Braveheart Announces Concentrate Offtake Agreement and Stockpile Financing Facility for Bull River Mine
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - March 17, 2021) - Braveheart Resources Inc. (TSXV: BHT) (OTCQB: RIINF) ("Braveheart" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Concentrate Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement") with Ocean Partners UK Ltd. ("Ocean") for the sale of its copper concentrates (with gold and silver credits) from its Bull River Mine ("Bull River") near Cranbrook, British Columbia. Additionally, Ocean has agreed to provide the Company with a Pre-Payment Financing Facility (the "Facility") against initial proceeds from milling of mineralized material on surface.
The Agreement shall remain in force until Braveheart has delivered 45,000 wet metric tonnes of copper concentrate. Ocean shall have a right of first refusal (the "ROFR") on any remaining production thereafter from Bull River. All other terms and conditions of the Agreement are confidential between the parties. The Facility provides Braveheart with access to up to USD $3,500,000 which can be used for capital expenditures at Bull River including plant commissioning and general working capital purposes. Interest on any amounts drawn from the Facility is at 12-month LIBOR plus 8.75%. The Facility will be treated pari-passu with Braveheart's current secured loan facility with Matlock Farms Inc. Any monies drawn on the Facility will be repaid as a flat deduction per dry metric tonne of concentrate produced. Braveheart may initially draw up to USD $1,000,000 on closing of the Facility less an arrangement fee and expenses associated with due diligence and legal fees. Subsequent draws will be subject to the Company meeting certain conditions precedent including receipt of an operating permit to dispose of tailings, completion of an equity raise to cover any remaining capital requirements to bring Bull River into production and commencement of milling of the surface stockpile. The Facility is closed and the first draw is available subject to security registration.
The Company plans to advance Bull River in a phased approach wherein a surface stockpile of mineralized material will provide the initial feedstock to the upgraded mill facility. Subsequently, the Company plans to mine and mill mineralized material from the underground workings. The Company's decision to continue with upgrades to the surface infrastructure, process mineralized material from the surface stockpile and mine from the underground workings is not based on a comprehensive feasibility study of mineral reserves that would otherwise demonstrate economic viability. There is risk and uncertainty regarding the economic viability of the mineralized material in the surface stockpile and in the underground resource in terms of tonnage, grade, recovery and potential oxidation of the material that was placed on the surface pile approximately 10 years ago. In order to process the surface stockpile, the Company needs to complete capital upgrades on surface including the commissioning of a new substation, installation of a flotation circuit, installation of a filtration circuit and civil works associated with the development of a dry stack or filtered tailings storage facility ("TSF").
Ian Berzins, President and CEO, commented: "Braveheart's top priority is restarting Bull River. With the support of Ocean's Facility, we are positioned to continue with the surface up-grades required to place the mill in position to process mineralized material later this year. The Agreement for sale of concentrates provides us with certainty on the sale of products from the mine."