Key specific takeaways from last night:
1.The current Pre-Tax NPV of the project and our investment is $2.819 Billion, but the Pro Forma enterprise Value of the entity now, following the GXII merger and funding, will be just $313.5 Million, meaning NB/NIOBF/GXII is still a tremendous investment opportunity for serious investors with a long-term view.
2. Mark addressed the question on the delays in getting to this point head on. COVID set us back around 2 years because it resulted in a "Risk Off" environment where no one was taking on risk or lending $$$$ to any projects whatsoever. Then once COVID subsided, it became clear that Banks and other potential lenders were not only requiring some serious $$$$ in our accounts (which we will have after the merger), all lenders and funders are now requiring a fully audited or auditable ESG Program, which we now have but took time to develop. We are now there, and fully de-risked so full speed ahead with the financing piece of the package.
3. The presentations on the Demo plant are amazing. they were not permitted to give specifics, other than the bottom line that the demo plant testing thus far points to both increased recoveries and increased monetization of the resource.
4. Mark plans to finance $699 - $700 Million through loans as opposed to the equity piece with GX. $150 Million will come from the German Govt. in connection with the ThyssenKrupp off-take agreement. The remainder will be pieced together in multiple pieces, and Mark stated that the Europeans are much more up to speed with this kind of lending for mining operations. $150 - $200 Million will come through mezzanine financing. But Mark does not appear to be at all concerned with the funding piece once the merger is approved and we are trading on the NASDAQ.
5.Mark did a great job of addressing the inevitable reverse split, although stated that if we are trading at $10 in Q1 it would not be necessary. It affects him too, as the largest shareholder, but he assured everyone it will be as small as possible in order to qualify for the NASDAQ listing. There are so many lenders and potential large investors, including institutions and mutual funds, who cannot currently invest in NB/NIOBF, but who will be able to once we trade on the NASDAQ.
6. GXII will be a great partner going forward. Dean Kehler was impressive, and I spoke with him at length afterwards. He confirmed to the group that GX carefully examined literally dozens of projects in looking for an investment/merger candidate, and then narrowed it down to 12 potential candidates, including 6 other critical mineral projects somewhat similar to Niocorp. But he stated that we are heads and tails above the other candidates and emphasized how excited his group is over this deal.
In short, yesterday was a very positive day for our project and investment and I cannot emphasize more how lucky we are to have Mark, Scott, Jim and the rest of the team working hard for us and our investment, and how confident I am that this project will be a tremendous and profitable venture for everyone.
