Wealth Minerals Ltd. (the “
Company” or
“
Wealth”) (TSXV: WML; OTCQX: WMLLF; SSE: WMLCL;
Frankfurt: EJZN) announces that, further to its news releases
dated December 4, 2018, April 4, 2019 and June 3, 2019, Wealth
Copper Ltd. (“
Wealth Copper”) has completed the
acquisition (the “
Escalones Acquisition”) of
TriMetals Mining Inc.’s (“
TMI”) interest in and to
the mineral exploitation concessions and the mineral exploration
concessions and related assets and liabilities that comprise the
Escalones copper-gold porphyry project, located in the Santiago
Metropolitan Region, in Central Chile (the “
Escalones
Project”). Wealth Copper also announces that it has
acquired (the “
Cristal Acquisition”; together
with the Escalones Acquisition,
the “
Acquisitions”) New Energy Metals Corp.’s
(“
ENRG”) interest in and to the mineral
exploitation concessions comprising the Cristal copper project,
located in Region XV of Arica and Parinacota, Chile
(the “
Cristal Project”).
Wealth Copper also announces the closing of a
non-brokered private placement (the “Wealth Copper
Financing”) of 8,140,000 common shares in the capital of
Wealth Copper (the “Wealth Copper Shares”) at a
price of $0.10 per Wealth Copper Share for aggregate proceeds of
approximately $814,000. Upon the closing of the Escalones
Acquisition and after giving effect to the Wealth Copper Financing,
Wealth owns 25,000,000 Wealth Copper Shares, representing 42.6% of
the total issued and outstanding Wealth Copper Shares.
Wealth Copper is currently working to complete
the previously announced going-public transaction (the
“Going-Public Transaction”) with Allante Resources
Ltd. (TSXV: ALL.H) (“Allante”). The
Company expects the Going-Public Transaction to be completed in Q4
2019.
“Wealth Copper has completed the acquisitions of
the Escalones Project and the Cristal Project. Wealth
continues to focus on its lithium projects, while the Company also
utilizes its know-how and human capital to add value for Wealth’s
shareholders by utilizing Wealth Copper as a special purpose
vehicle to gain exposure to copper assets,” stated Henk van Alphen,
Wealth’s CEO. “It is my view that once the US-China trade
dispute is resolved, copper demand, which has stalled due to
uncertainty, will surge. The battery metal industry is poised
for a long-term boom and having direct exposure to lithium and
indirect exposure to copper, provides Wealth’s investors with a
unique investment opportunity.”
Escalones Acquisition and Project
Description
The Escalones Project is located 35 km east of
El Teniente, one of the world’s largest underground copper mines
and within the renowned Chilean porphyry copper belt that runs
north-south in the central Andes Mountains.
The Escalones Project covers an area of 161 km2,
of which (i) 46 km2 are covered by 19 exploitation concessions
that are the subject of an option agreement between an indirect,
wholly-owned subsidiary of Wealth Copper, TriMetals Mining Chile
SCM (“TMI Chile”), and a third-party vendor for a
100% interest in and to the concessions (the “Escalones
Option”) and (ii) 115 km2 are covered by 40
exploration concessions, owned by TMI Chile.
Historical Estimate
A resource estimate for the Escalones Project
was completed by Hard Rock Consulting, LLC for TMI
in 2014:
Grade & Tonnage |
|
Tonnes |
Copper |
Gold |
Silver |
Moly |
|
Millions |
% |
g/t |
g/t |
% |
Indicated |
232.6 |
0.31 |
0.067 |
0.661 |
0.006 |
Inferred |
527.7 |
0.34 |
0.036 |
0.849 |
0.007 |
Total Contained Metal |
|
Copper |
Gold |
Silver |
Moly |
|
Mlbs |
Ozs |
Moz |
Mlbs |
Indicated |
1,578 |
498,012 |
4.9 |
31.9 |
Inferred |
3,992 |
609,437 |
14.4 |
79.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
1. Readers are cautioned that the
Company’s qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify
the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and the
Company is not treating such results as a current mineral
resource. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do
not have demonstrated economic viability as there is no certainty
that all or any part of the resources will be converted into
reserves. Inferred resources are that part of a mineral
resource for which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on
the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. It is
reasonably expected that the inferred resources could be upgraded
to indicated resources with continued exploration. To verify
and classify the historical mineral resource estimate as a current
mineral resource estimate, the model and estimation are required to
be reviewed and evaluated by a qualified person.2. For more
information see the Technical Report entitled “Resource Estimate on
the Escalones Porphyry Copper Project” effective date June 28, 2013
and amended on July 11, 2014 and filed on TMI’s SEDAR profile.
The Escalones Project has excellent
infrastructure, including road access, electricity, access to
seaports, and a gas pipeline that crosses a 70 km2 portion of the
property. The Escalones Project hosts a 4 km2 area of
hydrothermal alteration with coincident geophysical anomalies.
Copper, gold and silver mineralization occurs as
replacement-style skarn in calcareous sedimentary rocks and as
disseminated porphyry mineralization in related intrusive
rocks. Copper mineralization at the Escalones Project occurs
primarily as chalcopyrite, bornite, covelline as well as copper
oxides near surface. The hydrothermal alteration exposed at
surface includes intense zones of quartz-sericite, potassic, and
calc-silicate alteration assemblages.
The Escalones Acquisition was completed pursuant
to a share purchase agreement made as of May 31, 2019 among
Wealth Copper, the Company, TMI and Escalones Resource Corp., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of TMI (“ERC”), whereby
Wealth Copper acquired 100% of TMI’s interest in and to the
Escalones Project. As consideration, Wealth Copper issued (i)
25,000,000 Wealth Copper Shares to ERC, (ii) granted to ERC a 2%
net smelter returns royalty on the Escalones exploration
concessions (which is in addition to an existing 2% net smelter
returns royalty on the Escalones exploitation concessions), and
(iii) is required to make an aggregate of $1,000,000 in cash
payments to ERC (of which $150,000 has already been paid).
The remaining payments required to exercise the Escalones Option in
full are as follows:
|
Date |
Cash Payment (USD) |
|
|
June 30, 2020 |
$ |
200,000 |
|
|
June 30, 2021 |
$ |
300,000 |
|
|
June 30, 2022 |
$ |
500,000 |
|
|
June 30, 2023 |
$ |
500,000 |
|
|
June 30, 2024 |
$ |
3,000,000 |
|
|
Total: |
$ |
4,500,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Further, pursuant to a letter agreement (the
“Side Letter”) entered into among the Company, TMI
and ERC (together with TMI, the “TMI Group”), the
parties to the Side Letter agreed to restrict the extent of their
ability to transfer or sell shares held by them in the capital of
Wealth Copper (or the Resulting Issuer) until the earlier of (i)
the fifth anniversary of the closing date of the Escalones
Acquisition or (ii) the first date after such closing date on
which either the Company or the TMI Group, directly or indirectly,
cease to beneficially own more than 5% of the issued and
outstanding common shares in the capital of Wealth Copper (or the
Resulting Issuer).
Cristal Acquisition and
Project Description
The Cristal Project is a porphyry copper target
located in northern Chile, near the Bolivia/Chile border and
comprises 9 km2 of exploitation concessions. The Cristal
Project was the subject of a technical report prepared pursuant to
NI 43-101 titled “National Instrument 43‑101 Technical Report for
the Cristal Copper Property, Province of Arica, XV Region of Arica
and Parinacota, Chile”, dated February 28, 2018, prepared by Thomas
Henricksen and filed on ENRG’s SEDAR profile on March 29, 2018.
It is anticipated that Wealth Copper’s initial
focus on the Cristal Project will be to drill-test the center of
coincident magnetic, gravity and electromagnetic anomalies reported
by BHP Billiton Ltd. (“BHP”) as a result of
airborne geophysical data surveys conducted by it on the Cristal
Project between 2012 and 2014. This large geophysical anomaly
is expected to be the primary target at the Cristal Project, with
the target depth expected to be 600 m to 800 m from surface (see
news release dated December 4, 2019).
The Cristal Acquisition was completed pursuant
to an assignment and assumption agreement made effective March 27,
2019 between Wealth Copper and ENRG (the “Assignment
Agreement”) and an assignment of unilateral option to
purchase mining claims made effective July 23, 2019
between a wholly-owned Chilean subsidiary of ENRG (“ENRG
Chile”) and a wholly-owned Chilean subsidiary of Wealth
Copper (“Wealth Copper Chile”), whereby ENRG Chile
granted, assigned, transferred and set over to Wealth Copper Chile
all of its right, title, obligations and 100% interest in and to
the underlying option agreement in respect of the Cristal Project
(the “Cristal Option”), in consideration for
Wealth Copper delivering to ENRG Chile 50,000 fully-paid and
non-assessable common shares in the capital of Wealth. Wealth
Copper is required to make the remaining payments outlined below to
exercise the Cristal Option in full:
|
Date |
Cash Payment (USD) |
|
|
Upon the earlier of the commencement of drilling at the Cristal
Project and December 31, 2019 |
$ |
50,000 |
|
|
March 31, 2020 |
$ |
150,000 |
|
|
August 4, 2020 |
$ |
500,000 |
|
|
August 4, 2021 |
$ |
700,000 |
|
|
August 4, 2022 |
$ |
3,000,000 |
|
|
Total: |
$ |
4,400,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wealth Copper will be responsible for all
exploration costs and activities during the Cristal Option period.
There are no minimum exploration commitments during the
Cristal Option period.
The underlying Cristal property owner retains a
3% net smelter returns (“NSR”) royalty, of which
two-thirds (⅔) can be repurchased by paying USD $2,000,000 for each
percentage point of the NSR royalty bought back (aggregate USD
$4,000,000 for 2% NSR royalty). In addition, there is also an
existing 1% NSR royalty in favour of Condor Resources Inc. that can
be repurchased in its entirety upon a payment of USD
$1,000,000.
The Assignment Agreement provides that if Wealth
Copper Chile exercises the Cristal Option, then Wealth Copper Chile
and ENRG Chile will be deemed to have formed a joint venture
(the “Joint Venture”) for the continued
exploration of the Cristal Project, with the initial participating
interests of the Joint Venture participants being Wealth Copper
Chile – 70% and ENRG Chile – 30%. Assuming the
formation of the Joint Venture, a 2% NSR royalty will be granted to
a participant in the Joint Venture if its participating interest
therein falls to 10% or less (the “JV Royalty”),
provided that one-half (1%) of the JV Royalty can be purchased by
the other party for $1,000,000. The Going-Public
Transaction
In connection with the Acquisitions, Wealth
Copper entered into a letter of intent with Allante (after the
closing of the Going-Public Transaction, the “Resulting
Issuer”) dated June 7, 2019 in respect of the Going-Public
Transaction, whereby Allante will acquire all of the issued and
outstanding Wealth Copper Shares and continue the business of
Wealth Copper in exchange for the issuance of common shares in the
capital of Allante to the Wealth Copper shareholders on a one (1)
for one (1) basis (see Allante new release dated June 13,
2019).
It is also the intention of the parties that in
connection with the Going-Public Transaction, private placement
financings by Allante will be completed in the aggregate amount of
at least $4,186,000 (the “Concurrent
Financing”). The parties have agreed that TMI’s
ownership interest in the Resulting Issuer will not be less than
30% immediately after giving effect to the Going-Public Transaction
and the Concurrent Financing and TMI has been granted the right to
participate in certain future equity financings to allow TMI to
maintain its pro rata ownership interest in the equity capital of
the Resulting Issuer. In addition, each of TMI and Wealth
will each be granted the right to nominate one director to the
board of directors of the Resulting Issuer for so long as it holds
at least 20% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Resulting
Issuer.
Qualified Person
John Drobe, P.Geo., a qualified person as
defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for
Mineral Projects, has reviewed the scientific and technical
information that forms the basis for this news release and has
approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Drobe is not independent
of the Company as he is a consultant and shareholder of Wealth, and
holds incentive stock options of the Company.
About Wealth Minerals Ltd.
Wealth is a mineral resource company with
interests in Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile. The Company’s
main focus is the acquisition and development of lithium projects
in South America. To date, the Company has positioned itself
to develop the Atacama Project alongside existing producers in the
prolific Atacama region, where the Company has a substantial
licenses package. The Company has also positioned itself to
play a role in asset consolidation in Chile with various lithium
properties throughout the country.
Lithium market dynamics and a rapidly increasing
metal price are the result of profound structural issues with the
industry meeting anticipated future demand. Wealth is
positioning itself to be a major beneficiary of this future
mismatch of supply and demand. The Company also maintains and
continues to evaluate a portfolio of precious and base metal
exploration-stage projects.
For further details on the Company readers are
referred to the Company’s website (www.wealthminerals.com) and its
Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
For additional Wealth Copper updates,
follow the social links below:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WealthCopperTwitter:
www.twitter.com/WealthCopper LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wealthcopper
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
ofWEALTH MINERALS LTD.
“Hendrik van Alphen”Hendrik van AlphenChief
Executive Officer
For further information, please contact: |
|
Marla Ritchie, Henk van Alphen or Tim McCutcheonPhone: 604-331-0096
E-mail: info@wealthminerals.com |
|
|
|
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the
TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this news release.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking
statements and forward-looking information (collectively,
“forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable
Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All
statements, other than statements of historical fact, included
herein including, without limitation, statements with respect to
anticipated exploration program results from exploration
activities, the Company’s expectation that Wealth Copper will be
able to complete the Going-Public Transaction or enter into
agreements to acquire interests in additional mineral properties
(including the definitive agreements for the Going-Public
Transaction), the discovery and delineation of mineral
deposits/resources/reserves, the closing and amount of the
Concurrent Financing, the exercise of the Cristal Option and
the Escalones Option, and the anticipated business plans and timing
of future activities of the Company and Wealth Copper, are
forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes
that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that
such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking
statements are typically identified by words such as: “believes”,
“expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “estimates”, “plans”, “may”,
“should”, “would”, “will”, “potential”, “scheduled” or variations
of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their
nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would,
might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the
forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has
applied several material assumptions, including without limitation,
that Wealth Copper will be able to negotiate and enter into the
definitive agreements for the Going-Public Transaction, and that
TSX and TSXV acceptance and the required corporate approvals of
same will be obtained, that there will be investor interest in the
Concurrent Financing, market fundamentals will result in sustained
lithium, vanadium, copper and precious metals demand and prices,
the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory
approvals in connection with the future development of the
Company’s or Wealth Copper’s Chilean projects in a timely manner,
including the Escalones Project and the Cristal Project, the
availability of financing on suitable terms for the development,
construction and continued operation of the Company and Wealth
Copper’s projects and the Company and Wealth Copper’s ability to
comply with environmental, health and safety laws.
Forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the
actual results, performance or achievements of the Company and
Wealth Copper to differ materially from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors
include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in
connection with mineral exploration and development activities,
actual results of exploration activities, including on the
Escalones Project and the Cristal Project, the estimation or
realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the fact
that the Company’s and Wealth Copper’s interests in the Escalones
exploitation concessions and the Cristal Project are options only
and there is no guarantee that such interests, if earned, will be
certain, the timing and amount of estimated future production, the
costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of
the development of new deposits, requirements for additional
capital, future prices of lithium and copper, changes in general
economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the
demand and market price for commodities, lack of investor interest
in the Concurrent Financing, accidents, labour disputes and other
risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental
approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development
or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and
policies affecting mining operations, title disputes, the inability
of the Company, Wealth Copper and Allante, as applicable, to obtain
any necessary permits, consents, approvals or authorizations,
including acceptance by the TSX and TSXV, as applicable, required
for the Concurrent Financing, the filing of the definitive
agreements for the Going-Public Transaction and the continued
listing of the Resulting Issuer on the TSXV, the formation of the
Joint Venture, the timing and possible outcome of any pending
litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, and risks related
to joint venture operations, and other risks and uncertainties
disclosed in the Company’s latest interim Managements’ Discussion
and Analysis and filed with the Canadian Securities Authorities.
All of the Company’s Canadian public disclosure filings may
be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these
materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to
the Company’s mineral properties.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company
undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking
statements in this news release or incorporated by reference
herein, except as otherwise required by law.
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