Horizonte Minerals Plc, (AIM: HZM, TSX: HZM) (‘Horizonte’ or ‘the Company’) the nickel company focused in Brazil, which is developing the Araguaia project as Brazil’s next ferro-nickel mine and advancing the Vermelho nickel-cobalt project for the electric vehicle battery market.
Is pleased to announce that it has signed a royalty agreement with Orion Mine Finance (‘Orion’) to provide funding to advance its Araguaia ferro-nickel Project (‘Araguaia’ or ‘the Project’).
Highlights:
· Orion will provide an upfront cash payment of US$25 million in exchange for a 2.25% royalty on the Araguaia Project.
· The Royalty only applies to the first 426,429 tonnes of contained nickel within the final product (ferronickel) produced and sold. This is equivalent to the nickel production estimated over the life of mine for Araguaia in the Stage 1 Feasibility Study.
· Orion has a strong track record in financing successful mining construction projects and has deployed approximately US$1.5 billion in royalties, streams, debt and equity over the past 3 years.
Philip Clegg, Portfolio Manager at Orion Resource Partners said, “Orion is delighted to become a major investor in Araguaia, one of the leading nickel development projects globally. We look forward to supporting Horizonte as it enters the next phase of development of its world-class portfolio of nickel assets.”
Jeremy Martin, Chief Executive of Horizonte, commented, “We are extremely pleased to secure this royalty agreement with Orion, which enables us to build out our owner’s team, advance engineering and early works packages as we proceed to the start of full construction at Araguaia. This royalty financing is non-dilutive for shareholders, and has been pre-designed to be compatible with the project funding package. Nickel has been an outstanding performer this year, currently trading almost 50% higher than at the start of 2019. At current nickel prices of US$15,500/t, the Araguaia Feasibility Study Stage 1 returns an NPV of more than US$580 million.
Orion is one of the largest mining finance groups in the marketplace with approximately $5.1 billion under management. We look forward to working with their team as the Araguaia project advances through to construction.”
Analyst conference call and presentation
Horizonte will host an analyst conference call and presentation today, 29 August 2019, at 10:00AM BST. Participants can access the call by dialling one of the following numbers below approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.
UK Toll-Free Number: 08003589473
UK Toll Number: +44 3333000804
Pin: 68052152#
The presentation will be available for download from the Company’s website www.horizonteminerals.com or by clicking on the link below:
https://www.anywhereconference.com?Conference=301297991&PIN=68052152&UserAudioMode=DATA
A recording of the conference call will subsequently be available on the Company’s website
For further information, visit www.horizonteminerals.com
