Nyrstar NV completes sale of El Toqui mine

On June 27, 2016 Nyrstar NV (“Nyrstar”), a global multi-metals business, entered into a share purchase agreement with Laguna Gold Limited (“Laguna”) pursuant to which Laguna is to purchase, among other things, the El Toqui mine in Chile for total cash consideration of US$25 million and future proceeds through a price participation agreement. The consideration payable to Nyrstar by Laguna consists of US$12 million payable in cash upon closing of the transaction and US$13 million in milestone cash payments over a four year period following the closing. Nyrstar will also have the opportunity to retain upside exposure to an improving commodity price environment by receiving additional cash proceeds through a price participation agreement (royalty) on the first 7.9 million tonnes of ore processed at El Toqui following the closing of the transaction. In addition, Nyrstar and Laguna agreed to enter into an offtake agreement under which Laguna will sell to Nyrstar 100% of the zinc concentrate production from El Toqui for the initial four year period following the transaction and 85% of the zinc concentrate production from El Toqui after the four-year period is complete. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. The sale of the El Toqui mine in Chile is part of the formal sale process for all or the majority of Nyrstar's mining assets which was formally launched in January 2016. BMO Capital Markets Limited and Lazard GmbH acted as financial advisor to Nyrstar in connection with the sale process. Fasken Martineau advised Nyrstar on this transaction with a team that included Alex Nikolic, John Turner, Paul Fornazzari, Samuel Li and Martin Ferreira Pinho.