NAUTILUS RECEIVES ADDITIONAL LOAN UNDER SECURED LOAN FACILITY
Nautilus Minerals Inc. has received a loan from Deep Sea Mining Finance Ltd. in the principal amount of $455,000 (U.S.) under the previously announced loan agreement between the company, two of its subsidiaries and the lender, which provides for a secured structured credit facility of up to $34-million (U.S.).
Pursuant to the loan agreement, the company has issued to the lender an additional 1,954,467 warrants of the company in connection with the $455,000 (U.S.) loan. Each such warrant entitles the lender to purchase one common share of the company at a price of 17 cents for a period of five years from the date of issuance of the warrant.
To date the company has issued a total of 73,024,050 share purchase warrants to the lender in connection with loans totalling $17-million (U.S.). Pursuant to the loan agreement, share purchase warrants are issued on the basis of one warrant for each 23.28 U.S. cents of principal amount of loan advanced.
The loans bear interest at 8 per cent per annum, payable biannually in arrears. All loans have a maturity date of Jan. 8, 2019. As previously disclosed, the company and the lender are in discussions regarding an extension of the maturity date (see the company’s news release dated Dec. 2, 2018). There can be no assurances that the company will be able to obtain such an extension. Any transactions will be subject to all necessary stock exchange, third party and government approvals, as well as compliance with all other regulatory requirements. The company will provide further updates as circumstances warrant.
The loans are being provided to finance the company’s working capital requirements while the company seeks, with the assistance of its financial advisers, the remaining project financing to complete the development of the Solwara 1 project.
As previously disclosed, the lender is a private company owned 50 per cent by each of: (i) USM Finance Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of USM Holdings Ltd., an affiliate of Metalloinvest Holding (Cyprus) Ltd.; and (ii) Mawarid Offshore Mining Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of MB Holding Company LLC. As the lender is indirectly controlled by affiliates of the company’s two largest shareholders, the lender is a related party of the company and the loan transaction constitutes a related-party transaction of the company under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. The transactions comprising the loans and the share purchase warrants are exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101.
The company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing of this transaction, as the details of the transaction were not finalized until immediately prior to the closing and the company wished to close the transaction as soon as practicable for sound business reasons.
The issuance by the company of the maximum number of warrants under the loan agreement, and the 17-cent exercise price of such warrants, received the requisite disinterested shareholder approvals at the company’s annual general meeting held on June 25, 2018, as required by the Toronto Stock Exchange.
About Nautilus Minerals Inc.
Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits. Nautilus was granted the first mining lease for such deposits at the prospect known as Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, where it is aiming to produce copper, gold and silver. The company has also been granted its environmental permit for this site.
