Imperial Helium Corp. Announces Property Acquisition, Strategic Alliance Agreement, and Expanded Board of Directors

Imperial Helium Corp. ("Imperial" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a corporate update.

Key Highlights

  • Property acquisition: The company has completed a lease option agreement materially expanding the size of its core area, near the hamlet of Princess in southern Alberta.
  • Strategic alliance: Imperial has entered into a strategic alliance agreement with Uniper Trading Canada Ltd. and ON2 Solutions Inc. in connection with the identification and development of Helium projects in Canada.
  • Appointment of board of directors: Imperial has appointed several new members to its board of directors, each with strong track records of delivering shareholder value along with distinguished careers primarily concentrated in the resource development industry.
  • Filing of preliminary prospectus: Imperial filed its preliminary prospectus with Alberta Securities Commission on Wednesday March 18, 2021.

Property Acquisition & Additional Technical Information

Imperial has entered into a lease option agreement (“Lease Agreement”) with Heritage Royalty Resource Corporation in connection with a property acquisition that will triple the size of its landholdings within the core area near the hamlet of Princess in southern Alberta. The Lease Agreement, along with the Company’s existing land holdings, now provides the Company with the rights to a structure covering more than a township (36 sq miles) with known helium concentration. The Company intends to exercise its option under the Lease Agreement in connection with the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions (as defined below).

The property subject to the Lease Agreement (the “Property”) is located on leased land over the historic Steveville discovery, and is referred to as the Steveville land/structure. In aggregate, the Company has a total of 24,635 hectares with rights below the base of the Big Valley Formation.

The Steveville structure appears to be a large dome feature with four-way closure. The first well to penetrate the structure was drilled in the winter of 1940 near Steveville resulting in a blow-out which reportedly flowed at greater than 50MMcf/d for several months until the well was brought under control. The structure subsequently tested 6 MMcf/d of non burnable gas (87% nitrogen 0.63% helium) from the Beaverhill Lake Group. At the time, there was no commercial interest in the structure because the gas results indicated high concentrations of nitrogen with helium and minimal hydrocarbons. Four subsequent wells confirm the structure. The Company is acquiring seismic data to better define the structure.

The Company anticipates drilling its first well into the apex of the structure adjacent to the discovery well, late the second quarter of 2021, with completion and testing to follow. Upon evaluation and integration of the first well into the reservoir model, a second well location will be confirmed. The second well is anticipated to be drilled on the flank of the structure.

Strategic Alliance

Imperial has entered into a strategic alliance agreement with Uniper Trading Canada Ltd. (UTC) and ON2 Solutions Inc., to expedite the development, production and monetization of Imperial helium projects in Canada. The agreement does not compel but provides an opportunity for the parties to negotiate helium project costs and prices in aid of accelerating project financing and execution. In addition, the agreement provides a confidential framework for information sharing in the currently somewhat opaque helium business environment.

UTC and/or its affiliates are engaged in the business of purchasing, transporting, storing, and marketing volumes of commercial gases including Helium. UTC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Uniper SE, a German headquartered global downstream energy company with activities in more than 40 countries. ON2 Solutions is a Canadian based private company that designs, manufactures, installs and services custom on-site oxygen and nitrogen generators and concentrators for medical and industrial use. ON2’s equipment has been installed in over 25 countries worldwide.

David Johnson, CEO, Imperial Helium said, “Rediscovering and capturing the Steveville blow-out as Imperial’s founding asset is a huge opportunity for Imperial Helium. Steveville has the potential for more than a billion cubic feet of recoverable Helium and will be the first project brought to our Strategic Alliance with ON2 Solutions and Uniper. We have tremendous confidence that Imperial Helium and the Strategic Alliance will be able to bring first commercial helium to the market in the second half of 2022.”

Appointment of Board of Directors

Imperial has appointed several new members to its board of directors, each having distinguished careers across the resource development sectors, and each having held prominent lead positions within a range of successful companies. Their combined experience and expertise will provide the Company with invaluable advice, guidance and support.

Kyler Hardy – Executive Co-Chair. Samuel “Kyler” Hardy is a natural resources focused entrepreneur. He has been involved in the sector for over 19 years with both private and public businesses. During his career he has gained a wide array of natural resource specific experience including diamond driller, project manager, exploration service contractor, business consultant, public company management and investor. He has built businesses from early stage start-ups to advanced operating companies in mining, energy and service providers to these sectors. He was a founder and former CEO of a large geosciences and logistics management business specializing in grassroots to brownfields exploration and development. Mr. Hardy has raised capital, led M&A transactions and developed strategic partnerships globally. He is currently CEO of the Cronin Group, a natural resource focused merchant bank, CEO of Cloudbreak Discovery Plc, Executive Chairman of Imperial Helium Corp., Executive Chairman of Temas Resources Corp, director of Graycliff Resources Ltd. and a director of Hexa Resources Ltd.

David Johnson – Chief Executive Officer and Director. Dr. Johnson has more than 35 years of global, Canadian frontier, and Western Canadian exploration and production experience. Previously, Dr. Johnson worked for Shell Canada, ExxonMobil, Husky Energy, Kuwait Oil Company, KUFPEC, and a public international start-up, which he founded. Dr. Johnson has extensive business development, operations, geoscience research, and technical E&P experience covering 40+ petroleum provinces, with discoveries in Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Canadian Frontiers and the South China Sea. He currently serves as a Director for the Canadian Global Exploration Forum (CGEF), and a Councillor for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Brad Hayes – Executive Co-Chair. Dr. Hayes is President of Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd., a geoscience consulting firm engaged by industry, government, and legal and financial organizations. He joined PRCL in 1996 after 15 years of exploration experience in operating companies, including Shell Canada and Canadian Hunter. Dr. Hayes has a high level of geoscience expertise in unconventional hydrocarbons, including oil sands, tight reservoirs, and shale plays in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and internationally. He is an active member of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG) and served as its President in 2001. He currently serves as a Board member for the Canadian Society for Unconventional Resources (CSUR) and recently completed his second three-year term as a Councillor for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta.

Marty Wittstrom – Director. Mr. Wittstrom is a geoscientist with more than 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and has held several positions in technical and business leadership, managing important exploration and field development projects in basins in the United States and overseas. Mr. Wittstrom had a 26-year career at Chevron, where he managed projects in most United States onshore basins; he was also the Vice President of International Exploration for Reliance Industries and VP of North America Business Development for the Information Store. At Niko Resources he was the South America Business Unit Manager. Mr. Wittstrom is the current Chairman of the Oil Group, a Houston-based holding company for investments in Latin America in the E&P operations and services sectors.

Peter Putnam – Lead Director. Mr. Putnam is a geologist with over 40 years of varied global experience at both technical and executive levels. Over his career he has been at various times, an employee, an advisor to technical and management teams as well as boards of directors, a board member, and a founder of new companies. Early stage companies started by Peter have raised substantial funds from investors inclusive of large private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and family offices. With experience on six continents, he is currently the President of Hay Valley Resources Ltd. Mr. Putnam holds a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary and is a past-President of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, a former adjunct professor at the University of Calgary, and a former Councillor of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). He has published widely as an author of scientific articles dealing with various facets of petroleum geology and is a regular guest lecturer at Canadian universities.

Monica Rovers – Director. Ms. Rovers operates an international business advisory firm where she assists organizations to grow through her global business experience and relationships and as a Global Partner at Rainmaker Global Business Development, specializing in Africa and Latin America. Ms. Rovers has been supporting the Canadian Energy sector for a number of years. She was previously Head, Global Energy at Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange where she helped Energy companies to finance their projects through various sources of financing such as Private Equity, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, IFC, Export Development Canada, Alberta-based Innovation funds and organizations and various capital markets. She was Business Development Manager of Energy at Calgary Economic Development where she helped companies to expand their operations and connect with potential partners. She is also helping Alberta-based companies to scale up and expand their operations with Alberta IoT. Ms. Rovers developed and implemented business strategies at Toronto Stock Exchange, Calgary Economic Development and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and led the diversification strategy for the TSX Venture Exchange in Alberta. Ms. Rovers holds an MBA in Global Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management.

Stephen Burleton – Director. Stephen Burleton, CFA, MBA, ICD.D is an experienced mining executive with significant experience in capital raising, corporate development and strategy. Most recently he was the President & CEO of GT Gold where he brought in Newmont Corporation as a strategic investor. Prior to that he was Vice President, Business Development, at Richmont Mines Inc. prior to Richmont being acquired by Alamos Gold Inc. for US$770 million in November 2017. Mr. Burleton was responsible for the financing at Richmont and worked closely with its executive team in determining the Company’s strategic direction. He has over 18 years of experience in the Canadian investment banking industry as Managing Director of Investment Banking at Wellington West Capital Markets Inc., Scotia Capital Inc. and BMO Capital Markets advising on strategic transactions and executing debt and equity financing for companies in the mining, fertilizer and industrial products sectors. Mr. Burleton is a CFA® Charterholder, has an MBA from York University and received his ICD.D from the Rotman School of Management.

Filing of Preliminary Prospectus

On February 18, 2021, the Company announced that it had closed a brokered private placement of subscription receipts (the “Subscription Receipts”) for gross proceeds of approximately $14 million. The gross proceeds from the sale of the Subscription Receipts were placed in escrow pending satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions (the "Escrow Release Conditions"), being: (a) the Company obtaining a receipt from the securities regulatory authorities in a province of Canada for a final prospectus qualifying distribution of the units of the Company underlying the Subscription Receipts (the “Units”); and (b) the Company obtaining conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange to list the common shares of the Company.

The Company is pleased to announce that, on March 18, 2021, it filed a preliminary prospectus qualifying the distribution of the Units. The preliminary prospectus is still subject to completion or amendment. A copy of the preliminary prospectus is available electronically at www.sedar.com. The Escrow Release Conditions will not be satisfied until, among other things, a receipt for the final prospectus has been issued.

About Imperial

Imperial is focused on the exploration and development of helium production assets in North America. Driven by Canadian geoscience and engineering expertise, in combination with their proprietary helium well database, Imperial Helium is securing helium assets to meet the growing global helium demand and supply short falls in the market.

READER ADVISORIES

No Offer

This press release is not an offer of the securities for sale in the United States. The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an available exemption from the registration requirement of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

Certain information included in this press release constitutes forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project", "will" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking information in this press release may include, but is not limited to, statements concerning: the exercise of the Company’s option under the Lease Agreement; drilling activities; discovery activities including re-discovering and capturing the Steveville blow-out; activities pursuant to the Strategic Alliance Agreement; the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions and the business plan of the Company, generally, including helium development and extraction. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Imperial. Although Imperial believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Imperial can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the helium industry in general (e.g., operational risks in development, exploration and production; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks), constraint in the availability of services, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, the current COVID-19 pandemic, changes in legislation impacting the helium industry, adverse weather or break-up conditions and uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and Imperial undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.