The valuation by Noront supposedly comes out on July 30 so assume BHP had already seen it as it was mentioned that the valuator opinion was the BHP offer represented fair value. The 50% share ownership threshold for the deal is significant imo and a little confusing as well. This is an odd deal seeing as Wyloo will hold in the neighborhood of 37%. Wonder if BHP was the buyer of the Noront PP in January.
Need to see the offer letter to further clarify the terms and relating to Noront mgmt. Also:
1) Franco Nevada - Noront owes $45 Mil+ loan and they hold 1% NPR in Eagles Nest and 3% in chromite etc.
2) Baosteel - holds in excess of 22.5 Mil shares at avg cost in excess of $.80/share. Don't think they exercised the top up allowed from the PP (would increase to in excess of 24.5 Mil if exercise top up) Would they settle for $.55/share?
3) 300,000 shares assigned to Marten Falls First Nation and 150,000 shares to Aroland First Nation bu Noront in 2019. Not sure whether these are still held or were sold previously. If not sold, would they sell at $.55/share.
If the valuation is relaesed to Wyloo then the cat is out of the bag. What must I think be kept in mind here is this is still a mining claims transaction which will probably not be mined for probably 5 years or more. The same roadblocks and pitfalls Noront and others in the ROF have faced aren't changed by this or any transaction. Yes money talks but as we've seen too many times, bullshit walks. Australia would be a good partner for Canada in critical minerals future and the US am sure would be gleeful to see the a Canada/Australia ROF partnership on the same continent.
This could get messy. Don't know the intricacies of ownership and shareholder rights but guess we're gonna get a lesson in it going forward. Hoping this doesn't end up in the courts and essentially freezes any and all activities/actions. My perference would be to to remain a shareholder in the ROF entity that eventually emerges from this but as yet haven't seen that option.
Good luck to all.
