VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 27, 2023 / Electric Royalties Ltd. (TSXV:ELEC)(OTCQB:ELECF) ("Electric Royalties" or the "Company") announces that it has exercised its option (the "Option") to increase its existing 0.75% Gross Revenue Royalty ("GRR") on the producing Penouta tin-tantalum mine in Spain (the "Project" or "Penouta"), operated by Strategic Minerals Europe Corp. (NEO: SNTA) (OTCQB: SNTAF) ("Strategic Minerals"), by a further 0.75% in exchange for a cash payment of C$1,250,000. Electric Royalties now holds an aggregated 1.5% GRR on Penouta.
Upon receipt by the Company of C$1,666,667 in aggregate royalty revenues from the GRR, the royalty rate will be reduced to 1.25%. Upon receipt by the Company of C$3,333,334 in aggregate royalty revenues from the GRR, the royalty rate will be reduced to 1.0%. The Company acquired the Option as part of its acquisition of the original 0.75% GRR on Penouta in January 2023.
Brendan Yurik, CEO of Electric Royalties, commented: "We are pleased to increase our gross revenue royalty on the Penouta mine, the only currently-operating, primary source of tin in Europe. We are encouraged by the progress that Strategic Minerals has made improving operations at Penouta, steadily increasing primary concentrate production and sales. Gaining additional royalty exposure to a long-lived asset such as Penouta further strengthens the cash-generating portion of our royalty portfolio of clean energy metals."
Penouta Tin-Tantalum Royalty Highlights
- The largest producer of tin and tantalum in the European Union1.
- Proven operations team with a track record of successfully building and operating mines.
- Penouta has been steadily increasing primary concentrate production since the start of 2022. In Q1 2023, Penouta produced 121 tonnes, or a 157% increase vs Q1 20222.
- Additional potential opportunity to add new revenue stream from high-grade feldspar from historical tailings.
- Long potential mine life based on total measured and indicated resources of 76.3 million tonnes3.
For more information about the Penouta tin-tantalum mine and royalty acquisition terms, please see Electric Royalties' news release dated November 16, 2022.
Financing
The Company has drawn down C$1,400,000 under the C$5,000,000 convertible credit facility (the "Drawdown") with Gleason & Sons LLC (the "Lender") to fund the cash payment to acquire the additional 0.75% GRR on Penouta pursuant to the Option, and additional transaction costs associated with the Penouta and Kenbridge royalty acquisitions (see Electric Royalties' news release dated March 6, 2023 for further details on Kenbridge). The Loan has a term of 3 years and bears interest ("Interest") at a floating rate (Secured Overnight Financing Rate (or "SOFR") + 7%), with a maximum interest rate of 12.5%, with Interest payments capitalized into the principal amount and due at the end of the Loan term. At the discretion of the Lender, after six months from the initial drawdown date, the Loan plus accrued Interest is convertible into common shares of Electric Royalties as follows: (a) for the Loan at the greater of C$0.50; a 100% premium above the 30-day VWAP C$0.63 of Company's shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") at the advance; and the minimum price acceptable to the TSXV, per share; and (b) for Interest at the Market Price (as defined under Exchange policy 1.1) at the time of settlement, subject to the Market Price not being less than the Conversion Price without prior Exchange approval, per share. The Lender will not be able to hold more than 19.99% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company unless disinterested shareholder approval has been obtained.
On closing of the acquisition of the Option GRR, the Company received a C$25,000 transaction fee from Strategic Minerals.
Conversion of the Loan amount advanced pursuant to the Drawdown is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and other customary conditions.
David Gaunt, P.Geo., a qualified person who is not independent of Electric Royalties, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release.
1 Strategic Minerals Europe Corp. website https://www.strategicminerals.com/what-we-do/#penouta-mine
2 Strategic Minerals Europe Corp.'s financial statements and MD&A for the three months ended March 31, 2023
3 Further information is available in a NI 43-101 technical report by SRK with effective date March 5, 2021 on the Strategic Minerals Europe Corp. profile at www.sedar.com. M+I Resources are reported at grades of 443 ppm Tin (Sn), 73 ppm tantalum (Ta) and 89 ppm Ta2O5. Resources at an open pit cut-off grade of 60 ppm Ta2O5 Equivalent, based on prices and recoveries of US$178/kg and 75% for Ta2O5, and US$24/kg and 75% for Sn.
About Electric Royalties Ltd.
Electric Royalties is a royalty company established to take advantage of the demand for a wide range of commodities (lithium, vanadium, manganese, tin, graphite, cobalt, nickel, zinc and copper) that will benefit from the drive toward electrification of a variety of consumer products: cars, rechargeable batteries, large scale energy storage, renewable energy generation and other applications.
Electric vehicle sales, battery production capacity and renewable energy generation are slated to increase significantly over the next several years and with it, the demand for these targeted commodities. This creates a unique opportunity to invest in and acquire royalties over the mines and projects that will supply the materials needed to fuel the electric revolution.
Electric Royalties has a growing portfolio of 22 royalties, including two royalties that currently generate revenue. The Company is focused predominantly on acquiring royalties on advanced stage and operating projects to build a diversified portfolio located in jurisdictions with low geopolitical risk, which offers investors exposure to the clean energy transition via the underlying commodities required to rebuild the global infrastructure over the next several decades towards a decarbonized global economy.
For further information, please contact:
Brendan Yurik
CEO, Electric Royalties Ltd.
Phone: (604) 364‐3540
Email: [email protected]
www.electricroyalties.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange), nor any other regulatory body or securities exchange platform, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Other Company Information
This news release includes forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, "forward-looking information") with respect to the Company within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. This news release includes information regarding other companies and projects owned by such other companies in which the Company holds a royalty interest, based on previously disclosed public information disclosed by those companies and the Company is not responsible for the accuracy of that information, and that all information provided herein is subject to this Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Other Company Information. Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. This information represents predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Forward-looking information may relate to the Company's future outlook and anticipated events and may include statements regarding the financial results, future financial position, expected growth of cash flows, business strategy, budgets, projected costs, projected capital expenditures, taxes, plans, objectives, industry trends and growth opportunities of the Company and the projects in which it holds royalty interests.
While management considers these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information available, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company or these projects to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; marketing costs; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments involving the renewable energy industry; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the mining industry generally, the Covid-19 pandemic, recent market volatility, income tax and regulatory matters; the ability of the Company or the owners of these projects to implement their business strategies including expansion plans; competition; currency and interest rate fluctuations, and the other risks.
The reader is referred to the Company's most recent filings on SEDAR as well as other information filed with the OTC Markets for a more complete discussion of all applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Company's profile page at www.sedar.com and at otcmarkets.com.
SOURCE: Electric Royalties Ltd.