Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
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US critical minerals developer Talon Metals (TSX: TLO) has announced the sale of a net smelter return royalty to a subsidiary of Triple Flag Precious Metals (TSX: TFPM; NYSE: TFPM) for consideration of $8 million.
The royalty is payable on the Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in Minnesota, a joint venture between Talon (51%) and Rio Tinto (49%). As operator, Talon can earn an additional 9% interest in the JV, for a total of 60%, by completing a feasibility study by March 2026 and pay $10 million to Rio.
In return for its $8 million investment, Triple Flag will receive an additional 1.67% NSR royalty on the project. Talon will also issue 8 million common share warrants, each exercisable by Triple Flag for a period of two years at a price of C$0.20.
Talon retains the right to buy back the royalty for $5 million and reduce Triple Flag’s royalty to 1%. Triple Flag can also increase its royalty by an additional 0.5% for $2 million, and this would terminate Talon’s buyback rights.
The Talon deposit contains 8.6 million indicated tonnes grading 1.73% nickel, 0.92% copper, 0.05% cobalt, plus platinum, palladium and gold. The inferred resource is 8.5 million tonnes at 0.83% nickel, 0.55% copper, 0.02% cobalt, plus precious metals.
