Appian Capital Advisory announces the sale of its Brazilian battery metals focused portfolio companies Atlantic Nickel and Mineração Vale Verde to Sibanye Stillwater for a cash consideration of US$1 billion and an additional 5.0% NSR royalty on production from the Santa Rita underground expansion.
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Appian acquired Atlantic Nickel (previously Mirabela Nickel), owner of Santa Rita, one of the largest open pit nickel sulphide mines in the world, located in Bahia, Brazil ("Santa Rita") out of bankruptcy in 2018. The same year it also purchased MVV, owner of the Serrote greenfield open pit copper gold asset located in Alagoas, Brazil ("Serrote").
The entire workforce of Atlantic Nickel and MVV, which Appian grew from around 50 to 3,387 employees, will transfer to Sibanye.
Under the terms of the Transaction, the company will retain significant exposure to the Assets with a 2.75% royalty on the open pit and a 7.75% royalty on the underground resources at Atlantic Nickel's producing Santa Rita mine and exploration properties held by Atlantic Nickel and a 35% stream on gross gold revenue payable from MVV's Serrote mine and exploration properties.
Appian is considering strategic alternatives for its royalty portfolio.
Appian will also retain the Pereira Velho gold project, which will be spun out of MVV. Pereira Velho is a highly prospective gold exploration project located 20km to the east of the Serrote mine, consisting of a 1,500m long gold in soil anomaly and gold mineralization hosted in quartz sulphide veins.
Exploration activities to date, including an ongoing drill campaign, have yielded promising results, including trench intercepts of 22m 1.05 g/t Au and 74m 0.63 g/t Au, as well as visible gold in drill core samples.
Appian acquired Atlantic Nickel out of a complex bankruptcy process for US$68 million in 2018, after identifying an opportunity to implement a differential operating approach to restart the mine at a first quartile cost position and benefit from over US$1 billion of previously sunk capital.
The company subsequently carried out major work to improve and optimise Santa Rita, developing a redefined mine plan with a lower strip ratio and more selective mining, with a successful restart in January 2020 and subsequent ramp up.
Appian has de risked the asset with a defensive operational strategy and definition of underground extension, driving value creation with a first quartile cost position (C1 cost of US$2.97 lb Ni payable achieved since restart compared to the nickel price of US$9.03 lb at announcement date.
The company has grown the Resources at Santa Rita significantly since 2018 through systematic infill and expansion drilling of the open pit and underground Resource areas. Since acquisition, Appian has been able to extend the life of mine by 27 years to 35 years in total, by defining an underground Resource of 202Mt total MI&I at 0.60% NiS, 0.19% Cu and 0.01% Co plus PGEs+Au.
Since restart, Appian has built out the team at Atlantic Nickel from 40 to 2,527 employees, providing significant local employment and benefits. Over that time, Atlantic Nickel has produced 156kt of nickel concentrate containing 21kt of nickel, with 15 shipments of in spec concentrate, while the asset has generated gross revenue of US$286 million, with EBITDA of US$118 million.
The company acquired MVV from Aura Minerals for a total consideration of US$40 million in 2018, consisting of a US$30 million cash payment and a US$10 million subordinated vendor loan. Appian identified Serrote as a rare standalone, construction ready, copper project with meaningful precious metal by product credits that could benefit from Appian's technical arbitrage strategy.
Appian initiated extensive technical work to optimise Serrote's mine plan in preparation for construction, resulting in an updated Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFSU") that maximised the asset's efficiency and economic profile. Appian's 14 year, 4.1Mtpa mine plan validated the potential for enhanced returns from a smaller scale, lower cost, more efficient operation, with higher grade and a lower strip ratio, while still maintaining medium term expansion optionality.
The initial 50.4Mt Reserve pit is based on a subset of the defined Resources based on a defensive US$2.70 lb copper price, and further potential exists to extend the life of mine and copper production from the 112Mt of MI&I Resources defined.
Appian has unlocked significant value for investors, by bringing Serrote into production in May 2021 under budget and ahead of schedule, with US$195 million spent versus an initial budget of US$243 million. The operational development and team growth of 10 to 860 employees, has provided significant employment and economic development for the local community.
The mine is forecast to operate with a defensive second quartile C1 cost position of US$1.11 lb Cu payable net of by products. Construction was fully funded by Appian alongside a US$140 million project financing facility from Société Générale, ING and Natixis. Attractive offtake terms were also secured for Serrote's high quality copper gold concentrate, with the first shipment expected before year end.
The exploration program at MVV continues to prove out the broader regional upside potential, identifying additional targets that could be brought into the Serrote mine plan over the longer term. ■
Predominant upper-level ridging stretching from the Southwest to the southern High Plains will allow for another day of record-breaking heat across parts of Nevada and Arizona today.