Wallbridge said that it will continue to focus on its core Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend properties while allowing shareholders to take part in the potential economic upside in Archer
Wallbridge to divest nickel assets. (Credit: Dominik Vanyi on Unsplash)
Canada-based Wallbridge Mining Company has signed an agreement to divest all of its nickel assets to Archer Exploration in an all-share transaction valued at C$53.6m ($41.2m).
Archer is a materials technology company backed by Inventa Capital, a Vancouver-based merchant bank focused on discovery and funding in the resource sector.
Wallbridge said that the transaction includes its Grasset and RUM projects in Quebec and Sudbury and NW projects in Ontario.
The company said that it will continue to focus on its core Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend properties while allowing shareholders to participate in the potential economic upside in Archer.
Under the terms of the deal, Wallbridge will receive around 198.6 million common shares and a 19.9% ownership interest in Archer.
The company will also receive a 2% net smelter royalty on the Grasset property, along with a right of first refusal to acquire any new royalties on the property.
The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions, including completion of the financing and other customary closing conditions, and receipt of regulatory and other approvals.
Wallbridge president and CEO Marz Kord said: “Our core focus remains on the exploration and development of our 100%-owned Fenelon Gold property, located on the highly prospective Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend in Northern Abitibi, Quebec, where we are currently in the midst of a major drilling campaign to expand the multi-million-ounce resource that we have already identified.
“The opportunity to have our portfolio of non-core nickel assets acquired by a focused, publicly-traded nickel development and exploration company led by a world-class team unlocks the value of these assets and allows Wallbridge and its shareholders to benefit from their future development potential.”
The Grasset project is located nearly 55km from Matagami in Quebec, with an indicated resource of 5.5 million tonnes grading 1.22% nickel for 67,100 tonnes of the contained metal.
Archer believes that the project has significant expansion potential, based on open resource grade drill intercepts and borehole electromagnetic anomalies at depth and along strike.
The RUM project is a grassroots exploration property located 150km northwest of Matagami, Quebec, that covers 8,966 hectares of the area on 164 claim blocks.
For Archer, RUM is prospective for mafic/ultramafic hosted, magmatic Ni-Cu(-Co-PGE) mineralisation with a drill-ready Ni-sulphide showing (Bluenose Zone).
The Sudbury project is located within the mining district of Sudbury, with a property package covering 30,984ha within 807 mining titles.
The NW Ontario project is a 15,555ha grassroots exploration package located within the Archean Lumby Lake greenstone belt near Thunder Ba, and it hosts 735 claims.
Archer interim chief executive officer Keith Bodnarchuk said: “Our team has searched worldwide to identify and secure an attractive land portfolio that features an advanced nickel sulphide resource with apparent upside that is complemented by an exciting pipeline of high-impact nickel sulphide exploration targets.
“The Grasset deposit and the 23km long, target-rich regional package ticks these boxes. Then add to Grasset a giant land package in the world-class Sudbury mining camp and highly prospective greenfield projects in northern Quebec and NW Ontario and Archer becomes a leading Canadian nickel exploration and development company.
“This transaction is a direct result of an unrelenting, collaborative effort by both the Archer and Wallbridge teams towards unlocking the huge potential value of a best-in-class nickel portfolio during a period of unparalleled demand for green metals.”