Completion of Lake Rebecca Gold Royalty

RNS Number : 5427D

Trident Royalties PLC.

29 October 2020

 

29 October 2020

Trident Royalties Plc

("Trident" or the "Company")

Completion of Lake Rebecca Gold Royalty Acquisition

Further to its announcement of 24 September 2020, Trident is pleased to announce that all pre-conditions to the Lake Rebecca Gold Royalty Acquisition (as defined below) have now been satisfied and that completion will occur automatically on Admission (as defined below).

On 24 September 2020, the Company announced that it had entered into a binding agreement to acquire an existing 1.5% Net Smelter Return ("NSR") gold royalty over tenement E28/1610 (the "Lake Rebecca Gold Royalty Acquisition"), 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 was acquired for a total consideration of A$7,000,000 in cash (approx. US$5,000,000) and A$1,000,000 to be satisfied by the issue of  1,862,556 new ordinary shares of 1p each in Trident ("Consideration Shares") at 29.39p per Ordinary Share.

The royalty is payable on production from exploration licence E28/1610 which is currently pending conversion to a mining licence (M28/400, application date 2 December 2019), and covers the entirety of the Cleo, Duke, Duchess and Rebecca deposits which are 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 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). Nick Castleden, the MD of Apollo, recently stated that "construction is expected to commence in 18-24 months." 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.

Settlement and Dealings

Application has been made to the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange Plc ("AIM") for admission to trading of the 1,862,556 new Consideration Shares, which rank pari passu with the Company's existing issued Ordinary Shares. Dealings on AIM are expected to commence at 8:00am on or around 30 October 2020 ("Admission").

Total Voting Rights

For the purposes of the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules ("DTRs"), following Admission Trident will have 105,362,556 ordinary Shares of 1p each in the capital of the Company in issue with voting rights attached. Trident does not hold any shares in treasury. This figure of 105,362,556 may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company, under the DTRs.

1 - Apollo Consolidated ASX announcement 10 ^th  Feb 2020 

( https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200210/pdf/44dyphpx3pl45r.pdf )

Adam Davidson, Chief Executive Office of Trident commented:

"We are delighted to complete the acquisition of the Lake Rebecca Gold Royalty which will provide our shareholders with precious metals exposure from a significant and growing asset in the world's top mining jurisdiction. At this early stage, Trident believes that Lake Rebecca is on track to support a circa 100koz/yr 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 investors, with many major and mid-tier royalty companies built on acquisitions such as this."

** 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.

 

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