Near-Term Catalysts & Top 10 Reasons
Atlas Brings The Power of SALT to Investors!
1
Management
Atlas President Rowland Howe is known as “Mr. Salt” for an illustrious salt industry career that began at the Winsford mine in the UK and has spanned more than three decades. As mine manager at Goderich in southern Ontario between 1995 and 2011, Howe took production from 3.5 million tonnes per year to a record 7.5 million tonnes, solidifying Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) as the biggest and most profitable salt producer in the entire world. He has been President of Atlas since early 2021 and is also President of the Goderich Port Management Corporation.
2
Top Tier Project in Pro-Resource Jurisdiction
Atlas’ 100%-owned Great Atlantic Salt Project is the premier undeveloped salt project in North America with a high-grade salt resource of 1 billion tonnes Inferred and 187 million tonnes Indicated, strategically located immediately beside a deep water port on the west coast of Newfoundland in the heart of the North American road salt sector. The most recent drill hole, which will further upgrade the NI-43-101 resource estimate, cut 305.5 meters of net massive high-grade salt (95.6%) on a significant step-out toward the untested eastern part of the property. Great Atlantic is a highly advantaged asset with strong potential to become the lowest cost underground salt producer in North America as the shallowest deposit among all operating mines and the only one that would be accessed through inclined ramps vs. more expensive vertical shafts. An independent Feasibility Study is currently in its late stages.
3
Hot Sector/Rising Salt Prices
Private equity has carried out $5.2 billion (U.S.) in acquisitions in the salt market since 2020. Security of supply has become a major issue as the North American road salt market relies heavily on imports from Chile and North Africa to meet annual demand that can reach or exceed 30 million tonnes per year. Sharply escalating overseas shipping costs due to inflationary pressures and supply chain bottlenecks are reinforcing the need for more North American supply, constrained by the fact that no new salt mines have been built in the U.S. or Canada in the last 25 years. Meanwhile, rock salt contract prices for the current winter season are up about 12% to approximately $90 CDN per metric tonne. A PEA released January 31, 2023, showed Great Atlantic’s impressive low-cost production potential – $23.81 per tonne (CDN) FOB (free on board) utilizing a Q4 2022 cost basis.
4
Substantially De-Risked Across Multiple Metrics
Salt mines are vastly different than traditional metal mines – they are predictable and can produce for generations through relatively straightforward mining. Salt itself is recession proof while Atlas has also been substantially de-risked across all other key metrics – management, geological, environmental, financial, jurisdiction, and share structure.
5
Share Structure/Performance
SALT has only 93 million shares outstanding, dominated by strong retail investors, management and close associates, while strategic long-term investor Vulcan Minerals (TSXV: VUL) owns about 31% of the company. A warrant overhang in SALT was removed during 2022. SALT has been one of the top performing resource stocks in Canada over the past two years and Atlas was selected as a 2022 Venture 50™ winner.
6
Financial Power
Atlas is in a strong financial position with approximately $17 million in cash and no debt, thanks to a series of increasingly higher-priced private placements with strategic investors since 2021, and the exercise of almost all of the company’s warrants. Atlas is also the largest shareholder in Triple Point Resources, a key player in the emerging Newfoundland Clean Energy Hub.
7
The Importance of Salt
Our bodies couldn’t survive without salt, but salt keeps us alive in more ways than one. The biggest single use of salt in the U.S. and Canada is for de-icing roads, highways, sidewalks and parking lots. It’s a large recession-proof market with decades of consistency throughout every economic cycle. Statistics show that road de-icing salt saves lives every year, reducing collisions by up to 88%. No economic substitutes or alternatives for road salt exist in most applications.
8
Environmentally Friendly
Great Atlantic would feature environmentally friendly straightforward processing, operating very much like a “Salt Factory” with the potential to be carbon net-neutral. Unlike traditional metal deposits, no chemical processing is involved with an underground salt mine and practically all “ore” is shipped directly to market. New technology such as “continuous miners” cut the salt underground (no drilling or blasting). It is then screened to get it to the right particle size before being dropped onto a conveyor belt that brings it to surface. Processed salt is then delivered to the nearby port by conveyor. Replacing overseas imports with Great Atlantic production aids in the battle to reduce global carbon emissions.
9
Triple Point/Fischell’s Brook Spinout
To unlock the value of Atlas’ Fischell’s Brook Salt Dome, and its potential to help drive the recently signed Canada-Germany Hydrogen Accord for the west coast of Newfoundland, Atlas in 2022 spun out Fischell’s Brook into Triple Point Resources which plans to list on a Canadian stock exchange. Atlas is Triple Point’s largest single investor with 27.5 million shares. Salt domes have multiple uses and are now being increasingly targeted for storing hydrogen safely and efficiently underground.
10
Cutting Edge Marketing / Communications Strategy
Atlas understands the importance of communicating its message to investors not only effectively but powerfully. From our website to various campaigns to increase investor awareness of SALT, we are very conscious of our brand and the need to tell our highly compelling story in just the right way. The team at Atlas is constantly driven to grow this business and build shareholder value. A major global awareness campaign commences during Q2.
In its January 2023 Independent Preliminary Economic Assessment, SLR Consulting Canada (Ltd.) updated the Great Atlantic mineral resource estimate based on Atlas drilling excluding recently completed drill hole CC-9b. The resource estimate is in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 and is dated January 6, 2023. Inferred resources total 999.4 million tonnes grading 95.6% NaCl (salt), while Indicated resources total 187.2 million tonnes grading 96.4% NaCl.
- CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.
- Bulk density is 2.16 t/m3.
- Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
- Reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction were demonstrated by reporting within mineable shapes at a cut-off grade of 90% NaCl resulting in composite resource grades exceeding 95%.
Qualified Person
The technical information above has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Patrick J. Laracy, P.Geo., CEO of Atlas Salt and a qualified person.
