NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
- 18,432,500 Units issued in Private Placement for total gross proceeds of CA$7,373,000.
- The Company currently has 60,244,764 common shares issued and outstanding.
- The Company has received approval for a three-year extension of its Rubia Permit at the Lomero Project.
- The Department of Mines in Huelva has also granted the Palomarejo Permit to the Company giving it access to a 151-hectare area adjacent to and on strike with its mineralized Rubia Permit at Lomero.
- Denarius Metals expects to have its Phase 2 drilling results at Lomero available later in April and plans to continue its exploration work in Spain in 2023 with 10,000 m of drilling at its Lomero Project and 7,000 m of drilling at the Toral Project.
TORONTO, April 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denarius Metals Corp. (“Denarius Metals” or the “Company”) (TSXV: DSLV; OTCQB: DNRSF) announced today the completion of its private placement (the “Private Placement”) announced on March 6, 2023. The Company also provided an update on its polymetallic exploration projects in Spain.
Serafino Iacono, Executive Chairman and CEO of Denarius Metals, commented, “With the closing of the Private Placement and our earlier Rights Offering and termination of our Guia Antigua Project, we have raised approximately CA$18.7 million to fund our exploration and development programs at our projects in Spain, to prepare our Zancudo Project in Colombia to commence operations later this year and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The granting of the neighboring Palomarejo Permit from the Department of Mines is a very important step which allows us to start testing the potential western extension of the existing mineralization at our Lomero Project that remains open along strike to the west and at depth. The Department of Mines has been very helpful in getting the Palomarejo and Rubia Permits at Lomero granted for the exploration stage and we will continue to work closely with them. We are finalizing the preparation of the validation drilling in the 2023 campaign at our Lomero Project which is expected to commence in approximately two weeks. We are also excited to proceed with the next phase of confirmatory and in-fill drilling at the Toral Project in Northern Spain as part of our commitment under the First Option that will allow us to acquire an initial 51% interest in the project."
Private Placement
The Private Placement resulted in the issuance of 18,432,500 units of the Company (“Units”) for total gross proceeds of CA$7,373,000. Each Unit consists of one common share and one transferrable common share purchase warrant (“Warrant”). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at a price of CA$0.60 per share until April 4, 2026. Following completion of the Offering, the Company has 60,244,764 common shares issued and outstanding. The common shares and Warrants underlying the Units in respect of the Private Placement are subject to a four-month hold period and are therefore not freely tradeable until August 5, 2023.
Pursuant to the Offering, insiders of the Company, including Mr. Serafino Iacono (Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), Mr. Michael Davies (Chief Financial Officer), Mr. Federico Restrepo-Solano (Director) and Mr. Hernan Juan Jose Martinez Torres (Director), acquired a total of 3,050,000 Units of the Company for total gross proceeds of CA$1,220,000.
In connection with the Offering, Mr. Iacono and companies to which he provides investment advice or in which he has a beneficial interest, acquired a total of 2,500,000 Units for CA$1,000,000. As a result of the Offering, Mr. Iacono beneficially owns and controls 8,991,913 common shares, which represents approximately 14.93% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common shares, 150,000 stock options and 9,976,995 warrants. Prior to the completion of the Offering, Mr. Iacono beneficially owned and controlled 6,491,913 common shares, representing approximately 15.63% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common shares. The Warrants issued to Mr. Iacono will bear a legend stating that until Denarius Metals’ disinterested shareholder approval is received, he will be prohibited from exercising any warrants if at the time of such exercise he owns 19.9% or greater of the shares of the Company on a non-diluted basis. Mr. Iacono acquired the securities under the Offering for investment purposes.
In conjunction with the Offering, the Company paid a total of CA$173,430 of fees in cash to certain arm’s length agents and brokers who acted as finders. The Company also issued 266,625 Units to an arm’s length agent in satisfaction of their finder’s fee.
A copy of Mr. Iacono’s early warning report will be available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or by contacting Ms. Amanda Fullerton, General Counsel and Secretary at investors@denariusmetals.com or (416) 360-4653.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering (i) to continue its exploration drilling campaign, metallurgical testing and other technical work at its flagship Lomero Project in the Iberian Pyrite Belt in Southern Spain, (ii) to meet its obligations under the Definitive Option Agreement executed on November 22, 2022 related to the Toral Project in Northern Spain and (iii) for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Update on Exploration Projects in Spain
Lomero Project, Iberian Pyrite Belt, Southern Spain
Denarius Metals announced today that it has received approval from the Mining Department in Huelva for its proposed extension of the Investigation Permit “Rubia” Nº 14.977, covering the areas occupied by the former Lomero-Poyatos Concessions in the Iberian Pyrite Belt in Southern Spain, for a further three years. The extension of the Rubia Permit has been granted by the Department of Mines in Huelva in conjunction with its approval of the Company’s planned drilling program of approximately 10,000 m for 2023 as described below.
The Company also announced today the granting of Investigation Permit “Palomarejo” Nº 14.978 to the west of the Rubia Permit. The Palomarejo Permit covers an area of 151 hectares in the Cortegana area (Huelva), increasing the Company’s exploration area by about 30%, and is in a similar geological setting as the adjacent polymetallic Lomero-Poyatos deposit. The Palomarejo Permit has an initial three-year term and may be extended for another three years. Refer to Attachment 1 for a map showing the locations of the Palomarejo and Rubia Permits.
Previous exploration programs near or over the Palomarejo Permit, including surface geological mapping and high-resolution helicopter-borne time-domain electromagnetic (NRG Europe’s high-resolution Xcite™TEM/MAG) and ground-based gravimetric geophysical surveys, have identified significant new targets and demonstrate that conductors associated with the known Lomero-Poyatos deposit persist along strike to the west and at depth. A parallel shear-zone detected by field mapping below the Devonian hanging-wall unit and located approximately 1 km north of the Lomero-Poyatos deposit, named the Northern Shear Zone, has also been outlined. Refer to Attachment 2 for a map showing the potential extension of the Lomero-Poyatos deposit by interpretation of data from TDEM geophysical survey.
The Company completed its Phase 2 drilling program at the Lomero Project in mid-February. Results are expected to be announced later in April as a large number of assay results are still pending related to the check samples submitted to the umpire laboratory. Directional drilling completed at the end of Phase 2 drilling has already validated some of the expected higher grades. The Company expects to complete a Mineral Resource estimate (“MRE”) update incorporating the results of its Phase 2 drilling program.
For 2023, the Company has designed an exploration program at the Lomero Project with three main objectives: (i) to conduct a follow up phase of the ground-based gravimetric survey on the prospective areas not covered by the initial 2022 gravimetric survey; (ii) to complete up to 4,000 m of conventional drilling aimed at validating the higher grades near surface to be incorporated in the planned preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”) to be completed in 2023; and, (iii) to complete up to 6,000 m of exploration drilling aimed at increasing the tonnage of the MRE update based on Phase 1 and Phase 2 drilling, targeting the Las Merinas and Alianza areas located along two main shear zones discovered in 2022 by field mapping, located to the south and to the north of the shear zone that hosts the Lomero-Poyatos deposit and both of which are E-W trending.
The contract for the diamond drilling program at the Lomero Project has been awarded to Explomin Perforaciones Ue who have mobilized equipment and personnel to site to commence preparatory work immediately.
Toral Project, Leon Province, Northern Spain
The Company entered into a definitive option agreement with Europa Metals Ltd. (“Europa”) (AIM: EUZ) dated November 22, 2022 (the “Definitive Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company has been granted options to acquire, in two stages, up to an 80% ownership interest in Europa Metals Iberia S.L. (“EMI”), a wholly owned Spanish subsidiary of Europa which holds the Toral Zn-Pb-Ag Project, Leon Province, Northern Spain.
The Company and Europa have recently agreed on a budget of approximately US$1.95 million (EUR 1.8 million) for 2023 for the work programs that will comprise a comprehensive drilling program at the Toral Project and completion and submission of a mining license application to the Junta of Castilla y Leon.
Details on the 2023 work programs at the Toral Project are as follows:
- Drilling of approximately 7,000 m, which has already commenced with an initial rig followed by a second rig to be added in April, the program represents a combination of confirmatory drilling followed by a series of in-fill drillholes designed to corroborate the existing Indicated MRE. The results will then be incorporated into the existing database to update a new MRE later in the year.
- A desktop review and necessary application route for additional permits close to the Toral Permit has commenced and will run over the next 3-6 months to identify and complete outstanding questions to enable an exploration application to be submitted to the Junta of Castilla y Leon.
- Work on the Mining License Application was resumed in January 2023 following the initial payment of US$100,000 by the Company and is progressing rapidly due to the work carried out by Europa Metals over the last 12-18 months regarding resources, hydrogeology, geotechnical measurements, environmental and social studies. This work will continue and is currently on track with our internal timeline for the submission of the application to the Junta of Castilla y Leon.
No U.S. Offering or Registration
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction, including the United States, other than the provinces and territories of Canada. The securities being offered pursuant to the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “US Securities Act”), or the securities laws of any state of the United States. Such securities may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, any U.S. Person (as defined in Regulation S of the US Securities Act) or person in the United States except in a transaction exempt from or not subject to the registration requirements of the US Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.
About Denarius Metals
Denarius Metals is a Canadian junior company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and eventual operation of polymetallic mining projects in high-grade districts, with its principal focus on the Lomero Project in Spain. The Company signed a definitive option agreement with Europa Metals Ltd. in November 2022 pursuant to which Europa has granted Denarius Metals two options to acquire up to an 80% ownership interest in the Toral Zn-Pb-Ag Project, Leon Province, Northern Spain. The Company’s 100%-owned Zancudo Project in Colombia provides an opportunity to develop near-term production and cash flow through local contract miners and long-term growth through exploration.
Additional information on Denarius can be found on its website at www.denariusmetals.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information
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 release.
This news release contains "forward-looking information", which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Offering, TSX Venture Exchange conditional approval and the use of proceeds of the Offering. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative 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. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Denarius to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Readers cannot be assured that the Private Placement and the closing thereof will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated November 23, 2022 which is available for view on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and Denarius disclaims, other than as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
For Further Information, Contact:
Michael Davies
Chief Financial Officer
(416) 360-4653
investors@denariusmetals.com
Attachment 1 – Map showing location of Palomarejo and Rubia Permits at the Lomero Project
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3ad3a6e5-e57c-44fe-b277-08aef06a3139
Attachment 2 - Potential extension of the Lomero-Poyatos deposit by interpretation of data from TDEM geophysical survey
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3ad3a6e5-e57c-44fe-b277-08aef06a3139
Attachment 1
Map showing location of Palomarejo and Rubia Permits at the Lomero Project
Attachment 2
