Fulcrum
Metals plc / EPIC: FMET / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining
3 April 2024
Fulcrum Metals
plc
("Fulcrum" or the "Company" or the "Group")
Announces Letter of Intent
with Terra Balcanica Resources Corp. for the sale of
Fulcrum's
Saskatchewan uranium
projects
Fulcrum Metals plc (LON: FMET), a
company focused on mineral exploration and development in Canada,
is pleased to announce that it has entered into a non-binding
Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Terra Balcanica Resources Corp.
(CNSX: TERA) ("Terra" or the "Optionee"), a mining explorer with
projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Pursuant to
the LOI, Terra, through an Option Agreement (the "Option
Agreement"), will be granted the option to acquire a 100% interest
in Fulcrum's uranium projects (the "Uranium Projects") located in
Saskatchewan, Canada.
Terra will have the option to
acquire the Uranium Projects, consisting of the Charlot-Neely,
Fontaine Lake, Snowbird and South Pendleton projects by completing
four years of exploration programmes and making a series of cash
and equity payments as outlined below:
|
Cash to
Fulcrum
|
Value of Shares in Terra to
Fulcrum
|
Exploration Expenditures
required by Terra
|
Payment to Fulcrum for exclusivity
on execution of signing the letter of intent
|
CA$7,500
|
|
|
Payment to Fulcrum on closing of
Option Agreement
|
CA$25,000
less CA$7,500 exclusivity agreement
|
CA$250,000
|
Complete
minimum work expenditures totalling CA$3,250,000
Prior to
fourth anniversary of the Option Agreement
|
Year 1
|
CA$50,000
|
CA$350,000
|
Year 2
|
CA$75,000
|
CA$500,000
|
Year 3
|
CA$75,000
|
CA$650,000
|
Year 4
|
CA$75,000
|
CA$1,250,000
|
Total
|
CA$300,000
|
CA$3,000,000
|
CA$3,250,000
|
The new shares in Terra that could
be issued to Fulcrum under the terms of the Option Agreement will
be issued at the 10-day Volume Weighted Average Price ("VWAP")
prior to the date of issuance. The shares issued to Fulcrum on
closing of the Option Agreement will be capped at CA$0.065 per
share, pre-consolidation by Terra. Cash generated from the sale of
the Uranium projects will be used by Fulcrum for its ongoing
capital needs.
In addition, and following the
exercise of the option, Fulcrum will retain a 1 per cent. Net
Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty on all claims with a buydown option
of 0.5 percent NSR for CA$1 million. As part of the Option
Agreement, and for terminating the existing agreement (the "Prior
Agreement") between Fulcrum and Global Energy Metals Corp. ("Global
Energy"), details of which were announced by Fulcrum on 30 January
2024, Global Energy will be compensated with CA$150,000 to be
satisfied through the issue of new shares in Terra on the closing
of the Option Agreement and a 0.5 per cent. NSR on all
claims.
Completion of the transaction
outlined in the LOI is conditional on the completion of due
diligence, Board approval by Fulcrum and Terra, receipt of all
required third party consents and execution of the Definitive
Option Agreement. The Company anticipates the completion of the
definitive agreement to take place by 1st May
2024.
The LOI is non-binding and sets out
the intention of both parties to enter into a definitive agreement
on the terms set out in the LOI, the key terms of which are
summarised in this announcement. There can be no guarantee that a
definitive agreement in relation to the Option Agreement will be
entered into nor that the terms will be the same as set out in the
LOI and this announcement.
Addition terms of the LOI
Orderly Sales Agreement
|
Fulcrum will agree to orderly sales
provisions with respect to its equity interest in Terra
|
Dunn Option*
|
The Option Agreement will include a
covenant by Fulcrum to maintain the Dunn Option in good standing,
and to exercise the Dunn Option and acquire a 100% interest in the
properties included in the Uranium Projects that are subject to the
Dunn Option.
|
Governing Law
|
The Option Agreement shall be
governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the
Province of British Columbia, and the federal laws of
Canada.
|
* Certain claims comprising
properties that are owned by Gary Clayton Dunn and Jonathan Stewart
Dunn who granted an option to acquire a 100% interest in them to
Fulcrum pursuant to a mining option agreement
Ryan Mee, Chief Executive Office of Fulcrum,
commented:
"We have experienced significant interest from third parties
over our uranium assets in Saskatchewan and are pleased to be able
to announce the signing of this non-binding LOI with such a strong
operational partner in Terra to apply their technical expertise to
advance these Uranium projects. The completion of the option
agreement will facilitate four years of exploration on these highly
prospective licence areas, at a time when uranium prices, driven by
the energy transition, continue to rise.
The terms outlined in the LOI, and consequent Option Agreement
will enable Fulcrum shareholders to benefit from the potential
upside of these projects, via the net smelter royalty and Terra
shares, whilst providing Fulcrum with an injection of cash which we
can use to advance other projects."
"At Fulcrum we are fortunate to have an outstanding team and
this agreement not only endorses the strategy deployed by Fulcrum
but is an important step for Fulcrum to execute the next stage of
the strategy with a clear focus on gold, and in particular more so
on gold tailings and mine waste in Ontario.
The gold tailings and mine waste in Ontario combines
established mining jurisdiction with low discovery risk, and
potential for earlier cash-flow opportunities. Teck-Hughes is
Fulcrum's first gold tailings project, located in Kirkland Lake,
Ontario for which sampling was complete in January and testing is
underway at Extrakt Process Solutions testing facility. In addition
to this the company is working on a framework with Extrakt Process
Solutions and their alliance partners including Bechtel Corporation
on licensing opportunities in Ontario.
Fulcrum has significant opportunities opening up, and I look
forward to updating the market at the appropriate time as we
progress these".
Additional project
information
The project portfolio totals over
59k hectares targeting major structures along strike from historic
Uranium mines and projects that have attracted significant
investment. Discoveries such as the Arrow discovery (4.3m tonnes at
0.83% U308) and Triple R discovery (2.7m tonnes at 1.94% U308) have
proved the concept of exploring along structure outside of the
Athabasca basin.
Highlights
· Proximal to northern and southeastern edges of the Athabasca
Basin ("Basin") in northern Saskatchewan, a premium mining district
and leading global source of high-grade uranium;
· Charlot-Neely is located within the emerging Uranium City
district on the northwestern margin of the Basin
· Historical work at the projects has demonstrated evidence of
uranium mineralization along favourable structural trends with
prospective target horizons based on electromagnetic
conductors;
· Future exploration by Terra will see the undertaking of a
modern systematic geologic fieldwork to determine the resource
potential.
Background of Terra
Terra is a public company listed on
the Canadian Securities Exchange. Terra has mining exploration
projects in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia. The Terra
management team has a track record in the mineral exploration,
development and mining industries as well as Canadian capital
markets.
For the year ended 31 January 2023,
Terra incurred a loss for the year before tax of $CAD2,013,644 with
net assets of $CAD2,291,508.
Technical Glossary
"cps"
|
Counts per second
|
"EM"
|
Electromagnetic
|
"ppm"
|
Parts per million
|
"REE"
|
Rare-earth element
|
"TREE"
|
Total Rare earth elements are a
group of 17 elements composed of scandium,
yttrium and the lanthanides
|
"U308"
|
Triuranium octoxide, a compound of
uranium
|
Qualified Person Statement
The technical information in this
announcement has been reviewed by Edward (Ed) Slowey, BSc, PGeo,
technical advisor to Fulcrum Metals Plc. Mr Slowey is a graduate
geologist with more than 40 years' relevant experience in mineral
exploration and mining and a founder member of the Institute of
Geologists of Ireland. Mr Slowey has sufficient experience relevant
to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under
consideration and to the activity which has been undertaken to
qualify as a "Qualified Person" in accordance with the AIM Rules
Guidance Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr Slowey
consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based
on their information in the form and context in which it
appears.
For further information please
visit https://fulcrummetals.com/
or contact:
Fulcrum Metals PLC
|
|
Ryan Mee (Chief Executive
Officer)
|
Via St Brides Partners
Limited
|
|
|
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated adviser)
|
|
Nick Athanas / George
Payne
|
Tel: +44 (0) 203 328 5656
|
|
|
Clear Capital Markets Limited (Broker)
|
|
Bob Roberts
|
Tel: +44 (0) 203 869 6081
|
|
|
St
Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR)
|
|
Ana Ribeiro / Paul Dulieu
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177
|
Notes to Editors
FULCRUM METALS - BACKGROUND
Fulcrum Metals PLC (LON: FMET) is an
AIM quoted exploration company which finances and manages
exploration projects focused on Canada, widely recognised as a top
mining jurisdiction.
Fulcrum currently holds a beneficial
100% interest in highly prospective gold and base metals projects
in Ontario and uranium projects in Saskatchewan.
Fulcrum's strategy is to focus on
discovery and commercialisation of its Projects through targeted
exploration programmes. The primary focus is to make an economic
discovery on the flagship Schreiber-Hemlo Properties and to
establish the prospectivity of its wider Ontario and Saskatchewan
portfolio with a view to securing potential joint venture and/or
acquisition interest.
The Schreiber - Hemlo properties
have a history of prospecting and localised extraction since the
late 19th century. However, coherent property-level exploration
programmes have been limited or absent, particularly in recent
times. Fulcrum has an opportunity to carry out such a programme and
this approach provides the best opportunity to fully explore the
significant prospectivity of the properties. A recent structural
study identified 42 priority exploration targets, of which 24
targets within the Big Bear property and 18 in the Jackfish
property, with 14 in total (9 on Big Bear and 5 on Jackfish) being
ranked as high priority for follow-up. The
properties have the potential to host a large, structurally
controlled, stratabound-style banded iron formation (BIF) gold
prospect similar to the Musselwhite deposit (McNicoll et al.,
2016), in addition to an Archean greenstone, orogenic-style lode
gold prospect, extending past the bounds of known historical
mineral occurrences.
The Tully property, 458 hectares in
area, is located 30 kilometres northeast of Timmins, Ontario and
includes the Tully (Timmins North) deposit, which has been the
focus of several drilling campaigns since its discovery in 1969.
The Tully deposit is located 2 kilometres southwest of the Bradshaw
Gold Project of Gowest Gold Ltd., currently in development. The
property is accessed by an all-weather gravel road that extends 15
kilometres to the east off of highway 655.
While highly prospective, Fulcrum's
mining assets are in the exploration phase, so Fulcrum stands to be
able to add significantly to the inherent value through exploration
success. Fulcrum will continually review opportunities with
potential and with a view to increasing shareholder value. It is
the Board's intention to deliver medium and long-term growth and to
establish the Group as a significant exploration
company.