Technology Minerals #TM1 – Acquisition of Blackbird Creek Property

Technology Minerals (LSE: TM1), the first listed UK company focused on creating a sustainable circular economy for battery metals, announces that its wholly owned subsidiary Techmin Limited has exercised its option to acquire 100% interest in the Blackbird Creek Property in Lemhi County, Idaho (USA) from DG Resource Management Ltd (“DGRM”), a corporation located in Alberta, Canada.

The acquisition adds 158 contiguous lode claims covering an area of approximately 1,285 hectares (3,175 acres) to the Company’s existing land position, located immediately southeast of Jervois Mining Ltd’s Idaho Cobalt Operations (“ICO”). ICO is expected to be operational this year and will be the United States first primary cobalt mine in decades. The Blackbird Creek Property is situated within the Idaho Cobalt Belt (“ICB”), a 60 km long metallogenic district characterised by stratiform/tabular copper-cobalt deposits.

Principal Acquisition terms:

·      A cash payment, which was completed last year, of CAD$100,000 (approx. £59,057 at current conversion rates);

·      CAD$800,000 (approx. £472,499 at current conversion rates) to be paid by the issue of 21,013,440 new ordinary shares in Technology Minerals (the “New Shares”) priced at the Admission price of £0.0225 per share;

·      DGRM will retain the rights to a 2% net smelter royalty (“NSR”). Techmin Limited has retained the option to buy back 1% of the NSR from DGRM for CAD$1.5M; and

·      DGRM have entered into a lock in and orderly marketing agreement with the Company under which DGRM have agreed that they shall not, offer, sell, contract to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of any of the New Shares for a period of 12 months commencing on 3 March 2022 or dispose of any of the New Shares except through an orderly marketing arrangement for a period of 24 months commencing on 3 March 2022. 

Alex Stanbury, Chief Executive Officer of Technology Minerals, said: “We are pleased to complete the acquisition of the Blackbird Creek Property, a project covering 1,285 ha that sits in the Idaho Cobalt Belt and has the potential to host significant cobalt-copper deposits. The Blackbird Creek Property forms part of our exploration strategy to advance assets up the value chain with the aim of creating additional value in the Company for our shareholders.” 

Background:

The Blackbird Creek Property is located within the Idaho Cobalt Belt, a 60 km long metallogenic district characterised by stratiform/tabular Co-Cu deposits. The ICB is hosted in the Mesoproterozoic Belt Supergroup (1,470 Ma and 1,370 Ma), juxtaposed between later Proterozoic (1,370 Ma) quartz monzonitic intrusions. The Belt Supergroup was deposited in a large rift basin, likely as large submarine fan complexes that were frequently submerged by continuing subsidence within the basin. The Belt Supergroup runs from southern Montana to northern Canada. Within the Blackbird Creek Property, the Belt Supergroup is characterised by two major units, the Lemhi Group (Inyo Creek, West Fork, Big Creek, Apple Creek, and Gunsight formations) and the Swauger Quartzite.

Sulphide mineralisation on the Property occurs primarily within the siltite unit of the Apple Creek Formation.  Three types of Co-Cu-Au occurrences have been reported associated with the Apple Creek Formation within the ICB:

• Type 1: Cobalt-copper-arsenic-rich deposits of the Blackbird Mine type. Generally, these contain approximately equal amounts of cobalt and copper, with varying amounts of gold and pyrite. Dominant minerals include cobaltite (CoAsS) and chalcopyrite (CuFeS₂). The cobaltite accounts for nearly all the arsenic content within these occurrences. This syngenetic and stratabound mineralisation is associated with mafic sequences, and deposits are typically in tabular form.

• Type 2: Cobalt-bearing pyrite-magnetite deposits with variable chalcopyrite and low arsenic content. These occurrences are typically hosted by fine-grained metasediments from the lower unit of the Apple Creek Formation. Mineralisation is strata-bound, and locally is stratiform and found within syn-sedimentary soft sediment structures.

• Type 3: Cobalt-bearing tourmaline-cemented breccias. These breccias are common in the lower unit of the Apple Creek Formation, and typically host cobaltite. These breccias are oriented roughly perpendicular to stratigraphy and occur as hard, dense, black vein-type pods and lenses. Contacts with the breccia are fluidized and display prominent foliation parallel to the breccia contact.

Numerous prospects with cobalt and copper mineralisation have been identified on the Property, including the Ludwig, Patty B, Anderson West, Anderson, Edith B, Raven, Slippery Gulch and Copper Hill (also known as Blackbird Creek South and West Fork Cobalt prospects). The primary exploration targets on the Property are the Apple Creek Formation tourmaline breccias, just like those of the historical Noranda Blackbird Mine, Jervois Idaho Cobalt Operation and First Cobalt’s Iron Creek Project. 

Admission and Total Voting Rights

Application will be made for the 21,013,440 New Shares, which will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of the Company, to be admitted to the Standard List segment of Official List and to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange plc, which is expected to occur on or around 8.00 a.m. on 16 March 2022 (“Admission”). Upon Admission, the total number of issued shares and the total number of voting rights in the Company is 1,263,695,878.

The above figure of 1,263,695,878 should be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules. 

Competent Person

All scientific and technical information in this announcement has been prepared under the supervision of EurGeol Dr. Sandy M. Archibald, PGeo (a consulting geologist at Aurum Exploration Services (Canada) Limited who currently provide exploration services to Technology Minerals Plc), and a “qualified person” within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for this announcement.

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Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement may contain forward-looking statements which are based on the Company’s expectations, intentions and projections regarding its future performance, anticipated events or trends and other matters that are not historical facts.  Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current facts.  Forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as ‘aim’, ‘anticipate’, ‘target’, ‘expect’, ‘estimate’, ‘intend’, ‘plan’, ‘goal’, ‘believe’, or other words of similar meaning.  These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Given these risks and uncertainties, prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of such statements and, except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.