Podium Minerals (ASX:POD) has submitted a proposal for a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) regarding unlisted company EV Metals Group’s subsidiary EVM Nickel.
The DOCA outlines Podium Minerals’ plan to buy all of EVM Nickel’s assets, including all of the oxide rights and associated licences and intellectual property over the Range Well Nickel-Cobalt Project – which borders Podium’s Parks Reef Platinum Group Metals (PGM) Project in Western Australia.
If the proposal is approved by creditors, it is then planned that Podium, the administrators, and EVM Nickel will enter into a long-form DOCA reflecting the terms of the proposed DOCA within 15 business days of the second meeting of creditors, which is being held on 25 October 2024.
The DOCA proposal is subject to Podium securing shareholder approval to issue shares to JM and EV Metals, receipt of foreign investment review board approval, and a final agreement between both parties.
Podium Minerals says if the creditors do not favour the proposal, the status quo will remain and the company will continue to operate under existing terms with EVM Nickel.
Under the proposal, Podium Minerals, which has a market capitalisation of $17.73 million, will issue 110.7 million shares to EVM Nickel’s secured creditor, Johnson Matthey (JM).
As a result, JM will hold 19.5% of Podium’s shares on issue, following a favourable outcome of the transaction.
The company will also issue a further 2.27 million shares to EVM Nickel, to hold on behalf of EV Metals.
Podium Minerals is also offering $1.17 million in cash for distribution to EVM Nickel creditors and payment of costs and administrator fees. The company will also grant a 1.5% net smelter royalty to JM over the Range Well Project.
Executive Chairman Rod Baxter says JM is a global platinum group metals (PGM) player with “deep networks and expert processing know-how”.
“The long-term outlook for PGM markets remains positive in support of the world’s industrial, automotive, and decarbonisation and green energy strategies,” Baxter says.
“If the creditors vote in favour of Podium’s DOCA proposal then this will provide an opportunity for Podium to reconsolidate the rights to various minerals under one umbrella, and would see Podium reassert primacy over its mining leases and consolidated mining rights on its tenements.
“Furthermore, the opportunity to acquire a nickel laterite project at the low point of the market, combined with the opportunity to simplify the ownership over the various rights, is expected to provide a number of potential project development as well as operational benefits.”
Baxter says this includes allowing Podium to access a larger surface footprint for mining activities, alongside the potential for synergy and cost benefits to accrue to project economics and return on investment.
“A successful DOCA proposal will augment and enhance Podium’s strategy and project development,” he says.
Meanwhile, the company continues to progress Parks Reef and pursue other opportunities that arise as a part of the existing development and growth strategy.
Parks Reef is a 15km-long, bulk tonnage PGM deposit with ‘high-grade’ zones. The area is open at depth and along strike.
The project sits 80km west of Meekatharra in the Mid West region of Western Australia, hosting the only 5E PGM mineral resource in Australia of 143 million tonnes at 1.30 grams per tonne 5E PGM.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: EV Metals Group
