MONTAGE GOLD EXPANDS LEADERSHIP TEAM AND ANNOUNCES C$20 MILLION NON-BROKERED FINANCING BACKED BY LUNDIN TRUSTS
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Montage Gold -
Martino De Ciccio appointed as CEO to lead the Company's next strategic phase -
Peder Olsen appointed as Chief Development Officer, to lead the Koné Gold Project development activities and oversee the group technical function - Ron Hochstein appointed to the Board, leveraging his recent experience in successfully building Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte gold project
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C$20 million non-brokered financing launched atC$0.70 /share, which represents a 4.5% premium to today's closing price- Strategic investment of C$17.8 million by the
Lundin Group , to become 19.9% shareholder
- Strategic investment of C$17.8 million by the
- Proceeds to be used to advance the Koné Gold Project towards construction decision and conduct further exploration on nearby targets
We are excited to advance the development of the large-scale Koné Project in Côte d'Ivoire, which already contains more than 4 million ounces of gold in Probable Mineral Reserves, given its' attractive economics and significant regional exploration potential. Over the course of the last six months, we have conducted extensive due diligence on the Koné Project, including site visits and engagement with local communities and government stakeholders. We are very pleased with the overwhelmingly positive support received and look forward to leveraging our experience in the region to unlock significant value for all our stakeholders."
About
Martino most recently served as Deputy CFO and Head of Investor Relations at Endeavour Mining (LSE: EDV, TSX: EDV), a position he assumed in
Prior to joining
Martino earned a B.Com in Finance from
About
Peder has played a key leadership role in building the following projects on time and on budget:
Since 2021, Peder has served as the Founder and Managing Director at Orange Mining, a global mining consultancy firm with a strong African presence, which specializes in offering owners project management, study and construction services, and commercial support including tendering services, project and equipment finance.
Between 2018 and 2019, Peder held the position of Director for
Peder holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Construction Management & Economics from
About Ron Hochstein: Incoming Director
Stock-Based Compensation Grants
The Company also announces that it has granted an aggregate 8,632,594 incentive stock options to certain officers, directors and other eligible persons of the Company. The options are exercisable, subject to vesting provisions, over a period of five years at a price of C$0.70 per share.
The Company has also granted a total of 2,400,000 Restricted Share Units ("RSUs") to senior management. The RSUs are granted in accordance with the Company's Restricted Share Unit Plan. The RSUs are subject to vesting provisions.
In connection with the appointment of
Montage has launched a non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of up to 28,571,429 common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") at a price of
As part of the Offering, trusts controlled by the Lundin family (the "Lundin Trusts"), have agreed to purchase up to 25,498,510 Common Shares, which will result in the Lundin Trusts owning 19.9% of Montage upon completion of the Offering and assuming that the Inducement Shares have been approved and issued. Insiders of the Company are participating for the balance of Common Shares issued under the Offering.
The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for exploration and development expenditures at the Company's Koné Gold Project and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
The Offering is expected to close during the week of
The Common Shares issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws commencing on the closing date of the Offering.
About
Founded by
As shown in Figure 1 below, the 100% owned Koné
In
Table 1: Summary Life-of-Mine Metrics
|
Units |
Metric |
Pit Optimization Gold Price |
$/oz |
|
Financial Model Base Case Gold Price |
$/oz |
|
Life of Mine |
years |
16.0 |
Total Material Processed |
Mt |
174.3 |
Contained Gold (Probable Reserves) |
Moz |
4.01 |
Strip Ratio |
w:o |
1.18:1 |
Mill Throughput |
Mtpa |
11.0 |
Average Head Grade, first 3 years |
Au g/t |
1.15 |
Average Head Grade, LOM |
Au g/t |
0.72 |
Processing Recovery, first 3 Years |
% |
89.6 % |
Processing Recovery, LOM |
% |
89.0 % |
Total Gold Production, LOM |
Moz |
3.57 |
Average Gold Production, first 3 years |
koz/yr |
349 |
Average Gold Production, first 8 years |
koz/yr |
301 |
Average Gold Production, LOM |
koz/yr |
223 |
Mining Cost Per Tonne Mined, LOM |
$/t, mined |
|
Mining Cost Per Tonne Processed, LOM |
$/t, processed |
|
Processing Cost, LOM (incl. rehandle) |
$/t, processed |
|
G&A, LOM |
$/t, processed |
|
Royalties, LOM |
$/t, processed |
|
Total Operating Costs, LOM |
$/t, processed |
|
Average AISC, first 3 years |
$/oz |
|
Average AISC, LOM |
$/oz |
|
Initial Capital Expenditure |
$M |
|
|
$M |
|
NPV5%, after-tax (100%) |
$M |
|
After-tax IRR |
% |
31.0 % |
Payback Period |
years |
2.6 |
Permitting Underway
The Company anticipates receiving all approvals necessary to build the project in H2-2024.
Following the submission of the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment ("ESIA") for the Koné
Financing Activities
Discussions regarding project financing continue to progress and the Company is encouraged at initial indications of size, structure, and pricing of various alternatives.
Exploration Underway to Define Next Satellite Deposits
As shown in Figure 2 below, numerous targets were identified in proximity to the Koné deposit. The key priority area is the Diouma-Gbongogo-Korotou shear zone which is a 15km strike length of soil anomalism where nine targets have been drill tested to some degree. The Gbongogo Main pit and planned haul road are located at the south end of this zone.
The Diouma North prospect is located 2km south of the Gbongogo Main pit, and less than 500m from the planned haul road. As follow-up to reconnaissance and RC drilling in early 2023, Montage completed three diamond core holes, with highlight intercepts including: 14m at 2.16g/t from 58m (GBDDH062); and 17.45m at 2.74g/t from 79m and 11m at 2.21g/t from 127m (GBDDH064). Diamond drilling at Diouma re-commenced in January with an initial core programme which, if successful, will be followed up with an RC programme.
In addition, over the course of 2024, Montage will be conducting exploration at the Petit Yao target which sits 7km east of Koné and just 3km southeast of the planned haul road.
Montage is a Canadian-based precious metals exploration and development company focused on opportunities in Côte d'Ivoire. The Company's flagship property is the Koné
The Koné and Gbongogo Main Mineral Resource Estimates were carried out by Mr.
The Mineral Reserve Estimate was carried out by Ms.
For further details of the data verification undertaken, exploration undertaken and associated QA/QC programs, and the interpretation thereof, and the assumptions, parameters and methods used to develop the Mineral Reserve Estimate for the Koné
The scientific and technical contents of this press release have been approved by
This press release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "Forward-looking Statements"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute Forward-looking Statements. Words such as "will", "intends", "proposed" and "expects" or similar expressions are intended to identify Forward-looking Statements. Forward looking Statements in this press release include statements related to the Company's mineral reserve and resource estimates; the timing and amount of future production from the Koné
This press release includes certain terms or performance measures commonly used in the mining industry that are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), including cash costs and AISC (or "all-in sustaining costs") per payable ounce of gold sold and per tonne processed and mining, processing and operating costs reported on a unit basis. Non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and, therefore, they may not be comparable to similar measures employed by other companies. The Company discloses "cash costs" and "all-in sustaining costs" and other unit costs because it understands that certain investors use this information to determine the Company's ability to generate earnings and cash flows for use in investing and other activities. The Company believes that conventional measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS, do not fully illustrate the ability of mines to generate cash flows. The measures, as determined under IFRS, are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flows from operating activities. The measures cash costs and all-in sustaining costs and unit costs are considered to be key indicators of a project's ability to generate operating earnings and cash flows. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS and are not necessarily indicative of operating costs, operating profit or cash flows presented under IFRS. Readers should also refer to our management's discussion and analysis, available under our corporate profile at www.sedarplus.ca for a more detailed discussion of how we calculate such measures.
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