TORONTO, Sept. 6,
2023 /CNW/ - Canada Nickel Company
Inc. ("Canada Nickel" or the "Company")
(TSXV: CNC) (OTCQX: CNIKF) today provided an update on the
Company's activities, including several new management appointments
and a US$12 million loan facility
with Auramet International, Inc. ("Auramet").
Mark Selby, CEO of Canada Nickel,
said, "I am very proud of everything our team has accomplished in
just four years. As we look forward to the completion of the
feasibility study later this month, we are making a number of key
management appointments in anticipation of advancing the project
towards a construction decision by mid-2025. I am very
pleased that we have been able to attract outstanding professionals
like Des Tranquilla and Chris Chang
to join our team on a full-time basis. I am also pleased that
our long supportive financing partner, Auramet, has agreed to
provide a US$12 million bridge
facility which will allow us to remain well-funded and continue to
advance our permitting and detailed engineering activities.
Discussions with potential offtake partners are ongoing and
expected to be completed before year end."
Management Appointments
Desmond Tranquilla joins the
Company as Vice-President Projects. He has been supporting the
Crawford project on a part-time consulting basis through the
feasibility study process since September
2021 and possesses hands-on knowledge of the Company's
projects.
Desmond has more than 32 years' experience supporting major
capital projects in mining, as well as experience with both major
greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects. He has
held various management and leadership roles in project delivery on
behalf of asset managers, mining companies, major engineering firms
and P3-type partnerships. In support of full project cycles,
he has experience from early scoping/planning, environmental
assessment (both Federal and Provincial), PEA, PFS, FS, FEED,
detailed design, project delivery (EPCM, EPC & JV) completions,
operations and ramp-up. Prior to joining Canada Nickel,
Desmond held the position of Director of Construction within the
Project Delivery group at SNC-Lavalin North America where he
supported all aspects of project planning and execution. One
of his more significant contributions was supporting senior
leadership on the Detour Lake Gold Project which was delivered on
time and within budget. Other major projects he has provided
leadership on include: Vale Copper Cliff – Atmospheric Emission
Reduction Project (AER), Western Potash – Milestone Project, Potash
Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS)
– Cory Project, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan – Picadilly Project, Florida Rock
Industries/Arundel Corporation – Jamer Materials Project.
Chris Chang joins the Company as
Vice-President Corporate Development, after supporting the
Company's Corporate Development activities on a part-time basis
since 2022.
Chris has had a 17-year career in Investment Banking and Capital
Markets. From 2015 to 2021, he led the Institutional Equities
Mining Specialist Sales desk at various multinational foreign
investment banks including Macquarie Capital Markets and
Raymond James. In those roles, he
has helped raise over $1 billion of
equity funding for junior and mid-cap mining companies from
Institutional Investors and Private Equity groups globally.
Previously, Chris was an Equity Research Mining Analyst at
Laurentian Bank Securities covering Base Metals and Uranium
equities, where he was responsible for company research coverage,
valuations, and the bank's commodity price forecasts.
Christian Brousseau, who joined
Canada Nickel in 2020, assumes a new role as Vice-President
Innovation and Technical Services and will continue to lead the
Company's work on IPT Carbonation. Under his leadership, IPT
Carbonation has advanced from concept to feasibility study level
design in just 13 months. He will also oversee other innovation
initiatives targeting the multiple ultramafic deposits we have in
our Timmins Nickel District.
After completing the preliminary economic assessment for the
Crawford Project, Christian launched the Feasibility Study and has
been leading the development of the IPT process since 2022. He has
over 30 years of experience in engineering, design, and
construction in the Canadian mining industry, including over six
years as Project Director for the Dumont Project, and three years
as the Engineering and Construction Manager for Detour Gold. Prior
to Detour, he held various construction management positions at
Osisko's Malartic Project (now owned by Agnico Eagle) and at
Goldcorp's Éléonore Project. Mr. Brousseau also spent eight
years at Falconbridge supervising
and managing various capital projects at Sudbury, Raglan, Kidd Creek and the Horne Smelter.
Loan Facility
The Company has arranged a US$12
million loan facility with Auramet, which is expected to
close on or before September 15,
2023. The loan will be due on about December 15, 2023, will carry an interest rate of
1.00% per month, and be subject to a 2.3% arrangement fee. At
closing, Auramet will also receive 550,000 one-year warrants with a
strike price of $1.24 per common
share. The loan will be subject to such terms and conditions
including certain specified positive and negative covenants that
are customary for a transaction of this nature. The warrants and
the underlying shares will be subject to a four month hold period
under applicable Canadian securities laws. The closing of the loan
facility is subject to customary conditions including the approval
of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Update on Previously Announced
Texmont Acquisitions
The Company also wishes to clarify certain disclosure included
in its news release dated June 22,
2023. The Company reported the acquisition of certain mining
claims within the Texmont ultramafic trend through a series of
Purchase and Sale Agreements. The Company has, in fact, through a
series of eleven Purchase and Sale Agreements, acquired a total of
498 mining claims within the Texmont ultramafic trend in exchange
for a total of 504,500 common shares and cash payments totaling
$295,550, which is 10,900 fewer
shares and $5,000 less cash than the
515,400 common shares and cash payments totalling $300,550 previously disclosed on June 22, 2023. The Company has also agreed, under
ten of the agreements, to grant a 2.0% net smelter returns royalty
to the applicable vendors on such claims, with the Company having
the exclusive option to repurchase half of each royalty for
$1,000,000 per royalty.
This correction does not change any other information reported
in the June 22, 2023 news
release.
In addition, the Company announces that it has entered into an
option agreement with a group of optionors under which the Company
had acquired an option to acquire a 100% interest in 28 single cell
mining claims located in the Texmont ultramafic trend. The
agreement provides the issuance by the Company of up to a total of
82,236 common shares and the payment to the optionors of a total of
$20,000 to exercise the option. In
the event the option is exercised, the optionors will retain a 2.0%
net smelter returns royalty with the Company having the exclusive
option to repurchase half of the royalty for $1,000,000.
Each of the foregoing issuances of common shares are subject to
the prior approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, and the shares will
be subject to a four-month hold period under Canadian securities
laws from the date of the respective issuance.
About Auramet
Auramet is one of the largest physical precious metals merchants
in the world with over US$20 billion
in annual revenues and which provides a full range of services to
all participants in the precious metals supply chain. Auramet is a
private company established in 2004 by seasoned professionals who
have assembled a global team of industry specialists with over 350
years combined industry experience. Their business consists of
three main activities: physical metals trading, metals merchant
banking (including direct lending) and project finance advisory
services. The company has built a consistently successful and
prominent franchise in the metals space on the back of an
experienced management team that has proven to be innovative and
capable of delivering the highest quality service to participants
in the sector. In fiscal year 2022 it purchased over 5 million
ounces of gold, 78 million ounces of silver and 3.9 million ounces
of PGMs, and has provided term financing facilities in excess of
US$1 billion to date. Auramet is looking to grow its capital
investment business in equity, royalties and streams in the
precious metals and battery-related metals mining space. Auramet is
proud to have been awarded a Gold Medal for its ESG commitment by
EcoVadis, the most trusted provider of ESG ratings with a network
of more than 90,000 rated companies. For more information on
Auramet, please visit www.auramet.com.
About Canada Nickel Company
Canada Nickel Company Inc. is advancing the next generation of
nickel-sulphide projects to deliver nickel required to feed
the high growth electric vehicle and stainless steel markets.
Canada Nickel Company has applied in multiple jurisdictions to
trademark the terms NetZero NickelTM, NetZero
CobaltTM, NetZero IronTM and is pursuing
the development of processes to allow the production of net zero
carbon nickel, cobalt, and iron products. Canada Nickel
provides investors with leverage to nickel in low political risk
jurisdictions. Canada Nickel is currently anchored by its 100%
owned flagship Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project in
the heart of the prolific
Timmins-Cochrane mining camp. For more information, please visit www.canadanickel.com.
For further information, please contact:
Mark Selby
CEO
Phone: 647-256-1954
Email: info@canadanickel.com
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain information that may
constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian
securities legislation. Forward looking information includes, but
is not limited to, the completion of the Auramet loan facility, the
completion of the property option and purchase agreements, the
receipt of all required regulatory approvals for the Auramet loan
facility and the property agreements, the carbon capture approach
could allow production of Net Zero nickel and generation of an
additional tonnes of CO2 credits per tonne of nickel produced after
offsetting all emissions, the potential to turn nickel mine into a
generator of carbon credits rather than generator of carbon
emissions, the production of estimated average of 710,000 tonnes of
carbon credits annually and 18 million total tonnes of CO2 of
credits over expected life of mine at Crawford, the ability to
monetize carbon credits, the ability to quantify carbon capture,
emission estimates, the brucite content of the deposit, the
scalability of the process, the metallurgical results, the timing
and results of the feasibility study including the viability of the
inclusion of the IPT Carbonation Process and related facilities as
part of the project, the results of Crawford's PEA, including
statements relating to net present value, future production,
estimates of cash cost, proposed mining plans and methods, mine
life estimates, cash flow forecasts, metal recoveries, estimates of
capital and operating costs, timing for permitting and
environmental assessments, realization of mineral resource
estimates, capital and operating cost estimates, project and life
of mine estimates, ability to obtain permitting by the time
targeted, size and ranking of project upon achieving production, 5
economic return estimates, the timing and amount of estimated
future production and capital, operating and exploration
expenditures and potential upside and alternatives. Readers should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of Canada Nickel to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The PEA
results are estimates only and are based on a number of
assumptions, any of which, if incorrect, could materially change
the projected outcome. There are no assurances that Crawford will
be placed into production. Factors that could affect the outcome
include, among others: the actual results of development
activities; project delays; inability to raise the funds necessary
to complete development; general business, economic, competitive,
political and social uncertainties; future prices of metals or
project costs could differ substantially and make any
commercialization uneconomic; availability of alternative nickel
sources or substitutes; actual nickel recovery; conclusions of
economic evaluations; changes in applicable laws; changes in
project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents,
labour disputes, the availability and productivity of skilled
labour and other risks of the mining industry; political
instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; delays in obtaining
governmental approvals, necessary permitting or in the completion
of development or construction activities; mineral resource
estimates relating to Crawford could prove to be inaccurate for any
reason whatsoever; additional but currently unforeseen work may be
required to advance to the feasibility stage; and even if Crawford
goes into production, there is no assurance that operations will be
profitable. Although Canada Nickel has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual actions, events or
results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause
actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated,
estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein
are made as of the date of this news release and Canada Nickel
disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or results or
otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider
(as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this
release.
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SOURCE Canada Nickel Company Inc.