Abitibi Royalties Inc. - "Royalty Search"-Update
VAL-D'OR, December 14, 2015 - Abitibi Royalties Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RZZ) ("Abitibi Royalties" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into two binding Letters of Intent with Golden Valley Mines Ltd. ("Golden Valley") to acquire a 2% net smelter return royalty ("NSR") on each of two sets of claims that are immediately south and southwest of Agnico Eagle's Lapa mine and its Pandora joint venture with Yamana Gold (under the Canadian Malartic partnership) in Québec (Fig. 1). The first set of claims includes two prospects called Bogside NW and Riverside. The second set of claims includes a prospect called Bogside. Upon completion of the transaction, these will be the ninth and tenth royalties acquired through the Royalty Search.
2% NSRs Purchased Near Lapa Mine & Pandora Project (Fig. 1)
In exchange for the 2% NSR on claims that include Bogside NW and Riverside, Abitibi Royalties will pay Golden Valley approximately Cdn$11,700. In exchange for the 2% NSR on the claims that include Bogside, the Company will reimburse Golden Valley for approximately Cdn$13,750 in future exploration expenses. These amounts will be used by Golden Valley towards paying claim renewal fees and exploration work commitments that are due in 2016. The cash consideration will be paid by Abitibi Royalties from its working capital.
As Abitibi Royalties has been a majority owned (currently 51.3%) subsidiary of Golden Valley since the reorganization of Golden Valley's assets in July 2011, the two NSR transactions constitute related party transactions pursuant to TSX Venture Exchange Policy 5.9 and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions and are subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. No finder's fees are payable in connection with acquisition by Abitibi Royalties of the two NSRs.
Since launching the Royalty Search on June 9th, ten royalties near existing mining operations have been acquired (pending TSX-Venture approval for the claims highlighted in this news release), which include royalties surrounding or near Agnico Eagle and Yamana's Canadian Malartic mine in Québec, Agnico Eagle's Lapa mine in Québec, Alamos Gold's Young-Davidson mine in Ontario, Eldorado's Efemcukuru mine in Turkey, Goldcorp's Red Lake mine in Ontario, Hudbay's 777 mine in Manitoba, Metanor Resources Bachelor mine in Québec and New Gold's Rainy River mine in Ontario. A list of these royalties can be found here.
The Royalty Search (www.abitibiroyalties.com) is an easy to use website that allows mining companies and prospectors a quick way of accessing capital in this difficult commodities market.
Abitibi Royalties is offering to pay the annual claim fees/taxes related to:
1) Existing mineral properties or
2) Staking of new mineral properties.
In return for paying these fees, Abitibi Royalties would be granted a NSR on the property. To date, approximately 70 properties have been submitted through the website and 10 agreements have been finalized.
Update on Cash Flow
Since last reported on October 26th, the Company's total cash flow in 2015, which started in April, has increased to approximately Cdn$865,000 from Cdn$750,500 due to additional royalty and investment income.
Share Repurchase Program
Since receiving approval to begin the Company's Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB") on October 6th, 2015, Abitibi Royalties has repurchased approximately 23,700 Common Shares of the Company. The NCIB allows the Company to purchase up to 546,300 Common Shares (representing 5% of the Company's total issued and outstanding Common Shares as of September 21, 2015) over a period of twelve months. The NCIB will expire no later than October 5, 2016.
About Abitibi Royalties
Abitibi Royalties holds a 3% NSR on the Odyssey North discovery, Jeffrey Zone and the eastern portion of the Barnat Extension and a 2% NSR on portions of the Gouldie and Charlie zones all at the Canadian Malartic mine near Val-d'Or, Québec. In addition, the Company is building a portfolio of royalties on early stage properties near producing mines and it holds 100% title to the Luc Bourdon and Bourdon West Prospects in the Ring of Fire, Ontario. The Company owns 3,549,695 shares of Yamana Gold and 444,197 shares of Agnico Eagle Mines.
Golden Valley Mines and Rob McEwen hold approximately 51.3% and 8.7% interest in Abitibi Royalties, respectively.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or realities may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Figure 1
Contact
Abitibi Royalties Inc.
Ian J. Ball
President and CEO
416-346-4680
ian.ball@abitibiroyalties.com
www.abitibiroyalties.com