1.5% NSR over a Million-Ounce Gold Project

RNS Number : 9878Z

Trident Royalties PLC.

24 September 2020

 

24 September 2020

Trident Royalties Plc

Acquisition of a 1.5% NSR over a developing million-ounce gold project in Western Australia

Trident Royalties Plc ("Trident" or the "Company") (AIM:TRR, FSX:5KV), the growth-focused mining royalty and streaming company, is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary TRR Services Australia Pty Ltd has entered into a binding agreement with a privately held Australian company (the "Seller"), to acquire an existing gold royalty (the "Royalty") over tenement E28/1610, which hosts the entirety of the million ounce Lake Rebecca Gold Project ("Lake Rebecca"), currently owned and operated by ASX-listed Apollo Consolidated ("Apollo") in Western Australia. The Royalty is being acquired for a total consideration of A$8,000,000 (approximately US$5,633,520) (the "Transaction"), comprised of A$7,000,000 in cash and A$1,000,000 in new ordinary shares in Trident.

Completion of the Transaction is conditional on approval by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board by 23 December 2020, or such later date as the parties may agree ("Completion"). If Completion does not occur by this date, then the Transaction will not proceed.

HIGHLIGHTS

A compelling gold project rapidly progressing towards development

· Lake Rebecca is a high-quality resource stage asset which shows potential for fast-track development within a world-class mining jurisdiction;

· Apollo (A$83 million Market Cap.) is well funded to progress development with A$21.5M cash (as of 8 July 2020), following a recent successful fundraise and divestment of a non-core asset;

· 1.5% Net Smelter Royalty over exploration licence E28/1610 which is currently pending conversion to a mining licence (M 28/400, application date 2 December 2019);

· The royalty covers the entirety of the Cleo, Duke, Duchess and Rebecca deposits, collectively referred to as the "Lake Rebecca Gold Project";

· Apollo is aggressively pursuing the development of Lake Rebecca following the publication of a conservative open-pit shell constrained 1.035 million ounce JORC (2012) compliant maiden Mineral Resource Estimate¹ ("MRE") in February 2020 (Indicated + Inferred resource of 27.1Mt @ 1.2g/t Au, with 0.5g/t Au cut-off & A$2,250/oz gold price).

· Significant Resource upgrade and expansion potential demonstrated by drill intersections subsequent to the MRE with mineralisation shown to be open at depth and along strike of the current modelled pit-shell.

A robust asset with proven geology in a prolific gold district

· Project located within the Eastern Goldfields Province of the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia, upon the highly prospective Laverton Tectonic Zone ("LTZ");

· Notable mines positioned upon the LTZ include the AngloGold Ashanti Sunrise Dam project (>4Moz Au); Gold Fields Ltd Granny Smith / Wallaby mines (>8Moz Au) and a number of the Saracen Minerals Carosue Dam Operations ("CDO") deposits (>4.6Moz)   (Moz Au reported Total Reserves & Resources 2019);

· Strategically located within 150km of Kalgoorlie, one of the most prolific gold mining centres in the world, with 47 active gold mines or advanced stage gold projects located within a 160km radius of Lake Rebecca (accounting for a total 63.15Moz Au reported 2020);

A transformative acquisition providing long-life precious metals exposure to Trident with significant upside potential

· Apollo is currently actively drilling the Lake Rebecca Gold Project. Highly encouraging post MRE and 2020 drill intersects include:

· At Rebecca deposit, infill drilling on Jennifer structure: 40m @ 5.06g/t Au, 19m @ 5.90g/t Au, 12m @ 6.73g/t Au and 51m @ 2.90g/t Au.

· Below current Rebecca Mineral Resource, 22m @ 3.44g/t Au 100m down-dip of the nearest intercept and 4.73m @ 19.10g/t Au 200m down dip of the nearest intercept.

· New discovery at Cleo 1km west of Rebecca including 38m @ 2.00g/t Au from 65m.

· Trident internal estimates indicate a long-life, substantial gold operation - providing a key cornerstone asset to underpin the precious metals' allocation in Trident's portfolio;

· Nick Castleden, the MD of Apollo, recently stated that "construction expected to commence in 18-24 months";

· Trident expects the development of Lake Rebecca to benefit from its proximity to existing gold infrastructure, including Saracen who are in the process of upgrading their CDO processing plant to a nameplate capacity of 3.2Mtpa from the current 2.4Mtpa²; and Gold Fields underutilised Granny Smith plant of 3.5Mtpa capacity, currently operating on a 1.5Mtpa campaign milling basis³. Silverlake Resources 1.2Mtpa Randalls/Salt Creek Processing Facility (approximately 80km from Rebecca), Northern Star's Kanowna Belle processing facility 2Mtpa (125km from Rebecca).

 Adam Davidson, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Trident commented:

"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of the Royalty over Lake Rebecca which will provide our shareholders with precious metals exposure from a significant and growing asset in the world's top mining jurisdiction. Existing, uncapped gold royalties over attractive, substantial gold projects being developed by credible operators are incredibly scarce globally, let alone in a jurisdiction such as Australia which more traditionally utilises equity and debt markets for project finance. The Transaction reinforces the benefits of Trident's global reach and network in sourcing attractive royalty opportunities. 

"The Royalty will become a cornerstone asset for Trident and is anticipated to provide material and long-term revenue commencing in 2023 with significant upside to both scale and mine life. At this early stage, Trident believes that Lake Rebecca is on track to support a circa 100koz/a operation, located in a desirable jurisdiction being supported by gold prices at close to all-time highs. Acquiring attractive development stage royalties with a clear pathway to production has been proven to deliver value to shareholders, with many major and mid-tier royalty companies built on acquisitions such as this.

"More broadly, we are pleased to announce our fifth transaction in less than four months of being listed on AIM. We're encouraged by the attractive opportunities available to Trident - lending credence to our strategy of identifying and acquiring royalties outside the scope of the currently listed royalty peers, which have a predominate focus on precious metals in North America. I see this acquisition as a major step forward in our progress toward becoming the pre-eminent, growth-focused diversified mining royalty and streaming company."

The Transaction

The Royalty is being acquired for a total consideration of A$8,000,000 (approximately US$5,633,520), of which A$7,000,000 is payable in cash, due upon Completion. Trident will also issue the Seller A$1,000,000 of Trident shares on Completion. The shares will be issued at a price of £29.39p being the reference to the volume weighted average price of Trident's shares over the ten trading days prior to 23^rd September 2020. The exact number of shares will be determined by the prevailing FX rate two days prior to Completion. The Seller has agreed not to dispose of its shares in Trident, other than in customary circumstances, for a period of 12 months from Completion.

The Lake Rebecca Gold Project

The Royalty covers E28/1610 which hosts the entirety of the Maiden JORC 2012 Mineral Resource estimate announced by Apollo on 10^th February 2020¹.

Figure 1 - Map of Lake Rebecca Project to view the image, please click on the following link   https://www.tridentroyalties.com/images/Lake_Rebecca_Map.jpg

The Lake Rebecca Project is comprised of three distinct deposits: Rebecca, Duchess and Duke. Rebecca is hosted on the north-eastern periphery of the E28/1610 tenement with Duchess and Duke nearer to the centre of the tenement area and located approximately 4km from Rebecca. Apollo has identified the 4km corridor between Rebecca & Duchess/Duke as highly prospective and has been the target of recent step-out drill programmes.

The Lake Rebecca deposits are located on the eastern margin of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt at the southern end of the Laverton Tectonic Zone. Broadly defined as structurally associated orogenic gold deposits, the gold mineralisation is hosted by broad zones of disseminated, pyrite and pyrrhotite sulphides associated with deformation and silicification in dominantly granite and gneiss hosts rocks.

Recent drilling has been focused on infill and extensional drilling at Rebecca, resource definition drilling at Duke & Duchess, exploration drilling at the newly defined Cleo prospect as well as the 4km prospective corridor between the Rebecca and Duchess/Duke zones. Apollo recently announced the discovery of a substantial mineralised zone at Cleo which sits immediately west of the Rebecca deposit.

Lake Rebecca Mineral Resource Estimate as of February 2020

	Indicated			Inferred			Indicated & Inferred
	Mt	Grade (Au g/t)	Ounces (000's)	Mt	Grade (Au g/t)	Ounces (000's)	Mt	Grade (Au g/t)	Ounces (000's)
Rebecca	11.7	1.5	550	7.4	0.9	225	19.1	1.3	775
Duchess				5.7	1.0	180	5.7	1.0	180
Duke				2.3	1.1	80	2.3	1.1	80
Total	11.7	1.5	550	15.4	1.0	485	27.1	1.2	1,035

Note: Cut-off at 0.5% g/t. A$2,250/oz gold price. Resource is JORC (2012) compliant.

Trident considers there is good potential for Apollo to achieve material resource tonnage updates and resource classification upgrades to the current Mineral Resource Estimate, as well as having the potential to outline new exploration upside within the wider tenement covered by the royalty zone.

Infill drilling since the completion of the February MRE has intersected wide high-grade zones, most notably within the south Jennifer structure of the Rebecca deposit. This structure, together with the accompanying Maddy and Laura structures, have the potential to add mineralisation to the optimised in-pit Mineral Resources. The current block model shows these higher-grade structures also contain significant mineralised material outside of the pit shell and Apollo reports that the Rebecca mineralised corridor remains open over its more than 1.7km strike length.

Further potential Resource upside has been outlined by step-out drilling at the Duchess deposit on a new mineralised zone,   outside of the modelled pit shell, to the east of the deposit. Drilling intercepts announced in August include 9m @ 1.82 g/t Au and 24m @ 0.87 g/t Au from 50m (hole RCLR0631), 12m @ 1.15g/t Au from 76m (hole RCLR0632), and 9m @ 1.17g/t Au from 113m (hole RCLR0633) and 35m @ 0.90 g/t Au from 94m  (hole RCLR0649)⁴.

Ongoing reverse circulation drilling within the 4km long, north-south trending, prospective corridor between the Rebecca and Duchess and Duke deposits has highlighted additional exploration targets including intersects of 25m @1.23g/t Au and 15m @ 1.4g/t Au (both in hole RCLR0560) approximately 1km north of Duchess and 6m @ 9.72g/t Au (hole RCLR0579) approximately 1.5km north of Duchess⁵.

The Cleo target, approximately 1.5km west of Rebecca, is part of a 150m wide anomalous zone which shows potential for future resource delineation; the best results to date 38m @ 2.00g/t Au from 65m in sulphide mineralisation, including 2m @ 20.4g/t Au from 74m and 5m @ 2.75g/t Au in oxide mineralisation from 30m (hole RCLR0635) and 2m @ 9.39g/t Au from 47m (hole RCLR0636)⁶. 

Competent Person's Statement

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O'Reilly (MSc, DIC, MAusIMM, MIMMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Competent Person under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O'Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Trident to provide technical support.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

1 - Apollo Consolidated ASX announcement 10^th Feb 2020 ( https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200210/pdf/44dyphpx3pl45r.pdf )

2 - Saracen FY20 Annual Report

3 - Goldfields Website ( https://www.goldfields.com/australia-region.php )

4 - Apollo Consolidated ASX announcement 31^st August 2020.

5 - Apollo Consolidated ASX announcements 13^th May 2020 and 8^th July 2020

6 - Apollo Consolidated ASX announcement 31^st August 2020

** Ends **

Contact details:

Trident Royalties Plc Adam Davidson	www.tridentroyalties.com [phone]
Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser) Colin Aaronson / Seamus Fricker	www.grantthornton.co.uk [phone]
Tamesis Partners LLP (Financial Adviser and Joint Broker) Richard Greenfield	www.tamesispartners.com [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker) Erik Woolgar / Isabella Pierre	www.shardcapital.com [phone]
Yellow Jersey (Public Relations) Charles Goodwin	www.yellowjerseypr.com [phone]

About Trident

Trident is a growth-focused diversified mining royalty and streaming company, aiming to provide investors with exposure to a mix of base and precious metals, bulk materials (excluding thermal coal) and battery metals.

Key highlights of Trident's strategy include:

·   Constructing a royalty and streaming portfolio to broadly mirror the commodity exposure of the global mining sector (excluding thermal coal) with a bias towards production or near-production assets, differentiating Trident from the majority of peers which are exclusively, or heavily weighted, to precious metals;

· Acquiring royalties and streams in resource-friendly jurisdictions worldwide, while most competitors have portfolios focused on North and South America;

· Targeting attractive small-to-mid size transactions which are often ignored in a sector dominated by large players;

·   Active deal-sourcing which, in addition to writing new royalties and streams, will focus on the acquisition of assets held by natural sellers such as: closed-end funds, prospect generators, junior and mid-tier miners holding royalties as non-core assets, and counterparties seeking to monetise packages of royalties and streams which are otherwise undervalued by the market;  

· Maintaining a low-overhead model which is capable of supporting a larger scale business without a commensurate increase in operating costs; and

· Leveraging the experience of management, the board of directors, and Trident's adviser team, all of whom have deep industry connections and strong transactional experience across multiple commodities and jurisdictions.

The acquisition and aggregation of individual royalties and streams is expected to deliver strong returns for shareholders as assets are acquired on terms reflective of single asset risk compared with the lower risk profile of a diversified, larger scale portfolio. Further value is expected to be delivered by the introduction of conservative levels of leverage through debt. Once scale has been achieved, strong cash generation is expected to support an attractive dividend policy, providing investors with a desirable mix of inflation protection, growth and income.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains forward ‐ looking information. The statements are based on reasonable assumptions and expectations of management and Trident provides no assurance that actual events will meet management's expectations. In certain cases, forward ‐ looking information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimates", "expects", "may", "shall", "will", or "would". Although Trident 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 projected. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. In addition, factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from the forward-looking information stated herein include any factors which affect decisions to pursue mineral exploration on the relevant property and the ultimate exercise of option rights, which may include changes in market conditions, changes in metal prices, general economic and political conditions, environmental risks, and community and non-governmental actions. Such factors will also affect whether Trident will ultimately receive the benefits anticipated pursuant to relevant agreements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the forward ‐ looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Third Party Information

As a royalty and streaming company, Trident often has limited, if any, access to non-public scientific and technical information in respect of the properties underlying its portfolio of royalties and investments, or such information is subject to confidentiality provisions. As such, in preparing this announcement, the Company often largely relies upon information provided by or the public disclosures of the owners and operators of the properties underlying its portfolio of royalties, as available at the date of this announcement.

Glossary of Technical Terms

"cut-off grade"	A "cut-off grade" is a fundamental component in the preparation of Mineral Resources or Mineral Reserves. It is defined as the grade or value that is used to differentiate between ore and waste for a given set of conditions, parameters and time frame. As such, the criteria and processes by which a cut-off grade or value are determined will often be different between mineral properties, for different situations within a given mining operation, and at different times.
"Exploration Target"	Exploration Target is defined as a statement, or estimate, of the exploration potential of a mineral deposit in a defined geological setting where the statement or estimate, quoted as a range of tons and a range of grade or quality, relates to mineralisation for which there has been insufficient exploration to estimate Mineral Resources.
"grade"	The proportion of a mineral within a rock or other material. For gold mineralisation this is usually reported as g/t of gold per tonne of rock.
"Indicated Resource"	An 'Indicated Mineral Resource' is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade (or quality), densities, shape and physical characteristics are estimated with sufficient confidence to allow the application of Modifying Factors in sufficient detail to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. Geological evidence is derived from adequately detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes, and is sufficient to assume geological and grade (or quality) continuity between points of observation where data and samples are gathered. An Indicated Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to a Measured Mineral Resource and may only be converted to a Probable Ore Reserve.
"Inferred Resource"	An 'Inferred Mineral Resource' is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity and grade (or quality) are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade (or quality) continuity. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. An Inferred Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to an Ore Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
"JORC (2012)"	The 2012 edition of The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves ("the JORCCode" or "JORC (2012)") is a professional code of practice that sets minimum standards for Public Reporting of minerals Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.  The JORC Code provides a mandatory system for the classification of minerals Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves according to the levels of confidence in geological knowledge and technical and economic considerations in Public Reports.
"Mineral Resource"	A "Mineral Resource" is a concentration or occurrence of solid material of economic interest in or on the Earth's crust in such form and quantity and of such a grade or quality that it has reasonable prospects for economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, geological characteristics and continuity of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence and knowledge.
"open pit mining"	A method of extracting minerals from the earth by excavating downwards from the surface such that the ore is extracted in the open air (as opposed to underground mining).

 

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