TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 27, 2017) - Dalradian Resources Inc. (TSX:DNA) (AIM:DALR) ("Dalradian" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has submitted its planning application to permit the building of an underground mine and associated infrastructure at the Curraghinalt gold deposit (the "Planning Application") to the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure ("DfI"). The Company also announces closing of the private placement financing (the "Private Placement") with Orion Mine Finance Fund II LP ("Orion") and Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd ("Osisko") for gross proceeds of C$78.25 million.
Patrick F. N. Anderson, Dalradian's President and CEO, commented: "This is an exciting day for Dalradian and for Northern Ireland. It is the culmination of seven years of exploration, engineering and environmental work on the Curraghinalt deposit and financings that have raised more than C$260 million for our work in Northern Ireland. We have transformed the project from a small, early-stage deposit to one of the best gold projects on the planet. Building and operating a mine at the Curraghinalt deposit will create at least 350 permanent direct jobs and is expected to give a US$1 billion boost to the local economy over the 25-year life of mine in the planning application. This will be one of the largest foreign direct investments to be made in Northern Ireland in recent years.
Orion and Osisko are two of the top mine finance groups in the world. Their investment in Dalradian is a strong vote of confidence in our project and Northern Ireland. As a result, we are entering permitting with substantial funding that will allow us to continue to explore and further prove up the potential of the project. Our ongoing investment will ensure continued economic benefits to Northern Ireland through our training initiatives, jobs and supplier opportunities.
We are proud of the rigour and quality of the application. It comprises more than 10,000 pages, including nearly 40 detailed reports by independent experts from globally recognized environmental consulting firms. I am confident our submission demonstrates that we can deliver a sensitively designed and well-thought-out project that will provide economic benefits to the region and solid returns to our shareholders using environmental best practices. We appreciate the contributions of local residents, consultants, regulators and other stakeholders whose input has contributed to our plans for a mine at Curraghinalt."
The Planning Application Process
The Planning Application to permit the building of a mine at Curraghinalt is supported by an Environmental Statement (ES), including contributions from many local agencies and independent experts. Dalradian has held over 40 meetings with government regulators along with consultation sessions attended by more than 270 people to gain vital information needed to finalize the Planning Application. In addition, more than 800 people have attended our tunnel and site tours since the summer of 2016 to learn more about the project.
The Curraghinalt Project was deemed "regionally significant" and therefore the decision to grant planning approval rests with the DfI.
Now that the Planning Application has been submitted to the DfI, the application will follow the Planning Review process:
- Validation of Planning Application
- First round of consultation by DfI with the public and statutory consultees, including regulatory agencies and DfI consultants
- Request for further environmental information, if necessary
- Further consultation by DfI with the public and statutory consultees
- DfI officers' recommendation to the Minister for Infrastructure/Permanent Secretary
- Decision
It is anticipated that this part of the process would take up to one year. Given the scale of the project, it is expected that a Public Local Inquiry ("PLI") will be held prior to a final decision being taken, which takes approximately one year.
The Planning Application will soon be publicly available at https://www.planningni.gov.uk/index/tools/public-access-info.htm.
Investment by Orion and Osisko
Pursuant to the Private Placement previously announced on October 10, 2017, Orion has acquired 34,013,605 common shares of Dalradian (the "Common Shares") and Osisko has acquired 19,217,687 Common Shares, each at a price of C$1.47 per Common Share (the "Issue Price"). The Issue Price represents a 7% premium to the closing price of the Common Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on October 6, 2017 being the last trading day prior to the announcement of the Private Placement. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement for general working capital purposes.
Following the closing of the Private Placement, Orion owns approximately 9.6% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares and Osisko owns approximately 8.9% of Dalradian's issued and outstanding common shares.
The subscription agreements entered into with Orion and Osisko contain various covenants and rights, including among other things, a standstill, participation rights in favour of the investors to maintain their pro rata interest in Dalradian and rights to match other offers for project financing. In addition, Dalradian has granted Orion the right to designate one nominee to the board of directors of Dalradian and a period of exclusivity with respect to the negotiation of future project financing.
Application has been made for the 53,231,292 Common Shares issued under the Private Placement, which will rank pari passu with the existing common shares in issue, to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to occur at 8:00 am (UK time) on 28 November. Following the Private Placement, the Company has in issue 355,267,888 common shares. This figure may be used by shareholders 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 Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. All securities issued in the Private Placement will be subject to a statutory hold period in Canada of four months and one day from closing.
About Dalradian Resources Inc.
Dalradian Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its high-grade Curraghinalt Gold Project located in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
