Ivanhoe Mines establishes long-term relationship with innovative, privately-held, technology and metals company, High Power Exploration (HPX) Ivanhoe Mines and HPX establish a framework for technical and project collaboration across a diverse global asset portfolio
April 25, 2019
Ivanhoe Mines establishes long-term relationship with innovative,
privately-held, technology and metals company,
High Power Exploration (HPX)
Ivanhoe Mines and HPX establish a framework for technical
and project collaboration across a diverse global asset portfolio
Ivanhoe Mines to provide HPX with a US$50 million secured loan
facility, convertible into HPX shares or at least a 25% interest
in an HPX Tier One copper-gold exploration and development
project in the United States
HPX to provide Ivanhoe Mines with access to its best-in-class
suite of proprietary exploration hardware and software
The relationship provides the opportunity for future collaboration
efforts on the metals necessary to address the rapid urbanization
and electrification transformation taking place globally
VANCOUVER, CANADA – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF) announced today
that it has entered into an agreement for mutual technical support and collaboration
with privately-held High Power Exploration (HPX), a subsidiary of I-Pulse, the world’s
preeminent high-pulsed power company.
HPX is the leading developer of a cluster of proprietary geophysics hardware and
software solutions that leverage high-pulsed power, data inversion and machine
learning expertise to dramatically increase the depth, quality, efficiency and success of
metals-focused exploration campaigns. This technology has been utilized by HPX in the
last several years across HPX’s diversified and highly prospective global portfolio of
projects.
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Under the mutual technical support and collaboration agreement, HPX will provide
Ivanhoe with access to its proprietary Typhoon electromagnetic geophysical system for
use in exploration activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa.
Ivanhoe also will have access to the services of Computational Geosciences, a
Vancouver-based, HPX subsidiary that provides leading-edge geophysical and
geological data modelling, inversion and interpretation solutions. Ivanhoe will in turn
make available to HPX, mining, project support, engineering and consulting services.
Ivanhoe Mines also will provide its core project development and management
expertise to assist HPX in advancing its most highly prospective projects. All services
will be rendered at cost.
The mutual technical support and collaboration agreement also provides a basis for
both parties to identify, communicate, and potentially collaborate on matters of mutual
interest, particularly in respect of project opportunities in green and battery metals, and
the materials necessary to build an increasingly electrified world. In respect of both
future project opportunities and existing projects, the parties will discuss opportunities
for each to bring their specific expertise and skills to bear for the mutual benefit of both
parties and their stakeholders.
Ivanhoe Mines also is providing HPX with a US$50 million secured loan facility that will
be used to, among other things, advance core HPX industrial and green metals projects
and continue HPX’s disruptive technology development initiatives.
The loan will have a two-year maturity and an interest rate of 8% per annum,
compounding annually. The principal amount of the loan and accrued interest is
convertible in whole, or part, by Ivanhoe Mines at its sole discretion into shares of
treasury common stock of HPX. The loan is secured by a pledge of shares of an HPX
subsidiary in the United States which is pursuing a Tier One copper-gold exploration
and development project, into which Ivanhoe Mines also may convert and acquire at
least a 25% interest. While the loan is prepayable by HPX at any time, if the loan is
prepaid in full, HPX will grant Ivanhoe Mines a continuing option to acquire treasury
common stock of HPX or acquire the 25% interest in the U.S. copper-gold exploration
project at any time, up to two years following the establishment of the loan.
Yufeng “Miles” Sun, Ivanhoe Mines’ Co-Chairman, commented, “The loan, together with
its conversion option, gives Ivanhoe Mines exposure to the portfolio of highly
prospective projects being examined by HPX with minimal risk to Ivanhoe shareholders,
but with the potential upside of having a first look at projects, any one of which may be
the world’s next great discovery. We now are preparing for the future of Ivanhoe Mines
without distracting from our core mission of bringing Ivanhoe’s existing Tier One assets
in Southern Africa to production.”
A number of Ivanhoe directors also are directors of HPX or of its parent private
company, I-Pulse, and accordingly disclosed their interest and abstained from voting on
the secured loan facility. The secured loan facility was unanimously approved by the
remaining five non-conflicted directors of Ivanhoe.
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About HPX
HPX is a private, US-based, mineral exploration company with global multi-commodity
skills and proprietary geophysical search technologies that directly addresses the
world’s need for green metals. In addition to Robert Friedland and Egizio Bianchini,
HPX’s management team includes President Eric Finlayson, former Global Head of
Exploration of Rio Tinto, and Vice President, Exploration, Charles Forster, co-discoverer
of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold porphyry deposit in Mongolia.
HPX applies a suite of technological solutions to significantly increase the success of
metals-focused exploration campaigns. HPX maximizes the potential for discoveries by
combining the Typhoon hardware used to acquire field geophysical survey data, and
Computational Geosciences’ software, used to process and model the acquired data,
that is unmatched in the industry.
About Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal
projects in Southern Africa: the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper
discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Platreef palladium-
platinum-nickel-copper-gold discovery in South Africa; and the extensive
redevelopment and upgrading of the historic Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver
mine, also in the DRC. Ivanhoe also is exploring for new copper discoveries on its
wholly-owned Western Foreland exploration licences in the DRC, near the Kamoa-
Kakula Project.
Information contacts
Investors
Bill Trenaman +1.604.331.9834
Media
North America: Kimberly Lim +1.778.996.8510
South Africa: Jeremy Michaels +27.82.772.1122