On June 25, 2024, Orion Mine Finance, through OMF Fund IV SPV G LLC, announced the acquisition of a 14.51 percent stake in Skeena Resources Limited for a total of approximately $103 million. The transaction is part of a broader US$750 million financing package aimed at developing Skeena’s Eskay Creek Project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle. This financing includes a US$350 million senior secured credit facility, a US$300 million gold stream arrangement, and an equity investment.
Highlights of the completed funding package—which significantly de-risks the project and provides Skeena with optionality, flexibility, and stakeholder alignment as it progresses Eskay towards production in the first half of 2027—include:
• a US$100 million equity investment in the common shares of Skeena;
• a US$200 million gold stream with a 12-month option to buy back up to 66.7 percent after start of commercial production;
• US$350 million of committed capital available from a senior secured loan with 1 percent standby fee and no break fee; and
• a US$100 million cost overrun facility in the form of an additional gold stream.
The Eskay Creek gold-silver project, 100 percent owned by Skeena, is a high-grade, precious metal-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit. Previously operated as an underground mine, it has been proposed for restart as an open-pit gold-silver mine.
The project, which completed a Definitive Feasibility Study in November 2023 and is undergoing environmental assessment, is located within the traditional territory of the Tahltan Nation and the asserted traditional territory of the Skii Km Lax Ha Nation in the heart of the Golden Triangle region in northwest British Columbia.
Torys LLP acted as counsel to Orion Resource Partners with a team led by Mike Pickersgill and Tom Zverina and included Mile Kurta, Brett Saulnier, Christopher Tworzyanski, Tia Eisner and Hannah Atkinson (corporate/securities), Rebecca Jennings (lending), Ryan Lax (indigenous involvement), Tyson Dyck and Claire Seaborn (environmental) and Craig Maurice (tax).