Yukon Metals Raises C$13M to Drill AZ, Birch Properties

Yukon Metals Corp. closed a C$13 million best-efforts private placement, the company said Thursday. The proceeds will fund drilling at its AZ and Birch copper-gold properties and support target generation across the rest of the Yukon portfolio, CEO Jim Coates said.

The placement was co-led by ATB Cormark Capital Markets and Canaccord Genuity Corp., with Haywood Securities also in the syndicate. The agents earned a 6.0% cash commission on most of the placement, excluding roughly C$1.4 million in units sold to direct settlers. They also received compensation warrants for 6.0% of the units issued, each allowing purchase of one share at C$0.50 until June 11, 2028, with a four-month hold period.

Structure and Insider Participation

The offering had two tranches. 6.9 million flow-through units sold at C$0.57 each, and 18.1 million hard-dollar units sold at C$0.50 each. Every unit contains one common share and half a warrant exercisable at C$0.75 until June 2028. The flow-through units qualify as "flow-through shares" under Canadian tax law, meaning the company must spend the proceeds on qualifying Canadian exploration expenses by December 31, 2027, and renounce the tax benefits to purchasers by the end of 2026.

Insiders bought 2.1 million units in the deal. Because the insider participation didn't exceed 25% of the company's market cap, Yukon Metals relied on exemptions under MI 61-101 for related-party transactions, skipping the valuation and minority-approval requirements. The company said it will file a material change report but didn't give the standard 21-day notice because insider involvement wasn't confirmed until late.

What the Money Buys

Net proceeds from the hard-dollar tranche will go toward a drilling campaign on the AZ and Birch properties and for working capital. The flow-through proceeds are earmarked for Canadian exploration expenses that count as "critical mineral mining expenditures" under the Income Tax Act. The company must incur those costs before December 31, 2027.

Yukon Metals holds a portfolio built on over 30 years of prospecting by the Berdahl family, the same team behind Snowline Gold Corp.'s gold assets. The company's assets are mostly copper-gold and silver-lead-zinc, with tungsten and gold as secondary components. The board and management team include experienced technical and finance professionals.

"The completion of this financing provides the capital to advance drilling at our copper-gold properties," Coates said. Funds will also help generate new targets across the broader portfolio, he added.

The company's shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange under ticker YMC, on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as E770, and on the OTCQB as YMMCF. The securities sold in the placement have not been registered under U.S. securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent an exemption.