company
intends to enter into certain amending agreements with each of
Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (“Sandstorm”) and Equinox Gold Corp.
(“Equinox”) to temporarily defer the payment of interest under
certain outstanding debt arrangements, subject to negotiating and
entering into such amending agreements and approval and acceptance
of same by the TSX Venture Exchange. Furthermore, Sandstorm intends
to extend up to US$6.5 million in additional credit to the Company
for working capital purposes under the Sandstorm Promissory Note
(as defined below).
Brokered Private Placement
The Company intends to complete a private
placement of Shares on a bought deal basis at a price of C$0.225
per Share for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately C$16.7
million (assuming full exercise of the Underwriters’ Option).
The Offering is expected to close on or about
March 11, 2025 or such other date as the Company may determine (the
“Closing Date”). Closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of
conditional acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”). The
Shares issued under the Offering will be subject to certain resale
restrictions including a hold period of four months and a day from
the Closing Date.
It is intended that each of Sandstorm and
Equinox will participate in the Offering, with each purchasing
32,222,500 Shares for gross proceeds of approximately C$7.3
million. Currently, Sandstorm and Equinox hold 45,492,399 and
25,397,160 Shares, respectively, which represent approximately
19.97% and 11.15%, respectively, of the total issued and
outstanding Shares. Accordingly, each of Equinox and Sandstorm are
a “related party” of the Company and the Offering will constitute a
“related party transaction” (as each term is defined in
Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security
Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101”)). The Company intends
to rely on the specified markets exemption from the formal
valuation requirement set forth in subsection 5.5(b) of MI 61-101
and the financial hardship exemption from the minority shareholder
approval requirements set out in subsection 5.7(1)(c) of MI
61-101.
The Company intends to use net proceeds of the
Offering to support exploration and resource drilling at the
Company’s Mercedes mine in Mexico (“Mercedes”), to build a
ventilation raise bore and secondary escape way at the Marianas
deposit at Mercedes to ensure safe production and for general
working capital purposes, the latter of which will include reducing
Mercedes’ trade payables over the next quarter.
The securities that will be offered in
the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the
United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S.
Securities Act”), or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be
offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or
benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or exemptions from the
registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable
U.S. state securities laws. This news release shall not constitute
an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities
in the U.S., nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be
unlawful. “United States” and “U.S. person” are as defined in
Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act.
Retirement of Directors
Mr. Andrew Swarthout and Ms. Sandra Daycock have
notified the Company of their intention to retire from the Board
effective on closing of the Offering, the Debt Amendments (as
defined below) and the Credit Extension (as defined below).
Mr. Swarthout co-founded Bear Creek Mining in
2003 and served as the Company’s President and CEO until 2017. He
was a critical and integral contributor to the acquisition,
discovery and development of the Corani deposit and the backbone of
the Company’s technical and management teams. Mr. Swarthout retired
from management of Bear Creek in 2017 but continued to provide his
wealth of knowledge to the Company as a Director, including
directly contributing to Bear Creek’s understanding of the multiple
high-quality exploration opportunities at the Mercedes property,
and serving as the Company’s Qualified Person (as defined in
National Instrument 43-101). The Board sincerely thanks Mr.
Swarthout for his vision, guidance and execution of the Company’s
goals throughout his 22-year tenure at Bear Creek.
Ms. Daycock was appointed to the Company's Board
in November 2023 and elected as a Director by shareholders in June
2024. Ms. Daycock served on the Company’s Audit and Compensation
Committees throughout her tenure on the Board, where her experience
in corporate development, corporate finance, strategy, treasury
management, accounting, financing, investor relations, and
corporate restructuring were invaluable assets. The Board sincerely
thanks Ms. Daycock for her service.
Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, Chair of the Company
stated: “We deeply thank Andrew and Sandra for their involvement
with, and thoughtful stewardship of, the Company. Their
contributions have been innumerable. In particular, we recognize
and salute Andrew’s central role as Founder of the Company.”
Appointment of Directors
The Board is further pleased to announce the
appointment of Peter C. Mitchell and Ian Grundy to the Board
effective immediately.
Peter C. Mitchell is a veteran financial
executive with 25 years of senior-level experience in financial and
operational management, executive leadership, Board of Directors
experience, acquisitions and divestitures and tax and compliance
for private equity sponsored and publicly held companies. Mr.
Mitchell most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer of Coeur Mining, Inc., a leading precious metals
producer that owns and operates mines throughout North America.
Having joined Coeur as CFO in 2013, Peter was responsible for
investor relations, financial planning and analysis, financial
reporting, information technology, tax and compliance. He was a key
team member managing Coeur’s acquisition and divestiture activities
and led all capital markets activity in multiple equity and debt
financings. Prior to Coeur, Peter held executive leadership
positions in finance and operations with a variety of U.S. and
Canadian public and private equity sponsored companies. He is
currently a Director and the Audit Committee Chair of Stabilis
Solutions, Inc., Northcliff Resources Ltd., and Taseko Mines
Limited. Mr. Mitchell earned a BA in Economics from Western
University, an MBA from the University of British Columbia, and is
a Chartered Accountant (CPA-CA).
Ian Grundy has more than a decade of experience
in the mining and capital markets sectors. He is currently
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development at Sandstorm. Prior
to joining Sandstorm in 2018, Mr. Grundy worked for several
Canadian equity research teams covering the gold, base metal, and
basic materials industries. This included helping to grow
Scotiabank’s base metals franchise into Canada’s top ranked
research team, as recognized by Brendan Woods International. Mr.
Grundy is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) and a
graduate of Queen’s University where he earned a Bachelor of
Commerce (First Class Honours). He is also a Chartered Financial
Analyst charterholder.
Debt Amendments and Credit
Extension
On October 19, 2023, the Company issued a
secured convertible promissory note (the “Equinox Note”) in the
principal amount of approximately US$26 million to defer a US$25
million liability originally payable to a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Equinox. Please see the Company’s news releases on October 19,
2023, November 27, 2023 and December 1, 2023 for additional details
regarding the Equinox Note.
On January 22, 2024, as part of a restructuring
transaction, the Company (i) entered into an amended and restated
convertible debenture between the Company and Sandstorm in the
principal amount of approximately US$22.5 million (the “Sandstorm
Convertible Debenture”); and (ii) issued an amended and restated
secured promissory note to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sandstorm
with a principal amount equal to up to approximately US$21.6
million (the “Sandstorm Promissory Note” and together with the
Sandstorm Convertible Debenture and the Equinox Note, the “Debt
Agreements”). Please see the Company’s news release on January 22,
2024 and August 21, 2024 for more details regarding the Sandstorm
Convertible Debenture and the Sandstorm Promissory Note.
The Company and each of Equinox and Sandstorm,
respectively, intend to amend (collectively, the “Debt Amendments”)
each of the Debt Agreements whereby monthly interest payments
payable on the last day of each month from and including February
2025 to November 2025, shall be deferred until December 31, 2025
(the “Deferred Interest”) and interest on the Deferred Interest
shall automatically accrue monthly at the rate of interest
applicable to the principal owing under the respective Debt
Agreements.
In addition, the Company and Sandstorm intend to
further amend the Sandstorm Promissory Note to increase the
principal amount by up to US$6.5 million, with Sandstorm committing
up to US$600,000 per month to the Company for working capital
purposes, subject to the existing terms of the Sandstorm Promissory
Note (the “Credit Extension”).
It is expected that all other terms of the Debt
Agreements will remain unchanged and in full force and effect. The
Debt Amendments and the Credit Extension are expected to be closed
on or about March 11, 2025 and will be subject to final approval of
the TSXV.
As each of Sandstorm and Equinox are a “related
party” of the Company, entering into the Debt Amendments and the
Credit Extension and the matters related thereto are considered to
be “related party transactions” (as each term is defined in MI
61-101), requiring the Company, in the absence of certain
exemptions, to obtain a formal valuation and minority shareholder
approval, of the related party transactions.
The Company intends to rely on the specified
markets exemption from the formal valuation requirement set forth
in subsection 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and the financial hardship
exemption from the minority shareholder approval requirements set
out in subsection 5.7(1)(c) of MI 61-101.
A material change report in connection with the
Debt Amendments and the Credit Extension will be filed within 10
days of the date hereof which is less than 21 days before the date
of closing of the Debt Amendments. The Company believes this
shorter period is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances as
the details of the Debt Amendments, the Credit Extension and the
matters related thereto were not finalized until immediately prior
to the date hereof and the Company wished to complete the Debt
Amendments, the Credit Extension and the matters related thereto as
soon as practicable for sound business reasons.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,Eric CabaPresident and Chief
Executive Officer
For further information contact:Barbara Henderson - VP Corporate
CommunicationsDirect:
604-628-1111E-mail: barb@bearcreekmining.comwww.bearcreekmining.com
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Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Information and statements contained in this
news release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking
information” within the meaning of applicable securities
legislation. Forward-looking information can often be identified by
forward-looking words such as “believe”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”
and “will” or the negative of these terms or similar words
suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans,
objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future
events or performance. Examples of forward-looking information in
this news release include, without limitation: the gross proceeds
of the Offering; timing of completion of the Offering; each of
Sandstorm’s and Equinox’s participation in the Offering; the
proposed use of proceeds of the Offering; TSXV acceptance of the
Offering; the entry into and the terms and timing of the Debt
Amendments and the Credit Extension; the deferral of interest
pursuant to the Debt Amendments subsequent to December 2025;
receipt of final approval of the TSXV for the Debt Amendments and
the Credit Extension; and the filing of a material change report
within the required timeframe. These forward-looking statements are
provided as of the date of this news release, and reflect
predictions, expectations or beliefs regarding future events based
on the Company’s beliefs at the time the statements were made, as
well as various assumptions made by and information currently
available to them.
In making the forward-looking statements
included in this news release, the Company has applied several
material assumptions, including, but not limited to assumptions
related to the Company’s operating results, business objectives,
goals and capabilities. Although management considers the
assumptions underlying its forward-looking statement to be
reasonable based on information available to it, they may prove to
be incorrect.
By their very nature, forward-looking statements
involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and
specific, and the risk exists that estimates, forecasts,
projections, and other forward-looking statements will not be
achieved or that assumptions on which they are based do not reflect
future experience. We caution readers not to place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements as a number of important
factors could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from
the expectations expressed in them. These risk factors may be
generally stated as the risk that the assumptions expressed above
do not occur, but may include additional risks as described in the
Company’s latest Annual Information Form, and other disclosure
documents filed by the Company on SEDAR+. The foregoing list of
factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. Investors
and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and
other uncertainties and potential events. The Company does not
undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written
or oral, that may be made from time to time by the Company or on
behalf of the Company, except as required by law.
In its last reported financial results as of
September 30, 2024, the Company had a working capital (current
assets minus current liabilities) deficiency of US$93.2 million.
The Company’s interim condensed consolidated financial statements
for the three months ended September 30, 2024 were prepared
following accounting principles applicable to a going concern,
which assumes the Company will be able to continue operations for
at least twelve months from September 30, 2024 and will be able to
realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the ordinary
course of operations. As of September 30, 2024, the Company does
not have sufficient funds to cover its working capital deficiency
and fund ongoing obligations and therefore its ability to continue
as a “going concern” is at risk.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the
TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
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