REG - Horizonte Minerals - First drawdown complete

Horizonte MineralsAnnouncement

08/12/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 0433J  Horizonte Minerals PLC  08 December 2022

NEWS
RELEASE

8(th) December 2022

 

HORIZONTE MINERALS PLC COMPLETES FIRST DRAWDOWN UNDER US$346 MILLION SENIOR
DEBT FACILITIES

 

 

Highlights:

 

·    All conditions precedent for first utilisation under the Senior Debt
Facilities have been satisfied, a major milestone to de-risk the Araguaia
Nickel Project and satisfy all Senior Lender requirements;

·    First tranche of funds received from the Senior Lenders and both
Export Credit Agencies ("ECA") guarantees now in place; and,

·    Horizonte has also satisfied all conditions precedent in relation to
the previously announced Cost Overrun Debt Facility (the "COF") and has
accordingly received all COF funds from OMF Fund III ("Orion").

 

Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM/TSX: HZM) ("Horizonte" or the "Company") is
pleased to announce that it has satisfied all conditions precedent for the
first utilisation under the senior secured project finance debt facilities of
US$346.2 million (the "Senior Debt Facilities"), as previously announced in
March 2022. Importantly, the Company is now in receipt of the first tranche of
funds from the Senior Lenders. This important milestone unlocks the balance of
the funding required to complete construction, commissioning and ramp-up at
Horizonte's 100%-owned Araguaia Nickel Project ("Araguaia" or "the Project")
in Brazil, where construction is underway and progress remains on schedule.

 

In addition, Horizonte has also satisfied all of the conditions precedent in
relation to utilisation of the COF and has fully drawn down the US$25 million
of COF funding from Orion.

 

Jeremy Martin, CEO of Horizonte Minerals, commented:

 

"This significant milestone for Horizonte is the culmination of a multi-year
effort to sufficiently de-risk the Araguaia Nickel Project to access low-cost
debt funding from a syndicate of leading international financial institutions.
The rigorous due diligence process, and the extensive list of obligations that
Horizonte was required to meet to access this funding, should provide all our
stakeholders with confidence in the robustness of Araguaia.

 

"This milestone demonstrates that we have made significant progress on
construction and have been able to satisfy the Senior Lenders that we have,
among others, i) shown that Araguaia is fully funded through to completion and
first cash flows; ii) made significant progress with construction, and in line
with the schedule; iii) awarded all of the key material contracts, including
equipment supply, Engineering Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM),
port access and power supply; iv) have a long term offtake in place for 100%
of Araguaia's production from line 1 with a high quality counterparty in
Glencore; and lastly, v) have built out a high quality team to deliver the
Project.

 

"Our team continues to make solid progress on site as we work to deliver our
objective of becoming a low-cost nickel producer."

 

 

 

About the Senior Debt Facilities

The Senior Debt Facilities were executed between Araguaia Niquel Metais LTDA,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Horizonte and a syndicate of international
financial institutions (being BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Capital
LLC, ING Bank N.V., Natixis, New York Branch, Société Générale and SEK,
Swedish Export Credit Corporation) (together the "Senior Lenders"). The Senior
Debt Facilities comprise a commercial tranche of US$200 million and an ECA
tranche of US$146.2 million which is being guaranteed by two export credit
agencies (being EKF, Denmark's Export Credit Agency and Finnvera plc,
Finland's Export Credit Agency).

 

 

For the purposes of MAR and Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation
(EU) 2016/1055 (as transposed into the laws of the United Kingdom), the person
responsible for arranging for the release of this Announcement on behalf of
the Company is Simon Retter, Chief Financial Officer.

 

 

For further information, visit www.horizonteminerals.com
(http://www.horizonteminerals.com) or contact:

 

 Horizonte Minerals plc                                                     info@horizonteminerals.com (mailto:info@horizonteminerals.com)

 Jeremy Martin (CEO)                                                        +44 (0) 203 356 2901

 Simon Retter (CFO)

 Patrick Chambers (Head of IR)

 Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)                           +44 (0)20 7418 8900

 Ross Allister

 David McKeown

 BMO (Joint Broker)                                                         +44 (0) 20 7236 1010

 Thomas Rider

 Pascal Lussier Duquette

 Andrew Cameron

 Tavistock (Financial PR)                                                   +44 (0) 20 7920 3150

 Emily Moss

 Cath Drummond

 

About Horizonte Minerals

Horizonte Minerals plc (AIM/TSX: HZM) is developing two 100%-owned, Tier 1
projects in Pará state, Brazil, the Araguaia Nickel Project and the Vermelho
Nickel-Cobalt Project. Both projects are large scale, high-grade, low-cost,
low-carbon and scalable. Araguaia is under construction with first metal
scheduled for early 2024, when fully ramped up with Line 1 and Line 2, is
forecast to produce 29,000 tonnes of nickel per year. Vermelho is at
feasibility study stage and is expected to produce 25,000 tonnes of nickel and
1,250 tonnes of cobalt to supply the EV battery market. Horizonte's combined
near-term production profile of over 60,000 tonnes of nickel per year
positions the Company as a globally significant nickel producer. Horizonte's
top three shareholders are La Mancha Investments S.à r.l., Glencore plc and
Orion Resource Partners LLP.

 

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain
information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking
information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking
information includes, but is not limited to, the ability of the Company to
complete the acquisition of equipment as described herein, statements with
respect to the potential of the Company's current or future property mineral
projects; the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study
regarding the second RKEF line at Araguaia on time, or at all, the success of
exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future exploration,
production and development; the costs and timing for delivery of the equipment
to be purchased as described herein, the estimation of mineral resources and
reserves and the ability of the Company to achieve its goals in respect of
growing its mineral resources; the realization of mineral resource and reserve
estimates and achieving production in accordance with the Company's potential
production profile or at all. Generally, forward-looking information can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans",
"expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate",
or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that
certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will
be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is based on
the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management
made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current
conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management
believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that
such statements are made, and are inherently subject to known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information,
including but not limited to risks related to: the inability of the Company to
complete the acquisition of equipment contemplated herein, on time or at all,
the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study regarding
the implementation of a second RKEF line at Araguaia on the timeline
contemplated or at all, exploration and mining risks, competition from
competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience with
respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices;
uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements; exploration,
mining and other licences; the Company's future payment obligations; potential
disputes with respect to the Company's title to, and the area of, its mining
concessions; the Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient
financing in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with
third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of currency
fluctuations and political or economic instability in countries in which the
Company operates; currency exchange fluctuations; the Company's ability to
manage its growth effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of
the Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to continue to
develop its operations and new projects; the Company's dependence on key
personnel; possible conflicts of interest of directors and officers of the
Company, and various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework
within which the Company operates, together with the risks identified and
disclosed in the Company's disclosure record available on the Company's
profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com (http://www.sedar.com) , including without
limitation, the annual information form of the Company for the year ended
December 31, 2021, the Araguaia Report and the Vermelho Report. Although
management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not
to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that
such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events
could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

 

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