Altius to Acquire Additional Royalty Interests from Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC
Date:
Ticker Symbol:
27-July-2020
ALS.TSX
Civic Address:
Altius Minerals Corporation
2nd Floor, 38 Duffy Place St. John’s, NL
A1B 4M5, CANADA
Website: www.altiusminerals.com
Toll Free: 1.877.576.2209
Fax: 709.576.3441
e-mail: [email protected]
Altius to Acquire Additional Royalty Interests from Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC
St. John’s – (TSX: ALS ; OTCQX: ATUSF) Altius Minerals Corporation (“Altius”) reports that it has entered into an
agreement with Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC (“LMM”), to acquire its 44.9% interest in certain royalty based limited
partnerships, of which Altius acts as general partner. Upon closing, Altius’s partnership interests will increase from 52.4%
to 97.3%.
These limited partnerships hold tonnage -based, cash-flowing royalties relating to coal operations that are predominantly
integrated with several Alberta, Canada based electrical generation plants. The underlying electrical generation plants are
subject to regulations and/or compensation agreements that require the cessation of coal fuelling by 2030 as part of federal
and provincial government policy initiatives. While revenues from the acquired royalty units are expected to decline
progressively as the phase out of coal based power generation within Canada continues toward an ultimate deadline of
2030, Altius expects to receive a strongly accretive return on its capital and an enhancement of free cash flow that it intends
to allocate towards investment in our long-term renewable energy royalty growth strategy.
Under the agreement structure, Altius will acquire a company that holds LMM’s units in the partnerships for C$11.25 million
before positive working capital adjustments, which it will fund using existing cash-based liquidity.
Brian Dalton, CEO of Altius, commented on the transaction, “ This acquisition may seem at first glance to be contradictory
to our strategic objective of providing royalty focussed alignment with major sustainability -based growth trends, including
the fossil fuel to renewa ble energy transition. Three years ago however, rather than choosing to divest our coal royalty
interests, we took the decision to proactively allocate remaining revenue from these interests to direct investment in the
growth of the renewable energy sector. Divesting would have changed nothing other than the name of the royalty revenue
recipient while reinvestment of proceeds into renewable energy developers allowed Altius to become a leader in supporting
the sustainability transition - and we have met this goal with actions. At that time, we expected around $100 million in coal-
based royalty revenue before scheduled phase outs were complete. We have since committed this full amount into the
innovative funding of wind, solar and hydro based renewable energ y projects through our emerging renewable energy
royalty subsidiary. With this partnership consolidation we can now even further accelerate the growth and impact role of
Altius Renewable Royalties.”
Paul Mitrokostas, EVP of Liberty Mutual Investments, co mmented “Liberty Mutual’s global policy on coal underwriting
and investing outlines our commitment to a decarbonized future. This agreement with Altius accelerates our objective to
phase out thermal coal-focused investments. We are pleased that the agreement also furthers the momentum for Altius to
invest in renewable energy projects that will directly contribute to the global transition toward cleaner power generation.”
About Altius
Altius’s strategy is to create per share growth through a diversified portfolio of royalty assets that relate to long life, high margin operations. This strategy
further provides shareholders with exposures that are well aligned with sustainability -related global growth trends including the electricity generation
transition from fossil fuel to renewables, transportation electrification, reduced emissions from steelmaking and increasing agricultural yield requirements.
These each hold the potential to cause increased demand for many of Altius’s commodity exposures including copper, renewable based electricity, several
key battery metals (lithium, nickel and cobalt), clean iron ore, and potash. Altius has 41,456,488 common shares issued and outstanding that are listed
on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange. It is a member of both the S&P/TSX Small Cap and S&P/TSX Global Mining Indice.
For further information, please contact Flora Wood or Ben Lewis at 1-877-576-2209 or [email protected].