Excelsior Mining Closes US$9.4M Equity Placement with Greenstone Resources and Confirms Stock Option Exercise Program
Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - December 6, 2018) - Excelsior Mining Corp. (TSX: MIN) (FSE: 3XS) (OTCQX: EXMGF) ("Excelsior" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of a US$9.4 million equity placement with affiliates of Greenstone Resources L.P. pursuant to the terms of a previously announced subscription agreement (see Excelsior news release dated November 21, 2018 - Greenstone Resources Confirms US$9.4 Million Equity Placement). Excelsior has issued to Greenstone an aggregate of 13,050,840 Excelsior common shares at an aggregate subscription price of US$9.443 million, or equal to approximately C$0.95 per share at current exchange rates (the "Greenstone Financing"). Greenstone now holds a total of 113,928,937 Common Shares, which represents approximately 48.56% of Excelsior's issued and outstanding Common Shares. The common shares issued to Greenstone in the Greenstone Financing are subject to a statutory four-month plus one-day hold period expiring on April 6, 2019.
Stock Option Exercise Program
The Company also confirms that it has implemented a stock option exercise program (the "Program") for the block of stock options that expire as of December 31, 2018. These stock options were originally issued from 2010 to 2012 and have been held by optionholders for 6-8 years. The intention of the Program was to minimize any impact on the Company's share price by avoiding the sale of a large block of shares all at once or over a short time period. The Program was also set-up to minimize dilution resulting from the exercise of stock options. The Program involved two steps. Firstly, optionholders completed a "net exercise" whereby optionholders receive a net amount of shares by reducing the amount they would otherwise be issued to cover the exercise price. The second step was the Company repurchased from each optionholder (at the market price) a sufficient number of shares to cover the taxes of the optionholders associated with the exercise. As a result of the Program, a total of 1,630,727 shares were repurchased by the Company and cancelled, and a final net amount of 3,407,479 shares were issued to optionholders. The Program was completed without any shares being sold in the market to cover exercise price or tax obligations.
About Greenstone
Greenstone is a private equity fund specialising in the mining and metals sector. The Greenstone team has over 80 years of experience in the sector covering all aspects of mining project development. Further details on Greenstone can be found at www.greenstoneresources.com.
Greenstone is acquiring the securities in the offering described herein for investment purposes. Depending on market conditions and other factors, Greenstone may from time to time acquire and/or dispose of securities of Excelsior or continue to hold its current position.
A copy of the early warning report required to be filed with the applicable securities commission in connection with the transaction will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and can be obtained by contacting Matt Hornton and Gordon Purvis at +44 1481810100. Greenstone's address is set out below.
Greenstone Contact Information:
Greenstone Resources L.P.
PO Box 656
East Wing
Trafalgar Court, Les Banques
St. Peter Port, Guernsey
GY1 3PP
Channel Islands
About Excelsior Mining
Excelsior "The Copper Solution Company" is a mineral exploration and development company that is advancing the Gunnison Copper Project in Cochise County, Arizona. The project is a fully-permitted, advanced staged, low cost, environmentally friendly in-situ recovery copper extraction project. The Feasibility Study projected an after-tax NPV of US$ 807 million and an IRR of 40% using a US$ 2.75 per pound copper price and a 7.5% discount rate.
Excelsior's technical work on the Gunnison Copper Project is supervised by Stephen Twyerould, Fellow of AUSIMM, President & CEO of Excelsior and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Twyerould has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.
Additional information about the Gunnison Copper Project can be found in the technical report filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com entitled: "Gunnison Copper Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Feasibility Study" dated effective December 17, 2016.
For more information on Excelsior, please visit our website at www.excelsiormining.com.
For further information regarding this press release, please contact:
Excelsior Mining Corp.
Concord Place, Suite 300, 2999 North 44th Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85018.
JJ Jennex, Vice President, Corporate Affairs
T: 604 723 1433
E: info@excelsiormining.com
www.excelsiormining.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking information" concerning anticipated developments and events that may occur in the future. Forward looking information contained in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: (i) the results of the Feasibility Study, including operating and capital cost estimates and the economic benefits from the Gunnison Copper Project; (ii) the timeline for commencement of commercial production from the Gunnison Copper Project; and (iii) the ability to mine the Gunnison Copper Project using in-situ recovery mining techniques.
In certain cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, copper and other metal prices, the timing and amount of future development expenditures, the estimation of initial and sustaining capital requirements, the estimation of labour and operating costs, the availability of necessary materials to continue to develop and construct the Gunnison Copper Project in the short and long-term, the progress of development activities, the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, the estimation of insurance coverage, and assumptions with respect to currency fluctuations, environmental risks, title disputes or claims, and other similar matters. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect.
Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to changes in project parameters as plans continue to be redefined including the possibility that mining operations may not commence at the Gunnison Copper Project, risks relating to variations in mineral resources and reserves, grade or recovery rates resulting from current exploration and development activities, risks relating to the ability to access infrastructure, risks relating to changes in copper and other commodity prices and the worldwide demand for and supply of copper and related products, risks related to increased competition in the market for copper and related products and in the mining industry generally, risks related to current global financial conditions, uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral resources, access and supply risks, reliance on key personnel, operational risks inherent in the conduct of mining activities, including the risk of accidents, labour disputes, increases in capital and operating costs and the risk of delays or increased costs that might be encountered during the development process, regulatory risks, financing, capitalization and liquidity risks, risks related to disputes concerning property titles and interest, environmental risks and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's reports and filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators.
Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information.