IBK Capital raised $16.1 million for Noront Resources Ltd. through the private placement of units of common shares and warrants and units of flow-through shares and warrants. The financings were used to fund Noront’s exploration program at its Windfall Lake property in Quebec which showed excellent results as it encountered three significant zones of gold mineralization at a depth of about 120 metres. The best zone covered a total width of 4.8 metres and assayed spectacular gold grades (52.3 ounces per ton, 23.33 ounces per ton, and 38.74 ounces per ton). Subsequently, Noront made a significant nickel, copper, and precious metals group discovery in the James Bay Lowlands. Please see the next section “Base Metals Group” for more details.
IBK Capital raised a total of $3.0 million for Eagle Hill Exploration Corporation in units of flow-through shares and warrants, and units of common shares and warrants. Eagle Hill recently acquired the Windfall Lake gold property in Quebec from Noront Resources. Eagle Hill is looking to redefine its exploration model from localized high grade zones into a bulk tonnage open pit resource.
IBK Capital raised a total of $1.3 million for High Desert Gold Corporation in common shares. High Desert Gold has properties in Mexico in the Sonora gold belt as well as in Nevada. High Desert Gold’s property is neighbouring Capital Gold Corporation’s El Chanate mine, which produced 49,921 ounces of gold in 2009 at cash costs of US $271.
IBK Capital raised a total of $919,000 for Antioquia Gold Inc. in units of common shares and warrants. Antioquia is exploring for gold on a large land package in Colombia.
From December 2007 to February 2010, IBK Capital raised a total of $12.0 million for RX Exploration Inc. in multiple tranches of units of flow-through shares and warrants, units of common shares and warrants, and common shares. RX Exploration Inc. is developing the past producing Drumlummon high grade gold mine in Montana, USA.
IBK Capital raised US $16.1 million for Capital Gold Corporation through two private placements of units of common shares and warrants. Capital Gold Corporation is a US-based gold producer currently focused on expanding the production of its El Chanate mine located in the state of Sonora, Mexico. The El Chanate mine is one of the lowest cost gold producers, and produced 49,921 ounces of gold in 2009 at cash costs of US $271.
IBK Capital raised $1.1 million for Murgor Resources Inc. through the private placement of units of common shares and warrants. Murgor is currently working closely with Eagle Hill Exploration Corporation on the Windfall Lake property in Quebec, Canada.
IBK Capital raised a total of $21.4 million in six transactions for Brazilian Resources, Inc. Through strategic relationships in Brazil and institutional support in North America and Europe, the company has been involved in a number of attractive projects including gold exploration, energy concessions for the development of small hydroelectric plants and the development and operation of irradiation plants for food and other materials. IBK Capital also raised $320,000 to complete the formation of Jaguar Mining Inc. to handle the operations of the multiple joint venture gold projects between Brazilian Resources and IMS Empreendimentos Ltda. The projects are located in Brazil’s most prolific mining camp known as the Quadrilatero Ferrifero (“Iron Ore Quadrangle”), which is host to many world-class gold deposits in banded iron formations.
IBK Capital raised US $3 million for Gold Reserve Corporation, a company listed on the TSX and NASDAQ, to fund exploration work on its Las Brisas project, a gold deposit located in the Kilometre 88 gold camp of Venezuela. Drilling to date on the property indicated a gold resource of over 12 million ounces.
IBK Capital raised $3.4 million for Pelangio Mines Limited through the private placement of flow-through shares to fund exploration programs and from Franco Nevada Corporation to establish a joint venture. Pelangio acquired all of Placer Dome’s exploration property interests in the Detour Lake greenstone belt in North-Eastern Ontario, including Placer’s Detour Lake mine property. The Detour gold camp has demonstrated the value of shifting from a high grade gold model to a bulk tonnage open pit resource.
IBK Capital has completed thirteen equity financings raising a total of $37.4 million for South American Gold And Copper Company Limited, a mineral exploration company with gold, copper and industrial minerals properties in Chile and Peru.
IBK Capital raised $6.9 million for Sulliden Exploration Inc. through two private placements of equity. Sulliden's Shahuindo gold property in Peru is between Newmont's Yanacocha (32 million ounces of gold) and Barrick's Alta Chicama (7.3 million ounces of gold).
IBK Capital raised $1.4 million for U.S. Gold Corporation through a private placement of common shares. The company is now headed by Rob McEwen, one of Canada’s leading mining executives, and has grown into a mining powerhouse in one of Nevada’s premier mining regions with the goal of becoming Nevada’s premier exploration company.
IBK Capital raised $2 million for Virginia Gold Mines, Inc. through the private placement of flow through common shares. Virginia Gold was one of the most successful and active exploration companies in Quebec.
BK Capital raised US $10 million in 2004 to help create a new gold mining company, Western Goldfields, Inc., through the purchase of the Mesquite Mine from Newmont. In February 2006, with the advice of IBK Capital, the company appointed Randall Oliphant as Chairman who brought in a new management team and closed a US $6.9 million financing. IBK Capital was instrumental in bringing in this new team to facilitate the closing of the strategic financing. In 2009, Western Goldfields was acquired by New Gold Inc., creating a combined company that is forecast to produce 400,000 ounces of gold in 2012.
IBK Capital raised a total of $94.7 million for Noront Resources Ltd. through multiple private placements of units of common shares and warrants, and units of flow-through shares and warrants. In the summer of 2007, Noront began drilling at its Double Eagle Project at Mcfaulds Lake in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario, about 700 kilometres north of Sudbury. The assays from the first hole showed a 36 metre intersection of impressive nickel, copper, platinum and palladium grades on a deposit now called “Eagle One”. Highlights from Eagle One include assays from its fifth hole, having 117 metres grading 4.1% nickel, 2.2% copper, 2.1 grams per tonne platinum, 7.1 grams per tonne palladium, 0.4 grams per tonne gold and 6.3 grams per tonne silver. A NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate was completed for Eagle One in July 2008, showing a measured and indicated resource of 1.8 million tonnes grading 1.96% nickel, 1.18% copper, 1.12 grams per tonne platinum and 3.91 grams per tonne palladium and an inferred resource of 1.1 million tonnes of 2.39% nickel, 1.27% copper, 1.37 grams per tonne platinum and 4.50 grams per tonne palladium. This 2.9 million tonnes of high grade material has a nickel equivalent content of approximately 3.5% with a cut-off grade of 1.5% nickel. If the cut-off grade were reduced to 0.5% nickel, the tonnage would be expected to increase by many times.
In the summer of 2009, Noront announced that it had expanded Eagle One to depth, discovering new high grade zones which appear to be connected. Noront renamed its discovery the “Eagle’s Nest”. Noront has also discovered another body of nickel/copper mineralization dubbed Eagle Two, multiple bodies of high grade chromite mineralization dubbed the Blackbird deposits, an iron ore/vanadium intercept dubbed Thunderbird, and a gold deposit called Triple J. Combined with Eagle One, these discoveries have resulted in an unprecedented staking rush in the area surrounding Mcfaulds Lake, now called the “Ring of Fire”. Noront has amassed a huge area within the “Ring of Fire”, including about 1,100 square kilometres. Noront continues with an aggressive exploration campaign.
IBK Capital raised $1.4 million for Hudson River Minerals Ltd., a private company going public by way of a reverse takeover with Prelim Capital Inc. Hudson River Minerals has properties on the Ring of Fire and plans to use its geophysical expertise to explore those properties.
IBK Capital raised $9.3 million by way of initial public offering for James Bay Resources Limited. James Bay Resources is an exploration company with a large land package in the Ring of Fire. James Bay’s electromagnetic survey shows a very strong EM conductive trend five kilometres by one kilometre in size.
IBK Capital raised a total of $10.9 million in three private placements for MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. MacDonald Mines has one of the largest land packages in the Mcfaulds Lake region, with multiple desirable drill targets identified in their E/M surveys. As part of the financing, IBK Capital’s mandate was to introduce MacDonald Mines to strategic investors. Sheldon Inwentash, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pinetree Capital Ltd., Robert McEwen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of US Gold Corp., Pierre Lassonde, Chairman of Franco-Nevada Corp., and Randall Oliphant, Chairman of Western Gold Fields Inc. purchased a substantial portion of the private placement. In addition, Julie Lassonde-Gray joined MacDonald Mines’ Board of Directors.
IBK Capital raised $4.21 million in two private placements for Spider Resources Inc. to fund exploration on its Mcfaulds Lake property.
IBK Capital raised $2 million in a private placement for Hawk Uranium Inc. to fund exploration on its Mcfaulds Lake property.
In total, IBK Capital has raised approximately $133 million for exploration companies that are currently active in the Mcfaulds Lake area in Northern Ontario.
IBK Capital raised $2.9 million for West High Yield (WHY) Resources Ltd. to fund the exploration of a nickel, cobalt, and magnesium deposit on its Ivanhoe project in British Columbia, Canada.
IBK Capital raised approximately $107 million for Caledonia Mining Corporation, a TSX and NASDAQ Bulletin Board listed company involved in cobalt, gold, platinum, base metals and diamond exploration activities in Africa.
IBK Capital raised US $50 million in a private placement for Global Alumina Corporation which proposed to build, own and operate an initial 3.0 million tonne per annum green-field alumina refinery to be constructed adjacent to the existing bauxite mining operations of Compagnie Bauxite de Guinée in Sangaredi, Guinea. IBK Capital also advised the company to obtain a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange through the reverse take-over mechanism.
IBK Capital acted as the special Canadian agent to Kemper Securities Inc. and Fleming Martin Inc., of the United States, to raise capital by way of a private placement for Stillwater Mining Company, a company engaged in the exploration, development, mining and production of platinum, palladium and associated metals from the Stillwater Complex in the State of Montana. It is believed that the Stillwater Complex is the largest primary platinum and palladium-mining complex outside of the Republic of South Africa.
Eramet/Societé de Nickel, the world's leading producer of ferronickel and high-speed steels, completed a private placement valued at US $130 million. Paribas Capital Markets, the lead manager, selected IBK Capital to manage the Canadian tranche of this offering. The company then did a global public offering for approximately $200 million in size, as part of the French government's privatization program.
In December 2006, IBK Capital raised $4 million in units of common shares and warrants for Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd. The company controls the North Brook uranium property in the Deer Lake Basin, Newfoundland. Anomalous radioactivity was located over a length of 798 metres in intermittent outcrops in the banks of the brook. The near surface mineralization had a uranium content of up to the equivalent of 3.73% U308 with 1% copper, 0.89% zinc , 0.23% lead and 65.9 grams per tonne silver.
In December 2006, IBK Capital raised US $3.1 million for Uranium Star Corp. (now Energizer Resources Inc.) in units of common shares and warrants and units of flow-through shares and warrants. The company’s Sagar project in Quebec covers an area of approximately 50 square kilometres and has multiple high grade showings of gold and uranium in boulders.
IBK Capital managed the Canadian tranche of a US $15.8 million equity private placement offering led by Everen Securities for Uranium Resources, Inc.
IBK Capital was involved in the development of Ontario and Quebec’s diamond industry through its financial advisory work for Metalex Ventures Ltd. IBK Capital raised $3.3 million to fund Metalex’s exploration program in the James Bay Lowlands, the site of De Beer’s Victor diamond pipe. Metalex’s founder is Chuck Fipke, credited with the discovery of the EKATI Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
IBK Capital raised approximately $9.2 million for Gemhouse Inc. through private placements of common shares, the proceeds of which were used to acquire emerald properties in Africa. Gemhouse in 2004 was renamed Gemfields Resources PLC and went public in 2005 on the AIM Market.
BK Capital has completed several private placement financings for American Gem Corporation, raising a total of $50 million. American Gem was a Montana-based company involved in developing mineral properties containing sapphires, as well as the marketing of these sapphires. IBK Capital advised American Gem Corporation to obtain a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange through the reverse take-over mechanism.
