Nemaska Lithium Inc has entered into an agreement with National Bank Financia, BMO Capital Markets and Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corp, as co-lead underwriters and joint bookrunners, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters, pursuant to which the Underwriters have agreed to purchase on a bought deal basis 280,000,000 common shares for gross proceeds of C$280,000,000. The corporation has also granted the Underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the Shares purchased pursuant to the Offering, exercisable in whole or in part for a period of 30 days after and including the closing date of the Offering to cover over-allotments, if any, and for market stabilization purposes. If the option is exercise in full, an additional C$42,000,000 will be raised pursuant to the Offering.
Contemporaneously with the Offering, Nemaska Lithium will enter into an agreement, subject to certain conditions, pursuant to which it will complete a private placement with an institutional investor who will acquire, on a private placement basis, 80,000,000 shares for aggregate gross proceeds of C$80,000,000.
Guy Bourassa, President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium, commented on these recent announcements: “Today marks a big day in the life of Nemaska Lithium, as we are announcing the last piece of financing required to start the commercial development of the Whabouchi lithium mine project. This project financing package, which covers capital expenditures of both the Whabouchi mine and Shawinigan electrochemical plant, project contingencies, working capital requirements and financing costs will ensure the future of Nemaska Lithium. This will also allow the corporation to stay on target to initiate the commissioning of the Whabouchi mine by second half of calendar year 2019 and start commissioning the Shawinigan electrochemical plant during the first half of calendar year 2020”.
On March 28, 2018, the Corporation announced the different elements of a proposed $775 million to $825 million comprehensive project financing package for its Whabouchi project.The proceeds of the Offering along with the fund received from the Project Financing Package will be used to fund the construction, commissioning, working capital and reserves of the Whabouchi project and for general corporate working capital.
Nemaska Lithium is a developing chemical company whose activities will be vertically integrated, from spodumene mining to the commercialization of high-purity lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. These lithium salts are mainly destined for the fast-growing lithium-ion battery market, which is driven by the increasing demand for electric vehicles and energy storage worldwide. With its products and processes, Nemaska Lithium intends to facilitate access to green energy. The Corporation will be operating the Whabouchi mine in Québec, Canada, one of the richest lithium spodumene deposits in the world, both in volume and grade. The spodumene concentrate produced at the Whabouchi mine will be processed at the Shawinigan plant using a unique membrane electrolysis process for which the Corporation holds several patents.
