Triple Flag Bermuda has agreed to purchase 70% of the payable gold produced by RBPlat over the life of their PGM operations in exchange for an upfront cash prepayment of US$145 million and an on-going payment equal to 5% of the spot gold price at time of delivery for each ounce delivered
Triple Flag closes $145m gold stream with RBPlat. (Credit: Matthias Wewering from Pixabay)
Triple Flag Precious Metals Corp. (“Triple Flag”) is pleased to announce the closing on January 23, 2020 of a gold streaming agreement between its wholly-owned subsidiary, Triple Flag Mining Finance Bermuda Ltd., (“Triple Flag Bermuda”) and Royal Bafokeng Resources Proprietary Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Bafokeng Platinum Limited (“RBPlat”) dated October 13, 2019. Triple Flag Bermuda has agreed to purchase 70% of the payable gold produced by RBPlat over the life of their PGM operations in exchange for an upfront cash prepayment of US$145 million and an on-going payment equal to 5% of the spot gold price at time of delivery for each ounce delivered (the “Stream”).
“Triple Flag is pleased to provide RBPlat with innovative financing to help enable their strategic objectives.” commented Shaun Usmar, CEO of Triple Flag. “In return, we have secured another high-margin, long-life gold stream on a world-class PGM complex with a high-quality operating partner with a track record of excellent employee and community stewardship. We are also pleased to have awarded our inaugural scholarships to seven impressive young local students, as part of our US$100,000 per year scholarship program, to help fund the university education of the families of RBPlat’s employees and their doorstep communities.”
“Closing this transaction adds an important milestone to several others over the past six weeks, including: achieving record production in 2019 of over 42koz’s gold equivalent ounces, first concentrate from Nevada Copper Inc’s Pumpkin Hollow mine in Nevada, U.S.A; the commencement of acid injection at Excelsior Mining Corp’s Gunnison project in Arizona, U.S.A; the receipt of a cyanide permit at Steppe Gold Inc’s ATO mine in Mongolia; and continued on-track development progress at Continental Gold Inc.’s Buriticá project in Colombia and Diversified Minerals’ Dargues project in Australia.”
Transaction Highlights:
- Growth and Longevity: RBPlat’s operations are diversified across two mining areas with two processing plants. Supported by growth through the ramp-up of Styldrift to reach steady-state production in the third quarter 2020, the Stream will produce approximately 10,000 ounces of gold per annum over the first ten years of a greater than twenty-five-year planned life of mine.
- Asset Quality: RBPlat’s operations are in the first-half of the cost curve and Styldrift is a newly commissioned, modern and mechanized, long-life asset. With 40% ownership by the Royal Bafokeng Nation, through its investment vehicle Royal Bafokeng Holdings, RBPlat benefits from long-term broad-based community support.
- Structure: The Stream entitles Triple Flag to 70% of the payable gold from an area encompassing all of RBPlat’s current operations and reduces to a 42% entitlement after the delivery of 261,000 ounces of gold. The Stream grants a right of first refusal over future streaming and royalty agreements relating to other RBPlat properties, including Styldrift-II and neighboring concessions being mined by Impala Platinum Holdings Limited.
- Margins: Triple Flag Bermuda will pay an ongoing payment, at the time of delivery, of 5% of the spot gold price for each ounce delivered; further strengthening our sector-leading cash margins.
- Partnership: To complement RBPlat’s current bursary scheme, Triple Flag has commenced a fully funded scholarship program to support university students from families of employees and doorstep communities. The scholarship will support the graduation of more than 50 young engineers, geologists and other technical professions over the life of the Stream, through a US$100,000 per annum funding by Triple Flag, starting in the upcoming 2020 academic year. This scholarship reflects RBPlat’s and Triple Flag’s support for host communities.
Source: Company Press Release