Norton Rose Fulbright advises Horizonte Minerals on the development of the Araguaia Nickel Project in Brazil

Global | Press release - Business | March 2022

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Horizonte Minerals PLC (“HZM”) as sponsor in relation to the financing of the Araguaia nickel mine in Brazil owned by Araguaia Niquel Metais LTDA (“Araguaia”) (the “Project”).

The financing package includes:

a US$346.2m committed senior secured project financing facility from BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Capital LLC, ING Bank N.V., Natixis, New York Branch, Société Générale and Swedish Export Credit Corporation to Araguaia (the “Project Finance Facility”). The Project Finance Facility comprises of two tranches: Tranche A of US$146.2m, which is covered by the Danish and Finnish Export Credit Agencies, EKF and Finnvera; and Tranche B of US$200m;
a US$65m convertible loan notes issue by HZM to Orion Mine Finance and La Mancha Investments (the “Convertible Loan Notes”);
a 2.25% net smelter returns royalty in relation to the Project in favour of Orion Mine Finance for cash consideration of US$25m;
a US$20m cost overrun facility from Orion Mine Finance to Araguaia; and
a 2.1% gross revenue royalty in relation to HZM’s other project, the Vermelho nickel/cobalt mine, in favour of Orion Mine Finance for cash consideration of US$25m (the “Vermelho Royalty”).

Martin McCann, partner and Global Head of Mining at Norton Rose Fulbright, comments:

“We are delighted to have assisted Horizonte and the other parties to reach signing of key documentation. Following on from the Atlantic Nickel and Serrote Projects, this is representative of our excellent recent track record in financing Brazil mining assets. Our pipeline for 2022 looks even stronger given the demand for battery metals.”

Jeremy Martin, CEO of Horizonte Minerals comments:

“The Norton Rose Fulbright team, led by Martin, has been working with us for the last 2 years and have been an integral part of the overall success achieved on this transaction.”

The multi-jurisdictional Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by Martin McCann with assistance from Felicity Brown, Jon Perry, Mark Berry, James Rennard, Matt Hacking, Mike Seo and Florence Childs in the London office. Noam Ayali and Frank McCabe in the Washington office advised on New York law matters, and Joris Ravelli, Sam Jonkeren and Frances Hoogenberg advised on Dutch law matters.