Increases annualized EBITDA by C$8-$9 million
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR--(Marketwired - March 31, 2016) - Altius Minerals Corporation (TSX:ALS) ("Altius") is pleased to report that it has entered into a metal purchase agreement with a subsidiary of Yamana Gold Inc. ("Yamana") to acquire future copper payments referenced to Yamana's Chapada copper-gold mine located in central Brazil.
Altius CEO Brian Dalton commented that, "Through this transaction Altius has continued to grow its exposure to long-life diversified mining assets that have sustainably low relative positions on global cost curves. Chapada copper payments will significantly increase our revenue and EBITDA on a per share basis while also adding long-term option value through the potential for production level expansion and above-average exploration prospectivity."
Transaction Highlights
Purchase Price
Payable Copper Rate and Structure
Financing
Financial Co-Advisors
Chapada Mine
The Chapada mine is located in Goias state, Brazil and is a 21 to 22MTpa copper-gold mine that began production in 2007. It is projected to produce 122-125 million pounds of copper in 2016. Copper cash costs in 2016 are projected to be $1.32 per pound of copper on a co-product basis. This places Chapada's costs in the lowest quartile of the current global copper cost curve.
Based on Altius' review of the project, Chapada's assumed mine life is approximately 17 years. Significant mine life upside potential exists if mineral resources are converted to mineral reserves (http://www.yamana.com/English/portfolio/reserves-and-resources/default.aspx) and the copper interest is referenced to a 700 km land package that has delivered several recent discoveries and remains significantly under-explored. Further details on Chapada can be found on Yamana's website (http://www.yamana.com/English/portfolio/producing-mines/chapada/default.aspx).
Completion of the transaction is subject to conditions including stock exchange approval of the warrants.
Mr. William Wulftange, is Yamana's Senior Vice President, Exploration and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Wulftange has reviewed and approved all of the technical information in this press release.
About Altius
Altius is a diversified mining royalty company with royalty interests in 13 producing mines located in Canada. The royalty interests include mining operations that produce nickel, copper, zinc, cobalt, gold, silver, potash, thermal (electrical) and metallurgical coal. Altius holds other significant pre-development stage royalties and its project generation pipeline contains a diversified portfolio of exploration stage projects and royalties, many of which are being advanced through various partner-funding arrangements.
Altius has 39,832,102 shares issued and outstanding that are listed on Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange. It is a member of both the S&P/TSX Small Cap and S&P/TSX Global Mining Indices.
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