World Copper Ltd (TSX-V:WCU, OTCQB:WCUFF) said it has closed its merger with Cardero Resource Corp (TSX:CDU).
Pursuant to the arrangement, a total of 29,389,236 common shares of World Copper have been issued to Cardero shareholders based on an exchange ratio of 0.200795, and Cardero has amalgamated with 1302172 B.C. Ltd. to become Zonia Holdings Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of World Copper.
"The team at World Copper has been eagerly awaiting the addition of the Zonia property to our portfolio and we welcome the completion of this merger," said Nolan Peterson, CEO of World Copper, in a statement.
"Zonia will be an integral part of our development plans as we pursue our strategy of advancing and de-risking our portfolio of assets in premier copper jurisdictions.”
READ: World Copper poised for ‘sustained growth’ in 2022 as it advances flagship Escalones project in Chile and Zonia in Arizona
Zonia is located in the Walnut Grove Mining District, Yavapai County, Arizona, and consists of 261 patented (96) and unpatented (185) mineral claims.
Zonia is a near-surface, copper-oxide resource, and a brownfields site having already been mined in the late 1960s and '70s. The project has been significantly de-risked with over 50,000m of drilling completed to date and with substantial amounts of detailed engineering completed.
World Copper said Zonia contains Measured resources of 15.6 million short tons grading 0.43% copper (129.3 million pounds of copper), Indicated resources of 61.4 million short tons grading 0.31% copper (380.6 million pounds of copper), and Inferred resources of 27.2 million short tons grading 0.28% copper (154.6 million pounds of copper) at a 0.2% total copper cut-off grade.
Other merger highlights
Effective at the close of trading on January 27, the common shares of Cardero (CDU Shares) were halted pending the completion of the arrangement. After the market's close on January 31, 2022, the CDU Shares will also be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV).
Each outstanding CDU Share will be exchanged for 0.200795 of a World Copper common share. After closing, the former shareholders of Cardero on a non-diluted basis will hold 40% of the outstanding World Copper common shares, with the remaining 60% held by the existing shareholders of World Copper, before giving effect to any concurrent financing by World Copper.
World Copper, headquartered in Vancouver, is a Canadian resource company focused on the exploration and development of its copper porphyry projects: Escalones and Cristal in Chile, and Zonia in Arizona.
--UPDATES with the merger closing, more details--
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