Norvista Capital Corporation (“
Norvista”) (TSX-V:
NVV) is very pleased to announce the closing of the transaction
(the “
Asset Sale”), previously announced in its
February 22, 2019 news release. Norvista and its affiliates have
sold three Manitoba assets to Rockcliff Metals Corporation
(“
Rockcliff”) for an aggregate purchase price of
$13,258,000. As consideration for the sale Norvista and its
affiliates received a total of 88,386,667 common shares of
Rockcliff (“
Rockcliff Shares”) at a deemed value
of $0.15 per Rockcliff Share. The Asset Sale is part of a
reorganization of Rockcliff that also includes a series of equity
financings (the “
Financings”) by Rockcliff for
gross proceeds of approximately $29,000,000 with a cornerstone
investment from London based private equity firm Greenstone
Resources II LLP (“
Greenstone”) in the amount of
US $15,000,000 or approximately Cdn. $20,000,000.
The Asset Sale
The assets sold by Norvista and its affiliates
to Rockcliff pursuant to the Asset Sale comprise the Talbot copper
project option agreement with Hudbay Minerals Inc., the Tower
copper project and a leasehold interest in the Bucko Lake
processing facility and tailings management facility all located in
Manitoba.
Pursuant to the assignment of the Talbot option
agreement Rockcliff now has an earn-in option to acquire a minimum
51% ownership interest in the Talbot property. The Talbot copper
deposit is a high-grade 4.2 million tonne NI 43-101 Inferred
mineral resource grading 1.61% Cu, 1.4% Zn, 1.77 g/t Au and 27.96
g/t Ag (please refer to the Rockcliff news release dated January
19, 2018).
The Tower copper deposit, located approximately
40 kilometres east of the Talbot deposit, is a high-grade deposit
consisting of a 1.08 million tonne NI 43-101 Indicated mineral
resource grading 3.73% Cu, 1.05% Zn, 0.55 g/t Au and 17.28 g/t Ag
plus a 1.25 million tonne NI 43-101 Inferred mineral resource
grading 2.0% Cu, 1.02% Zn, 0.27 g/t Au and 9.78 g/t Ag (please
refer to the Rockcliff news release dated March 30, 2015).
Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and
do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Norvista’s interest in the Bucko Lake mill and
the tailings management facility assigned to Rockcliff is a seven
year leasehold interest in the Bucko Lake processing facility that
is located approximately 115 kilometres northeast of the Tower
deposit near Wabowden, Manitoba.
Permitting for Tower as well as permitting for
the conversion of the Bucko Lake mill from nickel to copper
concentrate production has been underway since early 2018. It
is anticipated that all permitting will be completed by Q4 of 2019
which will allow Rockcliff to make a decision by Q1 of 2020 with
regard to starting underground development at Tower to extract a
bulk sample.
CSE Listing and Escrow Agreement
As part of the Rockcliff reorganization
involving the Asset Sale and the Financings, Rockcliff has
completed the delisting of the Rockcliff Shares from the TSX
Venture Exchange and listing of the Rockcliff Shares on the
Canadian Securities Exchange (the “CSE”) effective
May 7, 2019. It is anticipated that the Rockcliff Shares will
commence trading under the symbol RCLF on May 8, 2019.
In connection with the listing of Rockcliff on
the CSE, the 88,386,667 Rockcliff Shares issued as consideration
for the Asset Sale to Norvista and its affiliates have been, in
accordance with the requirements of the CSE, placed in escrow under
an escrow agreement between Rockcliff, Computershare Investor
Services Inc., Norvista, Akuna Minerals Inc., a partially owned
Norvista subsidiary, and the Akuna minority shareholders dated May
8, 2019.
The Financings
Greenstone Subscription Receipt Financing and
Rockcliff Shareholder Financing
Rockcliff completed a $7,472,875 hard dollar
financing with Greenstone whereby Greenstone purchased 49,819,167
Rockcliff Shares at $0.15 per Rockcliff Share (the
“Greenstone Subscription”).
Rockcliff also completed a financing from
existing shareholders of Rockcliff and third party accredited
investors for the gross proceeds of $1,360,400 (the
“Rockcliff Shareholder Financing”). The Rockcliff
Shareholder Financing consisted of a $360,400 hard dollar financing
at a price of $0.15 per Rockcliff Share and a $1,000,000
flow-through financing at a price of $0.20 per Rockcliff Share.
Greenstone Structured Financing
In addition to the Greenstone Subscription and
the Rockcliff Shareholder Financing, Rockcliff completed a
$19,862,600 flow-through financing (the “FT
Financing”) consisting of the sale of 82,760,833 Rockcliff
Shares (“FT Shares”) priced at $0.24 per FT Share.
The FT Shares were part of a flow-through charitable donation
structure arranged by PearTree Securities Inc. Greenstone then
acquired the 82,760,833 Rockcliff Shares issued in connection with
the FT Financing indirectly through the charitable donation
structure at $0.15 per Rockcliff Share for a total investment of
$12,414,125.
Rockcliff Reorganization
The closing of the Asset Sale, the Financings
and the listing of the Rockcliff Shares on the CSE completes the
transformation of Rockcliff into a well capitalized, vertically
integrated resource company with a portfolio of pre-development and
exploration properties as well as access to a concentrate
production facility. The board of directors of Rockcliff consists
of Don Christie on behalf of Norvista, Mark Sawyer on behalf of
Greenstone, Ken Lapierre the CEO of Rockcliff and independent
directors Mike Romaniuk and Petra Decher.
Following the closing of the Asset Sale and the
Financings, Norvista, after the Rockcliff Share allocation to Akuna
minority shareholders, directly and indirectly now holds 81,744,286
Rockcliff Shares or 26.6% of the 307,335,855 issued and outstanding
Rockcliff Shares. Of this amount 8,000,000 Rockcliff Shares will be
transferred to the Norvista Capital 1 Limited Partnership (the
“Partnership”) which currently holds 2,380,952 Rockcliff Shares.
Norvista manages the Partnership through its ownership of the
General Partner. Greenstone now holds 132,580,000 Rockcliff Shares
or 43.1% of the issued and outstanding Rockcliff Shares.
Early Warning Report
Prior to the completion of the Asset Sale,
Norvista and the Partnership jointly owned 4,761,904 Rockcliff
Shares, or approximately 1.5% of the issued and outstanding
Rockcliff Shares. Norvista and the Partnership now have beneficial
ownership and control over 84,125,238 Rockcliff Shares in the
aggregate or 27.4% of the issued and outstanding Rockcliff Shares.
Norvista acquired the Rockcliff Shares for investment purposes and
depending on market and other conditions, Norvista may from
time to time in the future increase or decrease its ownership,
control or direction over the Rockcliff Shares. For the purposes of
this notice, the head office of Norvista is 141 Adelaide St. West,
Suite 1660, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3L5.
In satisfaction of the requirements of the
National Instrument 62-104 - Take-Over Bids And Issuer Bids and
National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related
Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues, an Early Warning Report
in respect of the acquisition of the Rockcliff Shares by Norvista
will be filed under Rockcliff’s SEDAR Profile at www.sedar.com.
About Norvista
Norvista is a resource-based merchant bank with
an investment portfolio of three core investments located in
Canada, the United States and Mexico. Norvista’s core investee
companies include Rockcliff, Nevada Zinc Corporation and Mineral
Alamos Inc. Nevada Zinc is in the process of completing a
preliminary economic assessment on its Lone Mountain zinc project
located near Eureka, Nevada. The Lone Mountain project is a high
grade, potentially open-pittable mineralized system with an initial
resource estimate of approximately 3.3 million tonnes of 7.3% zinc
and 0.7% lead (please refer to Nevada Zinc’s news release dated
July 25, 2018). Minera Alamos has a number of pre-development
gold projects located in Mexico and it is anticipated Minera will
begin construction on its first gold production project later this
year once final permits are in place. The investee companies’
projects represent a balance between later stage exploration and
pre-production projects and are self-financing. Norvista maintains
and may increase its ownership position in its core holdings
through participation in issuer financings as well as share
acquisitions in the open market.
Bruce Durham, P.Geo., Chief Operating Officer
and a director of Norvista, is a Qualified Persons as defined by
National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects. Mr. Durham is responsible for the scientific and
technical data presented herein and has reviewed and approved this
news release.
About Rockcliff
Rockcliff is a Canadian resource exploration
company focused on copper, zinc and, gold and in the Snow Lake area
of Manitoba, Canada. Rockcliff is the largest junior landholder in
the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt which is home to the
largest Paleoproterozoic volcanic massive sulphide (“VMS”) district
(copper, gold, zinc, silver) in the world and the district also
contains gold mines and deposits. Its extensive portfolio of
properties totals over 4,000 square kilometres. It includes nine of
the highest-grade undeveloped VMS deposits and five lode-gold
properties including the historic Rex-Laguna gold mine, Manitoba’s
first and highest-grade gold mine.
About Greenstone
Greenstone is a private equity fund specializing
in the mining and metals sector with approximately US$430 million
in committed long-term capital. With more than 100 years collective
experience, predominantly fulfilling senior roles within mining
companies, financial institutions and principal investing,
Greenstone understands the sector, its value drivers and inherent
risks. As such Greenstone is able to make long-term investments
which better aligns itself to management decision making.
TSX-V Approvals
The Asset Transaction has been approved by
shareholders of Norvista and has been conditionally approved by the
TSX Venture Exchange.
For further information, please
contact:
Norvista Capital
Corporation
Don Christie
Off: (416) 504-4171 dchristie@norvistacapital.com
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way
passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither
approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains
“forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable
Canadian securities laws. Any statements that express or involve
discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs,
plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or
performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases
such as “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “is expected”,
“scheduled”, “estimates”, “pending”, “intends”, “plans”,
“forecasts”, “targets”, or “hopes”, or variations of such words and
phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results
“may”, “could”, “would”, “will”, “should”, “might”, “will be
taken”, or “occur” and similar expressions) are not statements of
historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is
not limited to, the commencement of trading of the common shares of
Rockcliff on the CSE and receipt of final approvals from
regulators.
This news release includes forward-looking
statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the actual
results of Norvista to be materially different from the historical
results or from any future results expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this news
release, other than statements of historical fact, are to be
considered forward-looking. Although Norvista believes the
expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based
on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of
future performance and actual results or developments may differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking information. Norvista does not undertake to update
any forward-looking information except in accordance with
applicable securities laws.
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