Mr. Christian Kargl-Simard
reports
dBLUE MOON METALS TO ACQUIRE TWO NORWEGIAN BROWNFIELD COPPER DISTRICTS FOR US$67.3M AND TO COMPLETE A MINIMUM C$30 MILLION EQUITY FINANCING
Blue Moon Metals Inc., Nussir ASA and Nye Sulitjelma Gruver AS (NSG) have entered into separate binding letters of intent (respectively, the Nussir LOI and the NSG LOI), each dated Nov. 27, 2024, pursuant to which Blue Moon has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Nussir and NSG. Both Nussir and NSG are private Norwegian companies with properties in northern Norway. Blue Moon is acquiring a 100-per-cent interest in Nussir for $55.3-million (U.S.) and a 100-per-cent interest in NSG for $12-million (U.S.), both to be satisfied in common shares of Blue Moon at a deemed price of 30 cents per Blue Moon share, which will be the same price per subscription receipt (as defined below) in the concurrent equity financing. NSG shareholders will also receive $3-million (U.S.) in cash milestone payments related to permitting for tailings discharge followed by receipt of the operating permit for the NSG property.
Blue Moon will also complete a brokered private placement in tandem with the Nussir transaction and the NSG transaction at the Blue Moon deal price (the concurrent equity financing). A maximum $35.7-million (U.S.) of new equity is being raised with the set minimum of $21.4-million (U.S.) by top-tier global mining investors. More details on the concurrent equity financing can be found below. Definitive agreements covering the Nussir transaction and NSG transaction will be executed at or prior to closing of the concurrent equity financing. The implied equity value of the transactions is approximately $100-million (U.S.) to $115-million (U.S.) on a fully diluted in-the-money basis, with the range based on the low end and high end of the concurrent equity financing. At closing, existing Blue Moon, Nussir and NSG shareholders will own a minimum of 12 per cent, 55 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, of Blue Moon shares outstanding on a fully diluted in-the-money basis, assuming the low end of the concurrent equity financing, or 10 per cent, 48 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, assuming the maximum proceeds are raised in the concurrent equity financing. Some existing Blue Moon and Nussir shareholders will participate in the concurrent equity financing and no one shareholder will own more than 20 per cent of Blue Moon under any concurrent equity financing scenario at closing. The transaction is subject to final acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange as the transactions are considered a reviewable transaction under the policies of the TSX-V. As per TSX-V requirements, trading of the Blue Moon shares is halted and will remain halted until receipt of TSX-V approval of the transactions, which is expected when a National Instrument 43-101 technical report will be issued to Blue Moon on the Nussir property, among other customary items. No vote of Blue Moon shareholders is anticipated, and closing is expected by the end of February, 2025. Nussir shareholders are required to achieve 90.1-per-cent shareholder support, which is expected to be received by the time the concurrent equity financing closes. NSG has shareholder approval from 100 per cent of its shareholders. Nussir and NSG are arm's-length parties to each other, and Blue Moon is an arm's-length party to both of them. No finders' fees are being paid in connection with the transactions, other than the fees payable to the agents (as described below) in connection with the concurrent equity financing.
Strategic rationale for Blue Moon:
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Provides immediate asset and geographic diversification with more emphasis on near-term copper:
- Tier 1 jurisdiction covering all three projects; the United States and Norway are members of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a U.S. collaboration initiative that aims to secure the supply of critical raw materials, including copper and zinc:
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Addition of the low-cost brownfield Nussir property copper-silver-gold mine is expected to significantly enhance Blue Moon's developing production profile:
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The Nussir property is an underground development project with existing critical infrastructure located next to property (access, power and port); open-pit historical production was suspended in the 1970s; the construction of a decline is expected to begin in Q1 2025;
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Exploration ramp access is expected to start construction at both the Blue Moon property and the NSG property in 2025 or 2026; production last occurred in the 1940s at the Blue Moon property and in the early 1990s at the NSG property;
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Existing mineral resources of:
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Nussir property:
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Historical estimate of measured resources of 1.7 million tonnes at 1.16 per cent copper, 0.22 gram per tonne gold and 13.3 grams per tonne silver and indicated resources of 31.8 million tonnes at 1.09 per cent copper, 0.13 gram per tonne gold and 12.6 grams per tonne silver;
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Historical estimate of inferred resources of 33.4 million tonnes at 1.16 per cent copper, 0.17 gram per tonne gold and 16 grams per tonne silver;
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Blue Moon property:
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Indicated resources of 3.51 million tonnes at 6.14 per cent zinc, 0.75 per cent zinc, 1.54 ounces per ton silver, 0.05 ounce per ton gold and 0.24 per cent lead;
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Inferred resources of 3.83 million tonnes at 5.94 per cent zinc, 0.59 per cent copper, 1.54 ounces per ton silver, 0.05 ounce per ton gold and 0.34 per cent lead;
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NSG property:
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Historical inferred resources of 29.4 million tonnes at 0.9 per cent copper and 0.17 per cent zinc; gold, silver and sulphur were not assayed for but are expected to form a credit in the future;
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All three projects have the potential to materially increase in size prior to a final mill construction decision:
- At the Nussir property, Blue Moon is expecting to focus the next 18-months on six different opportunities aimed at increasing both shear-hosted and sediment-hosted resources through primarily drilling from underground; underground exploration potential is considered to be high;
- At the Blue Moon property, after maiden preliminary economic assessment release, expected in Q1 2025 (see Oct. 10, 2024, press release), Blue Moon expects to focus on drilling off the existing volcanic massive sulphide resources with the aim of upgrading to reserve status from underground and extending the deposit downdip; underground exploration potential is considered to be high;
- At the NSG property, regional exploration activities through underground tunnels will aim to expand on the significant production history at multiple volcanic massive deposits between 1887 and 1991;
- Limited exploration dollars have been spent on all three projects for decades, and Nussir and NSG have never been exposed to the public markets;
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The metallurgical response to simple flotation at both the Nussir property and the Blue Moon property is expected to be very positive;
- Available infrastructure at all three projects with access to power, water, ports and underground infrastructure;
- Blue Moon would anticipate that production decisions could be made once all three projects have substantially tested their exploration potential, from underground drilling, test mining, mineral sorting and byproduct credit market analysis;
- Negligible royalties exist at Blue Moon, 0.75-per-cent net smelter return royalties exist on both the Nussir property and NSG property, and no streams or offtakes have been sold on any of the three projects; precious metals are expected to contribute over 20 per cent to the NSR royalties of both the Nussir property and the Blue Moon property;
- Rerating opportunity is expected to result from increased scale, significantly enhanced growth profile and establishing a presence in an emerging, mining-friendly jurisdiction; key personnel from the principals of Blue Moon will aim to build up a high-quality team to advance these projects and to become a significant base metal mining company.
Blue Moon's chief executive officer, Christian Kargl-Simard, said:
"This transaction will create a new copper-zinc development company located in Tier 1 jurisdictions, focused on critical metals for the Western world. It presents the opportunity for us to leverage our technical expertise and strong access to capital markets to unlock value for all shareholders by advancing and developing multiple base metals projects. In a world where geopolitics and national security are front-page topics in sourcing critical materials, we believe our foray into Europe and the United States is well timed. We plan on deploying the best available technologies on our projects and showing strong support for our communities and partner. First off though, it's time to show off results from the drill bit."
About the Nussir property
Nussir is a privately held mining company incorporated under the laws of Norway, established in 2005. Its aim is to develop the Nussir property copper-silver-gold mine located in northern Norway. Former open-pit mining occurred at the mine during the 1970s in four shear-hosted open pits. Nussir has been focused on advancing a sedimentary-hosted copper deposit on the same project with analysis, study work and permits granted over a 20-year period. SRK Consulting (U.K.) Ltd. completed an updated JORC-compliant (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) feasibility study on the construction-ready project in May, 2023, with an initial capital cost estimated at $101-million (U.S.).
Historical estimate of JORC-compliant resources exist as follows (SRK DFS report dated May, 2023):
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Measured resources of 1.7 million tonnes at 1.16 per cent Cu, 0.22 gram per tonne gold and 13.3 grams per tonne silver;
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Indicated resources of 31.8 million tonnes at 1.09 per cent Cu, 0.13 gram per tonne gold and 12.6 grams per tonne silver;
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Inferred resources of: 33.4 million tonnes at 1.16 per cent Cu, 0.17 gram per tonne gold and 16 grams per tonne silver;
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High potential to increase global resources through:
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Upgrading undrilled areas of the approximately 10-kilometre resource trend and infilling high-grade resource (greater than 2 per cent copper equivalent) areas that have seen limited drill density;
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Defining the parallel zone at the Nussir property, which does not currently have any resources and could have meaningful strike length;
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Drilling underneath the historical open-pit production through the existing 2.5-kilometre underground tunnel and expanding resources that are open;
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Drilling a geochemical anomaly between the historical open pits and the Nussir property;
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Groundbreaking ore-sorting technology is being tested, which could provide major reduction in waste, increase processing capacity and lower operating costs;
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Blue Moon will be investigating all of these opportunities; with substantial drilling from the underground decline and test mining different options for tailings deposition will be investigated prior to completing a feasibility study and making a full construction decision; this work is projected to be the bulk of the use of proceeds from the concurrent equity financing.
About the NSG property
Blue Moon is excited about the copper potential of northern Norway, and the NSG Property would be the first new copper mine in the country in over 50 years. The NSG property has some of the most attractive rocks in the country from a historical perspective, with the area at the NSG property having hosted the largest mining operation in the country. The remaining deposits still constitute among the largest known deposit of copper in Norway and are expected to contain significant exploration upside. No resources exist as compliant with NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, but the NSG property has a historical estimate of inferred resources of 29.4 million tonnes at 0.9 per cent Cu and 0.17 per cent Zn. Precious metals and sulphur have not been assayed but are expected to become a credit.
Concurrent equity financing
The concurrent equity financing will be conducted by way of a brokered private placement of a minimum of 10 million units and a maximum of 16,666,667 units of Blue Moon at a price of $3 per unit for minimum gross proceeds of $30-million and maximum gross proceeds of $50-million, co-led by Cormark Securities Inc. and Scotia Capital Inc. on behalf of a syndicate of investment dealers.
Each unit issued in the concurrent equity financing will consist of one common share of Blue Moon and nine subscription receipts, with 10 per cent of the price per unit allocated to the unit share underlying each unit and 90 per cent of the price per unit allocated to the subscription receipts underlying each unit. The proceeds allocated to the unit shares will be released to Blue Moon upon closing of the concurrent equity financing and will not be returned to the subscribers in the event the escrow release conditions (as defined below), which include the completion of the Nussir transaction, are not met.
Upon completion of the Nussir transaction and subject to certain customary conversion conditions for a transaction of this nature, each subscription receipt will convert into one common share of Blue Moon without payment of additional consideration or further action on the part of the holder.
Blue Moon has agreed to pay to the agents a commission equal to 6.0 per cent of the gross proceeds from the concurrent equity financing, 50 per cent of which will be placed in escrow as described below. A president list will also be part of the concurrent equity financing with varying commissions depending on the potential subscriber, but none higher than 6.0 per cent.
The proceeds of the concurrent equity financing, other than those proceeds allocated to the unit shares, and the escrowed commission, will be held in escrow pending satisfaction of the escrow release conditions. Provided that the escrow release conditions are satisfied or waived (where permitted) prior to 5 p.m. Toronto time on Feb. 27, 2025, or prior to April 30, 2025, if Blue Moon shareholder approval is required by the TSX-V, the escrowed commission will be released to the agents from the escrowed proceeds, the balance of the escrowed proceeds will be released to or as directed by Blue Moon, and the subscription receipts shall be automatically converted into underlying shares, without payment of any additional consideration or further action on the part of the subscribers. In the event that the escrow release conditions are not satisfied by the escrow release deadline, the escrowed proceeds, together with interest earned thereon, will be returned to the holders of the subscription receipts and such subscription receipts will be cancelled.
The proceeds from the unit shares will be immediately released to Blue Moon to be used for general corporate purposes and advancement of the Blue Moon project, along with costs related to the transactions. The proceeds from the subscription receipts will be primarily utilized for exploration decline development, underground exploration and optimization studies at the Nussir property, exploration permitting at the Blue Moon property and the NSG property, and general corporate purposes and working capital.
The securities issued under the concurrent equity financing will be subject to a statutory four-month hold period under applicable securities laws. Completion of the concurrent equity financing does not provide a guarantee that the transactions will be completed. The concurrent equity financing must be closed by Jan. 15, 2025,
and the overall transactions closed by Feb. 27, 2025, as outside dates, unless extended by mutual agreement of the parties. Blue Moon intends to list on the Oslo Stock Exchange after closing of the transactions.
Conditions precedent
The closing of the Nussir transaction is conditional on closing of the NSG transaction and the conversion of subscription receipts is conditional on the transactions closing. The closing of the NSG transaction is conditional on the closing of the Nussir transaction. Both Nussir and NSG are being acquired on a debt-free basis. The boards of directors of all three companies have unanimously approved the transaction.
The board of directors of the resulting issuer shall include three existing directors of Blue Moon (Mr. Kargl-Simard, Maryse Belanger and Haytham Hodaly) and two nominated by Nussir, being Francis Johnstone and Karin Thorburn, with one nominee of NSG to be nominated at the next scheduled shareholder meeting. Senior officers of the resulting issuer will be Mr. Kargl-Simard as chief executive officer and Frances Kwong as chief financial officer, with additional officers to be announced in due course.
The existing JORC-compliant feasibility study on the Nussir property will be restated and/or reconciled to be compliant with NI 43-101 prior to closing. A NI 43-101 compliant report on the NSG property is also being prepared, but no determination has been made by the TSX-V whether such a report will or will not be required for completion of the transactions at this time.
The following is the minimum escrow release policy for Blue Moon shares to be issued to Nussir shareholders on closing of the Nussir transaction: 50-per-cent release after six months and a following 50-per-cent release after 12 months. The following is the minimum escrow release policy for Blue Moon shares to be issued to NSG shareholders on closing of the NSG transaction: 50-per-cent release after 6 months and a following 50-per-cent release after 12 months. All securities issued under the transactions may be subject to additional escrow requirements as determined by the TSX-V.
In addition to the required 90.1-per-cent Nussir shareholder approval, the transaction is also subject to the satisfaction of certain other closing conditions customary for a transaction of this nature. The transaction remains subject to exchange approval in all respects on behalf of Blue Moon. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of February, 2025. Blue Moon shares will remain halted for trading until closing of the transaction.
The definitive agreements for the Nussir transaction and the NSG transaction, which will be signed upon closing of the concurrent equity financing, will include representations, warranties, covenants, indemnities, termination rights and other provisions customary for a transaction of this nature. In particular, the definitive agreements will provide for customary deal protections, including non-solicitation covenants on the parties and a right of the other party to match any superior proposal (as defined in the definitive agreements). The definitive agreements will include a termination fee payable by the parties, under certain circumstances (including if the definitive agreements are terminated in connection with such parties pursuing superior proposals).
Advisers and counsel
DLA Piper (Canada) LLP and Simonsen Vogt Wiig AS are acting as Blue Moon's Canadian and Norwegian legal advisers, respectively.
CIBC Capital Markets is acting as financial adviser to Nussir. Fasken Martineau LLP and Arntzen de Besche are acting as Nussir's Canadian and Norwegian legal advisers, respectively.
Qualified person
Dustin Small, PEng, qualified person under NI 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical information related to the operations matters contained in this news release.
About Blue Moon Metals Inc.
Blue Moon Metals is advancing its Blue Moon polymetallic deposit, which contains zinc, gold, silver and copper. The property is well located with existing local infrastructure, including paved highways three miles from site, a hydroelectric power generation facility a few miles from the site, a three-hour drive to the Oakland port and a four-hour drive to the service centre of Reno. Zinc and copper are currently on the U.S. Geological Survey list of metals critical to the U.S. economy and national security.
We seek Safe Harbor.
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