Ivanhoe Electric and Ma'aden Formally Establish Exploration Joint Venture and Close Previously Announced Strategic Investment
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50/50 Joint Venture to Begin Exploring for Electric Metals in the Underexplored Arabian Shield in Saudi Arabia
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Ma'aden Becomes a 9.9% Shareholder of Ivanhoe Electric
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Sofia Bianchi Joins Ivanhoe Electric's Board of Directors
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Ivanhoe Electric (NYSE American: IE; TSX: IE) Executive Chairman, Robert Friedland and President and Chief Executive Officer, Taylor Melvin are pleased to announce the closing of the transactions with Saudi Arabian Mining Company Ma'aden ("Ma'aden") (Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul: 1211) previously announced in Ivanhoe Electric's May 15, 2023 and January 11, 2023 news releases.
Ma'aden has invested US$127.1 million in new common stock of Ivanhoe Electric to become a 9.9% shareholder. Ivanhoe Electric will contribute US$66 million of the Ma'aden proceeds into the new Saudi Arabian exploration joint venture company known as "Ma'aden Ivanhoe Electric Exploration and Development Limited Company" (the "Joint Venture") to fund exploration activities and the purchase of three new-generation Typhoon™ machines. The Joint Venture will deploy the disruptive power of
Typhoon™ to explore ~48,500 km2 of underexplored lands in the Arabian Shield that Ma'aden has made exclusively available to the Joint Venture.
Mr. Friedland commented: "Through the formation of this important Joint Venture with our partner, Ma'aden, we will begin the most extensive exploration program for metals ever conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Shield is an area rich in mineral potential, but considerably underexplored for metals. With our proprietary and powerful Typhoon™ geophysical survey technology and the data analysis provided by our 94%-owned subsidiary, Computational Geosciences Inc., we aim to uncover new discoveries of critical metals in Saudi Arabia."
Mr. Melvin commented: "Closing our transactions with Ma'aden marks another major milestone for Ivanhoe Electric. We are honored to have Ma'aden as a significant shareholder in our Company and welcome Sofia Bianchi to our Board of Directors. We are excited to work with our partners at Ma'aden to deploy the disruptive power of Typhoon™ on 48,500 square kilometers of underexplored, highly prospective land in the Arabian Shield. Having exclusive access to explore an area that is roughly equivalent in size to the country of Switzerland for copper, nickel, gold, silver and other important minerals is an incredible opportunity for our Joint Venture and for Ivanhoe Electric stakeholders."
Ma'aden Chief Executive Officer Mr. Robert Wilt commented: "Here in the Kingdom, we inaugurate the Ma'aden Ivanhoe Electric Exploration and Development Limited Company, which will soon receive the first Typhoon™ machine. Bringing this cutting-edge technology will be the beginning of significantly accelerating our exploration efforts in the Kingdom, while
leveling up safety and efficiency – a great achievement we are proud of. We are also happy to announce Sofia Bianchi's joining the Ivanhoe Electric Board of Directors as the Ma'aden nominee. This is yet another milestone in our partnership with Ivanhoe Electric."
Ivanhoe Electric's Proprietary Typhoon™ Technology En Route to Saudi Arabia
One of Ivanhoe Electric's existing three proprietary Typhoon™ geophysical surveying systems is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia in August. Surveying programs could commence as soon as September of this year. Once Typhoon™ arrives in country, our joint Technical Committee will begin the extraordinary task of surveying for geophysical anomalies, potentially indicative of sulfide mineral deposits containing copper, nickel, gold and silver, over ~48,500 km2 of underexplored Arabian Shield. The Technical Committee has been working ahead of closing in order to prioritize targets for initial Typhoon™ surveys so that survey work can commence as soon as possible.
Typhoon™ was specifically developed to conduct large surveys and identify deep geophysical anomalies in environments that have highly resistive surface conditions, such as those seen in the Arabian Shield. Typhoon™ is well-suited to detect the presence of sulfide minerals containing copper, nickel, gold and silver in areas where potential deposits are hidden by cover and where target depths exceed the range of conventional geophysical surveying systems. The Arabian Shield's bedrock is hidden by sand and gravel cover that can exceed 1 kilometer in depth, similar to the conditions at Ivanhoe Electric's Santa Cruz project in Arizona, USA.
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