FIRST QUANTUM ADQUIERE ANTARES MINERALS
Mining Press
La minera canadiense First Quantum adquirió todas las propiedades de su coterránea Antares Minerals a excepción de la parte que Antares poseía del proyecto Río Grande, en Salta, que queda en su mayor parte en manos de la nueva empresa Rugulus Resources.
El acuerdo se llevó a cabo de conformidad con las disposiciones de la Ley General de Sociedades (Alberta) y fue aprobado por el Tribunal de Queen Bench de Alberta y el voto afirmativo de la totalidad de los accionistas de Antares en una reunión especial que tuvo lugar el 10 de diciembre.
Antes de la operación -anunciada hace tiempo, pero concretada en estos días- el proyecto de oro y cobre salteño pertenecía en partes iguales a Antares y a Mansfield Minerals. Desde mediados de diciembre la propiedad de Río Grande quedó dividida de la siguiente manera:
50% para Mansfield
40% para Rugulus
10% para First Quantum.
First Quantum Ltd., Antares Minerals Inc. y Rugulus Resources Inc. , anunciaron el cierre del acuerdo, conforme al cual una subsidiaria de First Quantum ha adquirido la totalidad de los valores pendientes de Antares. Según el acuerdo, cada acción ordinaria de Antares se intercambió a un valor de 0,07619 por acción común de First Quantum o un pago en efectivo por un monto de C $ 6.35, o una combinación de ambos.
El Acuerdo se llevó a cabo de conformidad con las disposiciones de la Ley de Sociedades de Negocios (Alberta) y fue aprobado por el Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta y el voto afirmativo de 100% de los 'accionistas de seguridad Antares en una reunión especial de accionistas celebrada el 10 de diciembre, 2010.
De conformidad con el Acuerdo, First Quantum, a través de su filial, adquirió la totalidad de 72.364.467 acciones ordinarias emitidas y en circulación de Antares para la consideración de efectivo total de aproximadamente $ 2.6 millones y share total de 5.481.963 acciones comunes de First Quantum. Como parte de la transacción, el 50% de interés de Antares en el proyecto de Río Grande, ubicado en la provincia de Salta, noroeste de Argentina, se giró hacia Regulus, junto con C $ 5 millones en efectivo.
EL PRESS RELEASE
FIRST QUANTUM MINERALS COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF ANTARES MINERALS
First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Antares Minerals Inc. and Regulus Resources Inc., today announced the closing of the previously-announced plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement"), pursuant to which a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Quantum has acquired all of the outstanding securities of Antares. Under the Arrangement, each common share of Antares was exchanged for, at the election of the holder thereof, (i) 0.07619 of a common share of First Quantum (the "Share Consideration") or (ii) a cash payment in the amount of C$6.35 (the "Cash Consideration"), or a combination of both the Share Consideration and the Cash Consideration.
The Arrangement was carried out pursuant to the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) and was approved by the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta and the affirmative vote of 100% of Antares’ securityholders at a special meeting of shareholders held on December 10, 2011
Pursuant to the Arrangement, First Quantum, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, acquired all 72,364,467 issued and outstanding common shares of Antares for aggregate Cash Consideration of approximately $2.6 million and aggregate Share Consideration of 5,481,963 common shares of First Quantum. As part of the transaction, Antares’ 50% interest in the Rio Grande project located in Salta Province, northwestern Argentina, was spun out into Regulus, together with C$5 million in cash. Antares securityholders effectively received 0.4505 of a Regulus share for each of their Antares securities. Regulus is owned 90.1% by former Antares shareholders in aggregate and 9.9% by First Quantum.
The Antares common shares have been halted from trading on the TSX Venture Exchange and will remain halted until they are de-listed which is expected to be at the close of trading on December 20, 2010. The Regulus common shares are expected to be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange on December 20, 2010 under the symbol "REG". Regulus has filed a copy of its TSXV listing application on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Holders of Antares common shares are reminded that, in order to receive the consideration to which they are entitled pursuant to the Arrangement, they should properly complete and execute, as soon as possible, the Letter of Transmittal and Election Form delivered to them in connection with seeking the approval of the securityholders of Antares for the Arrangement, and present and surrender the certificate(s) representing their common shares in accordance with the Letter of Transmittal and Election Form, to Computershare Investor Services Inc., the depositary for the Arrangement, at the address indicated in the Letter of Transmittal and Election Form. Failure to present and surrender the certificate(s) representing such common shares on or before the sixth anniversary of closing will result in the termination of any entitlement of the holder of such common shares to receive the Share Consideration otherwise payable to such holder under the Arrangement.
Antares shareholders who have any questions or require more information with respect to the Arrangement, the payment of the Share Consideration or the receipt of First Quantum common shares to which they are entitled pursuant to the Arrangement should contact: First Quantum Minerals Ltd. 10-
About First Quantum
First Quantum is a growing mining and metals company engaged in mineral exploration, development and mining. The Company produces LME grade "A" copper cathode, copper in concentrate, gold and sulphuric acid.
First Quantum's assets in Zambia include the Kansanshi open pit copper-gold mine, the Trident project, the Fishtie copper project and the Bwana Mkubwa SX/EW facility and sulphuric acid plants. First Quantum also holds strategic investments in Mopani Copper Mines (16.9%), operator of the Nkana underground copper mine and cobalt refinery and the Mufulira underground copper mine, smelter and copper refinery. In Mauritania, First Quantum operates the Guelb Moghrein copper-gold mine. The Company is currently developing the Ravensthorpe nickel project in Australia and the Kevitsa nickel-copper-PGE project in Finland. Operations at the Company’s Frontier copper mine and development of its Kolwezi copper-cobalt tailings project, both in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are currently suspended and subject to international arbitration.
