Canada Nickel secures US$15 million loan
Canada Nickel Company Inc. [CNC-TSXV] said it has arranged a US$15 million loan facility with Auramet International, money that will be used as working capital to advance the company’s Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project near Timmins Ont.
The loan will be due January 9, 2025, carry an interest rate of 1.00% per month, and be subject to an arrangement fee. At closing, Auramet will also receive 750,000 one-year warrants with a strike price of $1.42.
“I am pleased that our long supportive financing partner, Auramet, has agreed to provide a US$15 million bridge loan facility, which will allow us to remain well-funded to continue to advance our permitting, engineering and financing activities,’’ said Canada Nickel CEO Mark Selby.
“Discussions with offtake and project partners for Crawford are ongoing and expected to be completed before year end as we continue to target a mid-year 2025 construction decision for Crawford up receipt of permits,’’ he said.
With over US$20 billion in annual revenue, privately-owned Auramet is engaged in physical metals trading, merchant banking and project finance advisory services.
Canada Nickel shares were unchanged Monday at $1.24. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $2.24 and 89 cents.
Canada Nickel was in the news recently when the company said it had received an equity investment from Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI. The company said Samsung would invest US$18.5 million to acquire 15.6 million shares for of Canada Nickel, becoming an 8.7% shareholder. The Korean firm agreed to pay $1.57 each for the shares.
Samsung was also granted the right to purchase a 10% equity stake in Canada Nickel’s Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide project. Samsung can exercise the option once a final construction decision has been made. Assuming it does, the Japanese firm will be granted certain offtake rights to the Crawford project’s nickel-cobalt products.
Canada Nickel also raised $34.7 million from a brokered private placement of flow-through units. Canada Nickel also welcomed Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM-TSX, AEM-NYSE) as an investor, which holds a 12% stake in the company on a non-diluted basis.
Canada Nickel is pursuing the development of processes to allow the production of net zero carbon nickel, cobalt and iron products. The company is anchored by its 100%-owned Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide project, which the company believes has the potential to become one of the world’s largest nickel-sulphide districts.
The company is also aiming to incorporate carbon capture and storage into its flagship Crawford nickel project. The company recently said Carbon capture test work confirms that it could store one million tonnes of carbon annually.
It said test results have validated the decision to incorporate IPT Carbonization into an integrated feasibility study, which is expected to be announced in September, 2023.