Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. press release

METALLA REPORTS AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND PROVIDES ASSET UPDATES

2022-03-25

TSX - Toronto Stock Exchange · Graphite · Canada · Corporate Finance

Canada NewsWire

(All dollar amounts are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated)

TSXV: MTA NYSE American: MTA

VANCOUVER, BC , March 25, 2022 /CNW/ - Metalla Royalty & Streaming Ltd. (" Metalla " or the " Company ") (TSXV: MTA) (NYSE American: MTA) announces its operating and financial results for the year ended December 31, 2021 . Metalla has also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC ") its SEC Annual Report on Form 40-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 . The Form 40-F includes the Company's Annual Information Form, audited financial statements and management's discussion & analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021 . For complete details of the consolidated financial statements and accompanying management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021 , please see the Company's filings on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com ) or on EDGAR ( www.sec.gov ). Shareholders are encouraged to visit the Company's website at http://www.metallaroyalty.com/ .

[](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1774106/Metalla_Royalty_and_Streaming_LtdMETALLA_REPORTS_AUDITED_FINAN.html)

Metalla shareholders may receive a hard copy of the Company's complete audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 , free of charge, upon request. For further information please visit the Company website at https://www.metallaroyalty.com/financial-reports/ .

Brett Heath , President, and CEO of Metalla, commented, "2021 represented another major step in the continued growth of Metalla, adding seven high-quality development royalties all being advanced by top operators on proven geological trends. The 1.35% royalty on the Côté-Gosselin project and the 5% royalty on the Castle Mountain project show signs of becoming cornerstone parts of the Metalla portfolio, and the other five royalties acquired by Metalla in 2021 provide an enhanced diverse growth profile of production that is just getting started."

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

During the year ended December 31, 2021 , and the subsequent period up to the date of this news release, the Company:

Closed seven new royalty acquisitions to bring the total held to 70 precious metal assets, and amended an existing royalty through the following notable transactions:

on May 14, 2021 , announced the termination of its original at-the-market program (the " 2020 ATM Program "). From January 1, 2021 to May 14, 2021 , the Company distributed 1,526,600 common shares under the 2020 ATM Program at an average price of $9.45 per share for gross proceeds of $14.4 million . From inception in September 2020 to termination in May 2021 , the Company distributed a total of 1,809,300 common shares under the 2020 ATM Program at an average price of $9.63 per share for gross proceeds of $17.4 million , with aggregate commissions paid and other share issue costs of $0.9 million , resulting in aggregate net proceeds of $16.5 million ;

on May 14, 2021 , announced the establishment of a new at-the-market program (the " 2021 ATM Program ") with a syndicate of agents. Under the 2021 ATM Program the Company may distribute up to $35.0 million (or the equivalent in Canadian dollars) in common shares of the Company. From inception to December 31, 2021 , the Company distributed 1,622,165 common shares under the 2021 ATM Program at an average price of $8.47 per share for gross proceeds of $13.7 million , with aggregate commissions paid or payable and other share issue costs of $0.7 million , resulting in aggregate net proceeds of $13.0 million . For the three months ended December 31, 2021 , the Company distributed 269,037 common shares under the 2021 ATM Program at an average price of $7.31 per share for gross proceeds of $2.0 million , with aggregate commissions paid or payable and other share issue costs of $0.2 million , resulting in aggregate net proceeds of $1.8 million . As of the date of this news release, the Company has distributed a total of 1,970,608 common shares under the 2021 ATM program for gross proceeds of $16.1 million ;

for the year ended December 31, 2021 , received or accrued payments on 2,915 attributable Gold Equivalent Ounces (" GEOs ") at an average realized price of $1,718 and an average cash cost of $7 per attributable GEO (see non-IFRS Financial Measures);

for the year ended December 31, 2021 , generated operating cash margin of $1,711 per attributable GEO, from the Wharf, Joaquin and COSE royalties, the New Luika Gold Mine (" NLGM ") stream held by Silverback Ltd. (" Silverback "), the Higginsville derivative royalty asset, and other royalty interests (see non-IFRS Financial Measures);

for the year ended December 31, 2021 , recognized revenue from royalty and stream interests, including fixed royalty payments, of $3.0 million , net loss of $10.4 million , and adjusted EBITDA of negative $1.4 million (see non-IFRS Financial Measures);

for the year ended December 31, 2021 , recognized payments due or received (not included in revenue) from the Higginsville derivative royalty asset of $2.2 million (see non-IFRS Financial Measures); and

converted C$5.0 million outstanding on the Beedie Capital amended loan facility (the " Beedie Loan Facility ") at C$9.90 per share for a total of 505,050 common shares and completed a draw down for an additional C$5.0 million from the Beedie Loan Facility with a conversion price of C$14.30 per share, and drew down an additional C$3.0 million from the Beedie Loan Facility with a conversion price of C$11.16 , with such conversion prices representing a 20% premium above the 30-day volume-weighted average price of the Company's common shares on the trading day prior of the applicable draw down date in accordance with the terms of the Beedie Loan Facility. As at the date of this News Release, the Company has a total of C$8.0 million outstanding under the Beedie Loan Facility bearing interest at a rate of 8% per annum with a remaining C$12.0 million available on standby under the Beedie Loan Facility.

ASSET UPDATES

Wharf Royalty

On February 16, 2022 , Coeur Mining Inc. (" Coeur ") reported in a news release that Wharf's updated Proven and Probable Reserves totaled 852 Koz at 0.73 g/t. Total Measured and Indicated Resources were reported at 412 Koz at 0.63g/t, with an Inferred Resource estimate of 90 Koz at 0.75 g/t. In addition, Coeur reported in their Q4 2021 financial statements, an updated mine life of 8 years for Wharf.

In fiscal 2021, Wharf produced 91,136 ounces of gold at 0.84 g/t, in line with the production guidance of 85-95 Koz for 2021. Fiscal 2022 guidance is expected to be 70-80 Koz, primarily driven by lower expected gold grades due to mine sequencing.

Additionally, on February 16, 2022 , Coeur reported in a news release on the continued exploration success at Wharf where a total of 6,625 meters of drilling was completed in the Portland Ridge – Boston claim group, Flossie and Juno areas. Coeur spent $4 million in exploration at the mine in 2021, its largest since acquiring the asset in 2015. The Company plans to keep one reverse circulation drill rig during the first quarter of 2022 focused on infill drilling the Portland Ridge and Flossie areas.

Metalla holds a 1.0% GVR royalty on the Wharf mine.

Higginsville Royalty

On March 14, 2022 , Karora Resources Inc. (" Karora ") reported production of 112,814 ounces of gold from its Higginsville Gold Operations (" Higginsville ") and Beta Hunt mines, in line with 2021 production guidance of 105-115 Koz. On February 7, 2022 , Karora announced guidance for fiscal 2022 of 110- 134 K oz.

Metalla holds a 27.5% Price Participation Royalty (" PPR ") royalty interest on the difference between the London PM fix gold price and A$1,340 /oz on the first 2.5 Koz per quarter until a cumulative total of 34.0 Koz of gold at the Higginsville operation have been delivered. As at December 31, 2021 , 14.1 Koz of gold had been delivered.

New Luika Silver Stream

On January 24, 2022 , Shanta Gold Limited (" Shanta ") reported that it produced 55,280 ounces of gold at its NLGM in Tanzania in 2021. On July 19, 2021 , Shanta announced a new mine plan for NLGM, where average annual production is expected to be 73.6 Koz gold with the potential to extend mine life beyond 2026 through conversion of significant known resources and the expanded 2,450 tpd mill throughput. Shanta expects total gold production from NLGM for the five-year plan to total 368 Koz from both open pit and underground mine sources from the mining license. Shanta outlined that the resources presently sitting outside of the mine plan amounts to 552 Koz at 2.37 g/t at NLGM. Shanta has forecast production to be between 68-76 Koz in fiscal 2022.

On February 1, 2022 , Shanta reported that as at December 31, 2021 , the Probable Reserves at NLGM stood at 404 Koz at 3.05 g/t gold, the Measured Resources were 105 Koz at 4.94 g/t gold, the Indicated Resources were 707 Koz at 2.63 g/t gold, and the Inferred Resources were 296 Koz at 1.73 g/t gold.

Metalla holds a 15% interest in Silverback Ltd., whose sole business is receipt and distribution of a 100% silver stream on NLGM at an ongoing cost of 10% of the spot silver price.

Endeavor Silver Stream

On January 20, 2022 , Sandfire Resources Limited reported that a ground magnetic survey was completed at the Endeavor mine and will assist in the targeting of Elura type deposits at depth.

Metalla has the right to buy 100% of the silver production up to 20 Moz (~12.6 Moz remaining under the contract for delivery) from the Endeavor Mine for an operating cost contribution of $1.00 /oz of payable silver, indexed annually for inflation, plus a further increment of 50% of the silver price in excess of $7.00 /oz.

Côté-Gosselin

On February 23, 2022 , IAMGOLD reported that construction had reached 43.4% completion at the Côté Gold Project and remains on track for commercial production in H2 2023. On December 2, 2021 , IAMGOLD announced the release of a NI 43-101 technical report on the Côté Gold Project which estimated an initial Indicated Resource estimate of 3.35 Moz at 0.84 g/t gold and an Inferred Resource estimate of 1.71 Moz at 0.73 g/t gold at the Gosselin zone. The Gosselin deposit has only been drilled to approximately half the depth of the Côté deposit and remains open at depth and along strike where a number of drill holes ended in mineralization (see Figure 1). Gosselin has an industry leading discovery cost per gold ounce of less than $2 .

IAMGOLD has planned additional technical studies which will include a metallurgical testing program and mining and infrastructure studies to optimize the inclusion of the Gosselin deposit into the future Côté life-of-mine plans. Per IAMGOLD, additional drilling will target areas where drill spacing is too wide to classify mineral resources and the overlap area between the Gosselin and the Côté deposits which may provide an opportunity for optimization of a combined pit shell. In addition, IAMGOLD will commence work on defining environmental baseline data and permitting requirements for different development scenarios and initiate discussions with First Nations and Métis partners.

On January 27, 2022 , IAMGOLD released assay results that extended the Gosselin Zone outside of the recent mineral resource estimate. Significant highlights include 0.78 g/t gold over 355.5 meters, 2.05 g/t gold over 256 meters, 0.55 g/t gold over 357.5 meters and 0.7 g/t gold over 173 meters.

Metalla holds a 1.35% NSR royalty covers less than 10% of the Côté reserves and resources estimate and covers all of the Gosselin resource estimate.

Castle Mountain

Castle Mountain is slated to become one of Equinox Gold's largest assets. Metalla's 5.0% NSR royalty covers the South Domes portion of the deposit which will be part of the Phase 2 expansion slated to begin in 2026.

On February 24, 2022 , Equinox announced they expect to spend $7 million for Phase 2 permitting, optimization studies and metallurgical test work and nearly $2 million for exploration. Equinox expects to submit the Phase 2 permit applications in Q1 2022.

On March 22, 2021 , Equinox announced the release of an updated NI 43-101 technical report on the Castle Mountain Project. As per the report the South Domes portion of Castle Mountain has total Mineral Reserves of 1.24 Moz at a diluted grade of 0.53 g/t gold. Equinox also stated that potential exists to ultimately connect the JSLA and South Dome pits.

Metalla holds a 5.0% NSR Royalty on the South Domes area of the Castle Mountain mine.

Wasamac

On December 1, 2021 , Yamana Gold Inc. (" Yamana ") announced that initial drill results at Wasamac defined an entirely new shear zone which demonstrates a reinforced vision for a 200 Koz plus per year operation with a mine life of at least 15 years. Exploration drilling at the newly discovered South Wildcat zone returned 7.31 g/t gold over 3.37 meters. Yamana has decided to advance a bulk sample permitting process to allow construction of a ramp which could expedite the start of production ahead of the stated 2026 start date. In addition, work is ongoing to understand the metallurgy of the project where preliminary testing indicated that average gold recovery could increase by 3% compared to the feasibility study. Yamana expects to complete the Environmental impact assessment by the second quarter of 2022.

Metalla holds a 1.5% NSR royalty on the Wasamac project subject to a buy back of 0.5% for C$7.5 million .

Fosterville

On February 23, 2022 , Agnico reported that they expect to spend $34.6 million for 121,400 metres of drilling and development to replace mineral reserve depletion and to add mineral resources at Fosterville . Another $19.7 million will be spent on underground and surface exploration with the aim to discover additional high-grade mineralization, with $2.9 million to be spent on regional exploration drilling on the land package surrounding the Fosterville mine.

Metalla holds a 2.5% GVR royalty on the Northern and Southern extensions of the Fosterville mining license and other areas in the land package.

Tocantinzinho

On February 9, 2022 , G Mining announced that it had completed an updated feasibility study for the TZ gold project located in Para State, Brazil . The study confirmed a robust 10.5-year mine life producing 1.8 Moz of gold in total resulting in an average annual gold production profile of 174,700 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $681 /oz.

Economics were favourable, at a $1,600 /oz gold price the study demonstrated an after-tax NPV5% of $622 million and generated an after-tax IRR of 24%. Also of note, G Mining increased the reserves at TZ by 12% to 2.0 Moz and saw an increase in the capital cost at the project of only 7% since the last study was conducted. Project optimization and detailed engineering is expected to occur from Q4 2021 through to Q4 2022. G Mining also expects to complete two drilling campaigns totaling 10,000 meters beginning in Q4 2021 through to Q1 2022, these include a grade control drilling program to de-risk early years of production and an exploration drilling program to test for potential extensions of the known mineralization at depth and below the current pit.

G Mining is a precious metals development company with a leadership team which has built four mines in South America , including the Merian mine for Newmont Corporation and Fruta Del Norte for Lundin Gold .

Metalla holds a 0.75% GVR royalty on the Tocantinzinho project.

El Realito

On February 23, 2022 , Agnico reported that road construction was completed in the fourth quarter of 2021. Pre-stripping activities at El Realito pit were underway and were expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2022. The production guidance from the La India mine which hosts the El Realito pit were positively revised to 82.5 Koz gold in 2022, 70 Koz gold in 2023 and 22.5 Koz gold in 2024. The increase in the production guidance was due to pit optimization and increase in mineral reserves at the El Realito deposit.

Metalla holds a 2.0% NSR royalty on the El Realito deposit which is subject to a 1.0% buyback right for $4.0 million .

Santa Gertrudis

On February 23, 2022 , Agnico announced an updated Resource estimate at Santa Gertrudis where the Indicated Resources totaled 99 Koz gold at 0.64 g/t and 739 Koz at 4.79 g/t silver, and Inferred Resources totaled 1,679 Koz at 1.69 g/t gold and 5,924 Koz at 5.96 g/t silver.

Exploration drilling in the fourth quarter at the high-grade Amelia deposit resulted in the improved understanding of structural controls leading to the 120-meter extension of the high-grade ore shoots at the deposit beyond the 2021 mineral resources. At the Centauro deposit, a 100-meter step out from a hole that returned 5.8 g/t gold over 15 meters encountered high grade sulphide mineralization outlining the potential to make additional high-grade discoveries at the property similar to Amelia.

During 2022, Agnico expects to spend $19 million at Santa Gertrudis with the goal to expand mineral resources, to test high grade structure extensions at the Amelia deposit and explore new targets, infill open pit deposits to declare reserves and internal studies and metallurgical test work.

Agnico expects Santa Gertrudis to have an annual production of 100 – 125 Koz of gold.

Metalla holds a 2.0% NSR royalty on Santa Gertrudis subject to Agnico's right to buy back 1.0% for $7.5 million .

Amalgamated Kirkland Property

On February 23, 2022 , Agnico reported that the Amalgamated Kirkland deposit could provide incremental ore feed to the Macassa mill with annual production of 40 Koz as soon as 2024. In 2022, Agnico plans to spend $8.6 million on a 1.3 Km exploration ramp from the Macassa near surface zones, designed to carry out infill drilling and a bulk sample of the higher-grade regions of the Amalgamated Kirkland deposit. The Amalgamated Kirkland deposit hosts an indicated resource estimate of 265 Koz gold at 6.51 g/t gold and an inferred resource of 406 Koz at 5.32 g/t gold. The deposit remains open at depth and extends laterally.

Metalla holds a 0.45% NSR royalty on the Amalgamated Kirkland property.

Akasaba West

On October 27, 2021 , Agnico announced they plan to revisit the Akasaba West project with the intention to integrate it into the Goldex production profile. An internal technical evaluation is being updated to reflect current financial parameters and to optimize the production rate.

Metalla holds a 2.0% NSR royalty on the Akasaba West project subject to an exemption on the first 210 Koz of gold of production. Agnico holds the right to buy back 1.0% of the royalty for C$7.0 million at any time.

Del Carmen

On February 16, 2022 , Barrick reported that drilling at Del Carmen is expected to resume in the first quarter of 2022. Two holes drilled at Carmen Norte, confirmed the presence of porphyry style mineralization and a decision on further work will be made when results are received.

Metalla holds a 0.5% NSR royalty on the Del Carmen project which is the Argentine portion of the Alturas-Del Carmen project in the prolific El Indio belt.

Beaufor Mine

In press releases dated November 1, 2021 , January 20, 2022 , and February 10, 2022 , Monarch provided exploration updates at the Beaufor Mine and Beacon Mill, scheduled to begin mining in 2022. Significant highlights from drilling include 56.91 g/t gold over 0.7 meters, 21.6 g/t gold over 1.8 meters, 99.7 g/t gold over 0.6 meters, 52.19 g/t gold over 2.1 meters, 44.9 g/t gold over 1.4 meters, and 16.97 g/t gold over 3.6 meters. Underground development and rehabilitation are currently ongoing at Beaufor.

Metalla holds a 1.0% NSR royalty on the Beaufor mine.

CentroGold

On October 20, 2021 , OZ Minerals announced that the relocation plan required for progressing the court injunction removal has been completed and can be submitted to the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA). On February 21, 2022 , OZ announced that the relocation plan had been submitted to INCRA.

Metalla holds a 1.0-2.0% NSR royalty on the CentroGold project.

Green Springs