Acquisition of Gold Royalty in Australia

RNS Number : 9289S

Trident Royalties PLC.

14 July 2020

 

14 July 2020

Trident Royalties Plc

Acquisition of gold royalty over strategically located resource in Australia

Trident Royalties Plc ("Trident" or the "Company") (AIM: TRR), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding agreement with Thor Mining Plc ("Thor"), to acquire Thor's variable price gold royalty ("Royalty") over production from the Spring Hill Gold Project ("Spring Hill") located in Australia's Northern Territory and operated by private group PC Gold   Pty Ltd. The Royalty is being acquired in exchange for a staged consideration of cash and/or equity with a total consideration of 1.0 million Australian dollars ("A$") (the "Transaction"), of which A$400,000 is payable upon completion of the Transaction and the balance following the satisfaction of certain production milestones from Spring Hill.

HIGHLIGHTS

An opportunistic acquisition incorporating an attractive transaction structure

· Provides for A$13.30 per ounce of gold produced from Spring Hill (equivalent to approximately 0.5% gross revenue royalty at the current Australian dollar gold price¹);

· Covers one mining licence and two exploration licences, with an Inferred Resource of 355,000oz gold and a significant Exploration Target supported by additional mineralisation open both at depth and along strike;

· Accessible via existing road infrastructure, Spring Hill is 28km from a gold mill which has previously and successfully trial-mined a bulk sample of ore from Spring Hill;

·     Deal structure provides exposure to upside potential of royalty whilst minimising upfront cost;

· The royalty is uncapped and will benefit from current development work being undertaken at Spring Hill;

· The Royalty is consistent with Trident's approach to opportunistically acquiring earlier stage royalties which show a credible pathway to monetisation in the short-medium term.

A desirable commodity with indirect gold price exposure

· Precious metals royalties and streams remain attractive to investors;

· Gold recently exceeded US$1,800 per ounce³; with the Australian dollar gold price reaching new all-time highs throughout 2020;

· The Royalty provides exposure to the gold price through organic Resource growth and potential fast-tracking of development in a supportive price environment.

Spring Hill is located within the highly prospective Pine Creek region in Australia's Northern Territory, which has historically produced over 3Moz of gold across multiple deposits and contains more than 10Moz of undeveloped Resources. Gold contained at Spring Hill is freely leachable via conventional processing methods and contains a material proportion of gravity recoverable gold which is susceptible to low capital cost gravity concentration and leaching techniques.

Spring Hill has a JORC (2012) compliant global Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 8.8Mt grading 1.26g/t Au for 355,000 ounces of contained gold at 0.5g/t Au cut-off, as at January 2017.

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

"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of an attractive development stage royalty over the Spring Hill Project. The royalty extends our portfolio and provides our investors with exposure to a desirable commodity, produced from an asset located nearby to existing infrastructure and processing facilities in a geologically compelling and proven gold province in Australia. In addition, the royalty is structured such that Trident's upfront consideration is minimised until particular production milestones are achieved whilst retaining uncapped exposure to the growth of Spring Hill.

"We are very pleased with the addition of the Spring Hill royalty into Trident's growing portfolio of royalties which seeks to provide investors with exposure to a diversified portfolio of royalty and stream interests over attractive assets. At this early stage we are delighted to have already secured exposure to royalties in iron ore, copper and gold, with a number of additional attractive opportunities currently under evaluation."

The Transaction

The Royalty is being acquired for a total consideration of A$1.0 million (US$0.7 million), with an upfront cash consideration of A$400,000, of which A$50,000 is paid upon signing binding documentation with the remaining A$350,000 due upon completion of the Transaction. A breakdown of the full consideration is summarised below.

· Tranche 1 - A$50,000 paid on signing of binding documentation;

· Tranche 2 - A$350,000 payable upon completion of the Transaction;

· Tranche 3 - A$300,000 payable following gold sales exceeding 25,000 ounces attributable to the royalty;

· Tranche 4 - A$300,000 payable following gold sales exceeding 50,000 ounces attributable to the royalty. 

Tranches 3 and 4 may be satisfied either through the issue of Trident shares or cash at Trident's election. If Trident elects to issue shares in lieu of cash, the relevant share price shall be determined by reference to the volume weighted average price of Trident's shares over the five trading days prior to the settlement of the relevant tranche.

The Royalty rate applicable is:

· A$13.30 per ounce of gold sold from the Project where AUD gold price is >$1,500/ounce

· A$5.70 per ounce of gold sold from the Project where AUD gold price is <=$1,500/ounce

The gold price in Australian dollars was A$2,596/ounce as at 13^th July 2020.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to approval by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board and must be satisfied by 11 November 2020, or such later date as the parties may agree. If Completion has not occurred by this date, then the transaction will terminate and Thor must refund the Tranche 1 Consideration.

Mark Potter, director of Trident, is also a director of Thor. Mr Potter has not taken part in any discussions and has not participated in any decisions relating to the Transaction for either Trident or Thor.

Spring Hill Project

The Royalty is applicable to production from the Spring Hill project, comprising 100% of production from mining license ML23812 which covers 1,035 hectares. The Royalty also encompasses any production from exploration licences EL22957 and EL 28855 which surround the granted ML. Spring Hill is located proximally to an existing gold processing plant and benefits from access to attractive infrastructure.

Spring Hill contains a JORC (2012) compliant Inferred Mineral Resource as set out in Table 1.

Table 1 - Spring Hill Mineral Resource Estimate as of 29 January 2017

	Total
	Mt	Au g/t	koz
Inferred	8.8	1.26	355

Note: Cut-off at 0.5g/t Au

In addition to the Inferred Resources, there is additional gold mineralisation contained within the area of the resource block model but not constrained within wireframes or outside the resource mineralisation wireframes. This identified gold mineralisation supports an Exploration Target as set out in JORC (2012) guidelines.

This Exploration Target has been estimated as a range in terms of depth extension (Depth) and strike extension (North) zones and is set out in Table 2.

Table 2 - Spring Hill Exploration Target at 0.5g/t Au cut-off

Extension Zone	Tonnage Range (Mt)		Gold Grade Range (Au g/t)		Contained Gold Range (koz)
	Lower	Upper	Lower	Upper	Lower	Upper
North (strike)	2.80	11.30	0.69	1.19	62	434
Deeps (depth)	2.20	4.45	0.81	2.10	53	300
Total	5	14.75	0.74	1.45	119	734

The Competent Person responsible for the Spring Hill Gold Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate and Spring Hill Exploration Target is Adrian Byass of Clonaig Consulting, in line with guidelines set out in the 2012 edition of The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves ("JORC (2012)").

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 AUD = 0.70 USD (13^th July 2020)

^²   USD Gold = $1,817/oz (13^th July 2020)

^³ Bloomberg Comex Gold (30^th June 2020)

** Ends **

Contact details:

Trident Royalties Plc Adam Davidson	www.tridentroyalties.com [phone]
Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser) Colin Aaronson / Richard Tonthat / Seamus Fricker	www.grantthornton.co.uk [phone]
Tamesis Partners LLP (Financial Adviser and Broker) Richard Greenfield	www.tamesispartners.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 JORC Code" 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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