Eurobattery Minerals AB (BAT), a growth company in the mining and exploration industry, has signed an investment and shareholders agreement including an option for a staged acquisition of 100 per cent of the shares in Vulcan Hautalampi Oy (“VHOy”), 100 per cent owner of the Hautalampi Nickel-Cobalt-Copper Project, in eastern Finland.
The option under the Investment and Shareholders Agreement is linked to an obligation to provide successive cash financing for investments in the Hautalampi nickel-cobalt-copper Project (the “Hautalampi Project”). The consideration to be paid by BAT for acquired shares in VHOy and the option premium, and the cash financing to be provided by BAT for the Hautalampi Project amount to approximately €8.6M in total, payable during 48 months. The Board of Directors of the Company has decided, subject the approval of an Extraordinary General Meeting, on a rights issue of units to finance some of the mining activities in connection with the acquisition. For the partial payment of the option premium, the Company will issue new shares to the existing shareholders of VHOy amounting to €0.2M. More information regarding the rights issue of units will be given through a separate press release.
The Hautalampi Project is located at the same site as the famous Keretti (Outokumpu) copper mine (1912-1989). The Hautalampi Ni-Co-Cu orebody is located parallel to and above the exploited copper deposit. Existing surface and underground infrastructure provide significant location advantages in what is already a tier 1 mining jurisdiction.
– This acquisition is an important milestone for Eurobattery Minerals as it accelerates our business strategy and shortens the time to us being producers. As the foundation of the battery value chain we are committed to provide ethically produced and traceable battery minerals from Europe critical for the rapidly growing electric vehicle industry, said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.