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First Mining announces acquisition of Duparquet Gold Project

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Global Mining Review,


First Mining Gold Corp. has made an offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Beattie Gold Mines Ltd, a private company that owns the mineral rights to mining claims that make up the former Beattie mining concession – which forms a large part of the Duparquet Gold Project located in Quebec, Canada.

First Mining announces acquisition of Duparquet Gold Project

First Mining, directly and through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Clifton Star Resources Inc., already owns approximately 25.3% of the issued and outstanding shares of Beattie Gold. The total consideration of the Beattie Offer is approximately US$4.43 cash per Beattie Gold share and 35 First Mining Shares per Beattie Gold share for a total cash consideration of approximately US$6.22 million and the issuance of approximately 49.12 million First Mining common shares. First Mining has received signed, irrevocable lock-up agreements from Beattie Gold shareholders holding, in aggregate, approximately 1.35 million Beattie Gold shares, representing 72.3% of the outstanding common shares of Beattie Gold. Upon acquiring the Beattie Gold shares committed under the lock-up agreements, First Mining, directly and through Clifton Star, will own 97.6% of the outstanding common shares of Beattie Gold.

The Duparquet Gold Project consists of several properties held in different entities which, in addition to the Beattie property, include the Donchester, Dumico, and Central Duparquet properties. First Mining, through Clifton Star, is currently a 10% shareholder of 2588111 Manitoba Ltd, a private company that owns the mineral rights to mining claims that make up the former Donchester mining concession and Dumico property that also form a part of the Duparquet Gold Project, and a 10% shareholder of 2699681 Canada Ltd, a private company that owns in whole or in part, the surface rights to the Beattie, Donchester, and Dumico properties. First Mining already owns 100% of the Central Duparquet property.

Concurrent with making the Beattie Offer, First Mining has entered into share purchase agreements to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of 258 Manitoba and 269 Canada that are not already owned by Clifton Star. The concurrent transactions are conditional on the Beattie offer, and will close on the same day as the Beattie offer, which is expected to be in mid-September.

The total consideration of the concurrent transactions is US$2.5 million in cash and the issuance of 20 million common shares of First Mining. In aggregate, the total consideration of the Beattie offer and the concurrent transactions (assuming that all shareholders of Beattie Gold tender their shares to the Beattie Offer) is approximately US$8.7 million in cash and approximately 69.12 million common shares of First Mining. The total transaction value based on the 20 trading days volume weighted average price for First Mining’s common shares as of the last trading day prior to this news release is approximately US$24 million.

“This transformational acquisition has been a few years in the making and grows First Mining’s M&I gold resources by 40% and inferred gold resources by 50%”, said Keith Neumeyer, Chairman of First Mining Gold. “When First Mining acquired Clifton Star in 2016, we always contemplated the opportunity to consolidate this advanced stage, highly prospective project. Duparquet fits perfectly with First Mining’s strategy and the capabilities of our team to advance and de-risk a second world class asset.”

“This is a transformational acquisition for First Mining and the Duparquet Gold Project as we plan on consolidating this highly fragmented ownership structure under the First Mining banner. Duparquet hosts a robust resource profile where two past producing mines have operated in Quebec’s most prolific gold mining district. First Mining has been a long-time minority shareholder of the companies that own this project, and the timing was right to acquire full ownership of these companies. We are confident that Duparquet and the district will prove to be a critical strategic asset in the gold sector in Canada as this transaction affirms First Mining’s positioning as a multi-asset developer of major projects in Tier 1 jurisdictions,” stated Dan Wilton, CEO of First Mining. “Together with our ownership of the Pitt and Duquesne projects in Quebec located just east of Duparquet, First Mining will now have 100% ownership exposure to 3.3 million M&I ounces of gold and 2.0 million inferred ounces of gold located in the Abitibi, which is home to some of the largest and richest mineral deposits in the world. First Mining has completed extensive due diligence and will develop a comprehensive plan to advance the Duparquet Gold Project in the near-term. Springpole remains a core focus and priority as we continue to advance the project through feasibility and the environmental assessment process. The addition of Duparquet results in First Mining owning 100% of two projects with multi-million ounce gold resources in what we consider as the best mining jurisdictions in the world and will allow First Mining to leverage our team’s experience with similar projects in advancing these two major gold deposits.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/20072022/first-mining-announces-acquisition-of-duparquet-gold-project/

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