History
Platinum Group Metals raised money repeatedly to build its Maseve mine, later sold it, refinanced its debt in 2019, and by February 2021 opened a US$50 million share program.
2014-2017: Funding the Project 1 mine
In December 2014 the company set out to build its Project 1 platinum mine. It announced a bought-deal share sale (shares sold in bulk to underwriters, who resell them) of 207,600,000 shares at US$0.53, and on December 31 closed it at 214,800,000 shares, raising US$113,844,000 once the over-allotment option (extra shares the underwriters could take) was used. The money was to fund Phase 2 development, and the company expected it, with cash on hand, to fully fund completion of the mill and concentrator. The same day it announced the offering, it signed a non-binding term sheet with Sprott for an operating loan of up to US$40 million.
The record then goes quiet until April 2017, when the company, now calling the mine Maseve, announced a further US$20 million sale of 15,390,000 shares at US$1.30. It was meant for underground development, working capital, and repaying US$2.5 million owed to Sprott. The beats do not show whether that deal closed.
2018-2019: Debt pressure and a refinancing
By May 2018 the company was leaning on a secured loan from Liberty Metals & Mining (LMM). An amendment required it to raise at least US$20 million by May 15, 2018. If it did, a second US$20 million requirement would be dropped and maturity pushed to June 30, 2019. LMM kept its right to 50% of proceeds from future equity offerings above US$500,000. The company launched an underwritten units offering the next day, with size and price not set. The filings also refer to a Maseve sale, so the mine was no longer described as an owned asset.
Shares on issue fell from 291,034,110 at the end of 2018 to 58,575,787 a year later. The beats do not explain this.
In August 2019 the company announced and closed a package to clear the LMM loan. It sold 8,326,957 shares at US$1.25 in a bought deal, 6,940,000 shares at US$1.32 to Deepkloof, and 7,575,758 shares at US$1.32 to LMM. It also drew US$20 million from a new Sprott facility at 11.00% interest, maturing 24 months after the first advance, secured on its shares in PTM RSA and Waterberg JV Resources, with 800,000 shares issued to the lenders. The LMM loan was repaid in full.
2020-2021: Waterberg and a new share program
The record for 2020 is quiet. The company was the operator of the Waterberg project, developed with Impala Platinum, JOGMEC and Hanwa, and had founded Lion Battery Technologies with Anglo American Platinum. On February 5, 2021 it signed an at-the-market agreement with BMO Capital Markets Corp. to sell up to US$50 million of shares from time to time, with a floor price of US$1.00 and a cap of 14,448,407 shares. At that date, how many shares would be sold and what the proceeds were for were not stated, and the Sprott facility's status was not shown.
Written from the 9 story beats below (2014 to 5 Feb 2021), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.