Audited Final Results (2021 Financial Statements and MD&A)

2022-04-29 / @thenewswire

(TheNewswire)

29 April 2022 – TheNewswire - Altus Strategies Plc (AIM:ALS), (TSXV:ALTS), (OTC:ALTUF) announces its audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2021. These are presented below and are available (along with the Company's 2021 Annual Report) to download on the Company's website at http://altus-strategies.com/investors/financials/ and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Corporate highlights

Acquisition of an effective 0.418% Net Smelter Return (NSR”) royalty on the Caserones copper mine (“Caserones”) in northern Chile for US$34.1m
Caserones royalty acquired via a strategic 50:50 partnership with NYSE-American and TSX-V listed EMX Royalty Corp (EMX”) through a Chilean special purpose vehicle (“SPV”)
Receipt of maiden royalty income of £1.7m (before tax) in respect of Q2 and Q3 2021 production at Caserones
Acquisition of 24 royalty interests from Newcrest Mining Ltd (Newcrest”) for US$24.0m, including royalties on two producing gold mines, one near-producing gold mine and 21 development and exploration stage projects (23 of which are located in Australia and one in Côte d’Ivoire)
Newcrest royalties acquisition undertaken through a strategic joint venture with private company AlphaStream Limited (AlphaStream”) through SPVs in United Arab Emirates and Australia; first close of the acquisition covering all assets except nine development and exploration stage assets for US$20.0m
US$29 million strategic acquisition loan facility provided by the Company’s largest shareholder La Mancha Fund SCSp (“La Mancha”)
Moroccan portfolio of 14 primarily silver and copper projects to be vended to Eastinco Mining and Exploration Plc (Eastinco”) subject to Eastinco listing on the Standard List of the London Stock Exchange; Altus to retain NSR royalty rights on all projects, to gain a royalty right on Musasa tantalum mine in Rwanda and to become a major shareholder of Eastinco
Appointments to the senior management team strengthen the Company’s corporate and technical capabilities across its key areas of operation:
- Mark Campbell appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of 100% owned subsidiary Akh Gold Holdings Ltd and General Manager (Egypt)
- Amilha Young appointed as Company Secretary and Legal Counsel
- Boubacar Thera appointed as Corporate Manager (Mali)
- David Hall appointed as Strategic Advisor (Egypt)

Operational highlights

Expansion of activities into Egypt through award of gold exploration licences, forming four projects, totalling 1,565km located in the Eastern Desert through a competitive international bidding process; discovery of numerous hard rock artisanal gold workings from field reconnaissance at Gabal Om Ourada and Wadi Dubur projects
Western Mali: High grade intersections including 21.9 grams per tonne (g/t”) gold (“Au”) over 10.2m from 28m from diamond drilling (“DD”) at Diba gold deposit in western Mali (results are down-the-hole and not true widths)
Southern Mali: Gold resource exceeds one million ounces (17.3 million tonnes at 1.2 g/t Au for 665,000 inferred ounces and 9.2 million tonnes at 1.2 g/t Au for 360,000 indicated ounces) at Tabakorole gold project in Southern Mali under Joint Venture (JV”) with Australian Securities Exchange (ASX”) listed Marvel Gold Ltd (“Marvel Gold”) (see Altus’ news release “Gold Resource Exceeds One Million Ounces at Tabakorole in Southern Mali” dated 5 October 2021). Upgraded Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) generated a 24% increase in indicated ounces and 7% increase in inferred ounces, with 70% of deposit comprising the MRE within 150m of the surface; encouraging DD results and discovery of a potential new parallel zone of mineralisation; significant increase in JV landholding at Tabakorole (by 100km to 292km)
Morocco: Grant of 10 new exploration licences taking the Company’s portfolio to 14 projects covering 824km targeting primarily copper and silver; discovery of high-grade copper and silver from reconnaissance exploration at the newly granted Azrar, Izougza and Tata projects
Completion of strategic review of Bikoula iron project in southern Cameroon by Mining Plus UK Ltd (Mining Plus”) to determine next steps for project development

Financial highlights

Completion in March 2021 of oversubscribed fundraising for £7.7m / C$13.4m at an issue price of £0.75 / C$1.30 per Ordinary Share with net proceeds primarily used to accelerate gold exploration programmes in Egypt and Mali
Receipt of second tranche of 10 million shares in Canyon Resources Ltd (Canyon”) with a value at the time of £0.6m / C$1.1m
Completion in December 2021 of oversubscribed fundraising for £19.8m / C$33.7m at an issue price of £0.535 / C$0.90 per Ordinary Share with net proceeds primarily used for completion of the Newcrest royalty acquisition
Cash balance of £6.4m / C$10.9m as at 31 December 2021
Cash outflow from operating activities of £7.9m / C$13.4m for the year
Listed equity holdings of £1.7m / C$2.9m as at 31 December 2021

Post-period end

Second and final close of the Newcrest royalties acquisition covering nine development and exploration stage assets located in Australia for consideration of US$4.0m
Completion of 11,832m drilling programme at Diba and Lakanfla gold project with latest results of up to 1.27 g/t Au over 127m from 21m on the Lakanfla Central prospect and 1.81 g/t Au over 10m from 256m at the Diba NW prospect (results are down-the-hole and not true widths)
Extension of La Mancha loan facility to 30 June 2022 with annualised interest rate increased to 10% plus the United States Dollar (USD”) London Inter-bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”)
1.0% Gross Revenue Royalty (GRR”) generated on Toura Nickel-Cobalt project in Côte d’Ivoire through sale of interest in local subsidiary to Firering Strategic Minerals Plc (“Firering”) for €15,000
Revised joint venture agreement signed with Marvel Gold whereby the Company regained a 100% interest in the Lakanfla licence in western Mali, located 5km east of the Company’s Diba project, and reduced its interest in the Tabakorole gold project in southern Mali to 30%; Altus retains a 2.5% NSR royalty on the Tabakorole project
Award of a ten year (renewable) mining licence at the Agdz project in central Morocco covering an area of 34.36km, representing the area of copper and silver mineralisation discovered to date
Award of a four year (renewable) ‘small scale’ mining licence at the Diba gold project in western Mali covering an area of 83.1km, incorporating the Diba Deposit and other key prospects

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented:

“2021 marked another milestone year for Altus. With the acquisition of an NSR royalty on the Caserones copper mine in Chile and receipt of the maiden royalty payment just a month after closing the deal transformed Altus into a revenue generating business. Later in the year, we acquired a portfolio of 24 royalty interests from Newcrest Mining Ltd. The Newcrest portfolio includes royalties on two producing gold mines, one near-producing gold mine and 21 development and exploration stage projects, bringing the Company’s global portfolio to 33 royalty interests and 27 project interests across nine countries and nine metals.

“Operationally, our focus during the period was on advancing and de-risking our royalty generation assets, primarily in Mali and Egypt. In southern Mali, an updated independent Mineral Resource Estimate at the Tabakorole gold royalty and JV project reported that gold resources now exceed one million ounces and there remains significant potential for further growth in parallel zones, along strike and at depth. Elsewhere in western Mali, diamond drilling we completed at the Company's 100% owned Diba gold project returned impressive high-grade intersections and discovered new zones. Earlier this month, post-period, Altus was granted a small-scale gold mining licence for Diba; an important step as we now progress with an updated MRE and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the combined Diba & Lakanfla project. In Egypt, Altus was awarded highly prospective gold exploration licences totalling 1,565km2 in the Eastern Desert, which we consider has world class discovery potential. Systematic exploration and target evaluation is already underway across these projects.

“Altus is exceptionally well-positioned to progress with its royalty generation activities across Africa while also reviewing accretive royalty income acquisition opportunities. The Company has a strong pipeline of transactions under review and we intend to further enhance and diversify our portfolio in the coming years growing our revenue streams in parallel.

“2022 is on course to be another highly productive year for the Company and we look forward to providing further updates in due course.”

For further information you are invited to visit the Company’s website www.altus-strategies.com or contact:

Altus Strategies Plc

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive

Tel: +44 (0) 1235 511 767

E-mail: info@altus-strategies.com

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser)

Richard Morrison / Adam Cowl

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Broker)

Grant Barker

Rob Rees

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0471

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0535

Shard Capital Partners LLP (Broker)

Isabella Pierre / Damon Heath

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9927

Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR & IR)

Charles Goodwin / Henry Wilkinson

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512

E-mail: altus@yellowjerseypr.com

About Altus Strategies Plc

Altus Strategies (AIM: ALS, TSX-V: ALTS & OTCQX: ALTUF) is a mining royalty company generating a diversified and precious metal focused portfolio of assets. Its differentiated approach of generating royalties on its own discoveries in Africa and acquiring royalties globally through financings and acquisitions with third parties, has attracted key institutional investor backing. Altus has established a global portfolio comprising 33 royalty interests and 27 project interests across nine countries and nine metals. The Company continues to assess royalty acquisition opportunities as well as actively advancing its portfolio of gold and base metal projects across Africa, as part of its ‘boots on the ground’ royalty generation strategy. Altus engages constructively with all stakeholders, working diligently to minimise its environmental impact and to promote positive economic and social outcomes in the communities where it operates. For further information, please visit www.altus-strategies.com.

Qualified Person

The technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement has been approved by Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus. A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology (Hons), he also holds a Master's degree from the Camborne School of Mines (Exeter University) in Mining Geology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and has over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM rules and NI 43-101.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this announcement, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of the Directors or estimates of future performance constitute "forward-looking statements". These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, the completion of planned expenditures, the ability to complete exploration programmes on schedule and the success of exploration programmes. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this announcement and the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as at the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information or any forward-looking statements contained in any other announcements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law or regulations.

TSX Venture Exchange Disclaimer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organisation of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Market Abuse Regulation Disclosure

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.