Mining
Thursday, October 5th, 2023 4:34 pm EDT
Targa Exploration Corp. has entered into a binding letter agreement dated Oct. 3, 2023, with 1384025 B.C. Ltd. (Northern Lithium) and a party of vendors led by John Robins and Leo Hathaway to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in five lithium exploration projects located in Quebec and Ontario.
Highlights:
- Targa will acquire a portfolio of lithium projects in Quebec and Ontario totalling approximately 137,000 hectares, bringing Targa’s total portfolio of Canadian lithium projects to 412,000 ha.
- The company is forming an advisory board consisting of industry leaders Craig Parry, Mr. Robins and Mr. Hathaway.
- Andrew Rockandel is joining the company’s board as executive director.
With Targa’s acquisition of the properties, along with creation of an industry-leading technical and strategic advisory board, Targa is rapidly advancing toward its goal of establishing itself as Canada’s leading lithium explorer.
“The exploration and development of lithium resources in Canada is the new gold rush,” stated Mr. Robins, co-founder of Discovery Group. “I am excited to join the Targa team and believe Targa is well positioned to become the leading lithium explorer in Canada.”
“This exciting acquisition will be adding a considerable package of prospective ground assembled by John and Leo to our already strong portfolio and is in line with our strategy of going after large land packages in favourable districts with key indicators of lithium pegmatite geology,” commented Cameron Tymstra, president and chief executive officer of Targa. “I am humbled by Craig, John and Leo’s decision to join our strategic advisory board as the extensive amount of experience, knowledge and discovery success that they bring to the table will be immensely valuable to Targa going forward and will help the company to prioritize, plan and execute on our ongoing and future exploration programs. I’m looking forward to working with our new advisers and our new executive director, Mr. Rockandel, who adds decades of valuable industry experience to our board. “
Property acquisition
Targa will be acquiring five projects from the vendors with two located in the province of Quebec and three located in the province of Ontario.
Projects:
- Pegmatite Beach, located in the James Bay region of Quebec, consists of 97,571 ha of prospective, pegmatite-bearing geology and covers a 60-kilometre trend of lake sediment lithium anomalies with many historically noted pegmatites that have not been assessed for lithium potential.
- Harricana is located in the northern Abitibi region of western Quebec. The project is made up of four claim blocks totalling 26,339 ha and covers a historic beryl-bearing pegmatite dike with other beryliferous pegmatites historically noted nearby.
- Case Lake is made up of 185 claim cells totalling approximately 3,800 hectares in size and sits on the edge of the Case Lake batholith, which is a major igneous body that correlates to known lithium occurrences. Three historic drill holes on the project have intercepted pegmatites. The project is road accessible.
- Detour West consists of two blocks of mineral claims totalling 255 claim cells in Northeastern Ontario covering 5,300 ha. Six historic drill holes on the project have intercepted pegmatites. The project is road accessible.
- Lakeshore is also road accessible in Northeastern Ontario and consists of 191 claim cells covering approximately 4,000 ha. Anomalous beryllium and cesium were noted during historic gold exploration work. A 12.2-metre intercept of pegmatite was previously encountered and not analyzed for lithium.
Terms of acquisition
To acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the properties, Targa will issue a total of 7,500,001 common shares of the company to the vendors, grant a 1-per-cent net smelter royalty on the properties in favour of Northern Lithium and make aggregate cash payments of $755,721.72 to the vendors as follows:
- $100,000 within two business days of execution of the letter agreement;
- $277,860.86 within 30 days of execution of the letter agreement;
- $377,860.86 on or before Dec. 15, 2023.
The consideration shares shall be subject to the following resale restrictions:
- Four months and a day after closing, one-third of the consideration shares will become free trading;
- Eight months after closing, an additional one-third of the consideration shares will become free trading;
- 12 months after closing, an additional one-third of the consideration Shares will become free trading.
Advisory board
The company is also pleased to announce the formation of an advisory board consisting of Mr. Parry, Mr. Robins and Mr. Hathaway. The three-person technical and strategic advisory board will be supporting the Targa management team with regard to project geology, target generation, project assessment, exploration techniques and corporate strategy. The advisers bring a deep record of discovery success and value creation for shareholders of companies they have led and founded.
Mr. Parry
Mr. Parry has been a founder, director, CEO, senior executive and geologist working across a broad range of commodities with several companies. Mr. Parry is a co-founder and partner of Inventa Capital, a venture capital advisory firm dedicated to the acquisition and development of assets in the natural resource sector. He is lead director and former chair of Skeena Resources Ltd. as well as a founder and chairman of Vizsla Silver Corp., Vizsla Copper Corp. and a number of other companies associated with Inventa Capital. He was founder, CEO and/or director of IsoEnergy Ltd. and NexGen Energy Ltd., he is a partner in EMR Capital, and was founder of the Tigers Realm Group, which he started after leaving Rio Tinto in 2008. Mr. Parry graduated from the University of New South Wales and holds a bachelor of science (applied geology) with first-class honours and the university medal. He is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Mr. Parry has led teams and been involved in a number of exceptional discoveries and resource projects including Vizsla Silver’s discovery of new veins at its Panuco-Copala silver district, IsoEnergy’s Hurricane uranium deposit, NexGen’s Arrow uranium deposit, and Tigers Realm’s Amaam and Amaam North coking coal deposits. In 2022, Mr. Parry was among those recognized with the AME Colin Spence Award for their discovery of the Hurricane zone on the Larocque East property in 2018, arguably the most significant recent uranium discovery in the historically productive eastern part of the Athabasca basin.
Mr. Robins
Mr. Robins, PGeo, a co-founder and principal of Discovery Group, is a professional geologist, prospector and entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in the mining industry. In 2022, he was the recipient of the AME’s Murray Pezim Award for his significant contribution to the financing of exploration and development projects over the last 20 years. He was also awarded the Spud Huestis Award in 2008 for having made significant contributions to mineral exploration in British Columbia and Yukon.
Mr. Robins has been involved in several notable discoveries, including the five-million-ounce Coffee gold deposit in Yukon, the Three Bluffs gold deposit in the Committee Bay greenstone belt, the Aviat/Churchill diamond districts of Nunavut and the Great Bear project in Northwestern Ontario. Through his entrepreneurship, Mr. Robins has been instrumental in over $3-billion in merger and acquisition activity and has generated over $1-billion in direct and indirect mineral expenditures throughout Canada, Latin America and Australia. Notable recent successes include the sales of Great Bear Resources Ltd. to Kinross Gold Corp. for $1.8-billion, Great Bear Royalties Corp. to Royal Gold Inc. for $200-million and Kaminak Gold Corp. to Goldcorp for $510-million.
Mr. Robins’s outstanding strategic guidance, technical expertise, strong industry relationships and steadfast adherence to ethical practices underpin his status as a leading steward of the junior mining industry. He currently acts as chairman of Fireweed Metals Corp. and K2 Gold Corp. Mr. Robins is also a director of Elemental Altus Royalties and a strategic adviser to Kodiak Copper Corp., Valore Metals Corp. and Prospector Metals Corp.
Mr. Hathaway
Mr. Hathaway is a geologist and senior executive in the mining and exploration industry with 25 years of experience. He currently serves as executive chairman of Golden Shield Resources Inc., senior vice-president of Lumina Gold Corp. and senior vice-president, exploration, of Luminex Resources Corp.
His previous roles include chief geological officer for Lumina Copper Corp., and vice-president, exploration, for Northern Peru Copper Corp., Regalito Copper Corp. and Lumina Resources Corp. All of these companies were acquired by large mining companies and were derived from the original Lumina Copper, for which Mr. Hathaway was vice-president, exploration. Prior to 2004 he worked for Inmet Mining in Europe, Central and South America, and Australia.
Mr. Hathaway holds a BSc (honours) degree in applied geology from the University of Plymouth, an MSc in mineral exploration from the University of London, and has a PGeo designation from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of British Columbia.
New director
The company is also pleased to announce that Mr. Rockandel will be joining Targa’s board of directors to serve as an executive director. Mr. Rockandel is an accomplished entrepreneur whose four decades of business experience span mineral resources, renewable energy, forestry and specialized chemicals. Involved in the junior mining market for over 25 years, he has helped found multiple junior companies, bringing together management teams, assets and financing.
Financing
Targa will not proceed with further closing(s) of the private placement financing originally announced on June 29, 2023.
Qualified person
The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Lorne Warner, PGeo, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 — Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About Targa Exploration Corp.
Targa Exploration is a Canadian lithium exploration company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of lithium mineral properties with headquarters in Vancouver, B.C. Targa’s lithium project portfolio consists of 10 projects in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and covers over 275,000 hectares of prospective ground, most of which has never been explored previously for lithium. Targa is part of the Inventa Capital group of companies.
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