Metals One Plc (MET1)  has reached a settlement agreement with 80 Mile PLC, under the terms of which it will terminate the 2025 conditional acquisition of FinnAust Mining from 80 Mile.

FinnAust holds the Hammaslahti copper-zinc project and Outokumpu copper project in Finland. 

The settlement removes a future obligation to pay 80 Mile two million deferred consideration shares in connection with the 2023 acquisition of FinnAust Mining Northern, which holds the Black Schist project in Finland.

The company will not therefore continue with the acquisition of the Hammaslahti or Outokumpu projects, and will instead prioritise exploration expenditure for other projects including in the USA, where it has secured strategic footholds in prolific uranium and gold regions.    

In July 2023, Metals One acquired the entire issued share capital of FinnAust Mining Northern Oy from 80 Mile. FinnAust Northern holds Metals One's Black Schist project in Finland, a 57.1 million tonne nickel-copper-cobalt-zinc deposit adjacent to one of Europe's largest nickel producers. 

Under the settlement, Metals One will pay to 80 Mile £150,000 cash and costs incurred in connection with the 2025 FinnAust transaction. Accordingly, the parties have agreed to terminate the 2025 transaction and also for no further consideration to be payable to 80 Mile in respect of the 2023 FinnAust transaction, including the two million FinnAust deferred consideration shares that Metals One would have had to issue.

Metals One is therefore not now continuing with the intended acquisition of the Hammaslahti project and Outokumpu project, but retains its 93.75% interest in the Black Schist project in Finland. 

Furthermore, 80 Mile is no longer entitled to appoint a Director to the Board of Metals One and therefore the company will not continue with the appointment of Olga Solovieva as announced on 17 April 2025. 80 Mile is no longer a shareholder in the company following the disposal of its shares as notified on 16 May 2025.

"We've looked at our portfolio and opportunities and determined where we want to direct capital with a view to maximising nearer term value for shareholders,” said Craig Moulton, chairman of Metals One. 

“For a relatively small sum we've been able to terminate the Hammaslahti and Outokumpu project acquisitions, removing the future 10% equity dilution of the enlarged structure, the ongoing capital commitments that would have occurred from completing that transaction and the obligation to pay anything further in respect of the Black Schist project we acquired in 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, although our near-term exploration expenditure is being prioritised towards exceptional early-stage uranium and gold opportunities in the USA, where the environment is ripe for new domestic discoveries, we remain committed to our European projects which offer compelling leverage to a rising nickel price in the longer term."

Separately, Metals One has issued the 500,000 shares in consideration for the acquisition of the Uravan uranium-vanadium project in Colorado. The shares have been issued at a 5% discount to the five-day volume weighted average price per ordinary share for the five days immediately preceding the signing of the term sheet, being 19.0363p per share.

In addition, Metals One has received notice of the exercise of cash warrants over a total of one million shares at 2p per share. 

  

View from Vox

 

The rationalisation and realignment of the Metals One portfolio that was initiated by the major fundraising taken earlier in the year continues. Black Schist remains a big and promising project, but the switch to the USA as the near-term focus for the company has been well received by the market. Metals One is now capitalised at more than £60 million, a valuation which seemed far away at the beginning of the year, but which has been underpinned by strategic deal-making and a new focus on critical metals.