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Railtown Capital Corp. to Combine with Selten Metal Corp. Operator of the “THOR” Rare Earth Exploration Project Located in Clark County, Nevada

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Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – March 28, 2022) – Railtown Capital Corp. (TSXV: RLT.P) (“Railtown” or the “Company“) and Selten Metal Corp. (“Selten Metal“), an arm’s length private company incorporated under the laws of British Columbia, announced today that they have signed a non-binding letter of intent dated March 17, 2022 to effect a transaction that will result in a reverse takeover of Railtown by Selten Metal (the “Transaction“). Trading in the common shares of the Company (the “Common Shares“) has been halted in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV“) and will remain halted until such time as all required documentation has been filed with and accepted by the TSXV.

The Transaction is not a Non-Arm’s Length Qualifying Transaction under TSXV Policy 5.4. Accordingly, Railtown will not be required to obtain shareholder approval of the Transaction.

About Selten Metal Corp.

Selten Metal was incorporated in May of 2021 and, pursuant to an option agreement (the “Option Agreement“) with NexOptic Technology Corp. (“NexOptic“) dated December 15, 2021, as amended on February 17, 2022 and March 17, 2022, holds an option to acquire up to a 100% interested in the THOR heavy and light rare earth project (“THOR” or the “THOR Project“), consisting of roughly 2,170 hectares located in Clark County, Nevada.

German for “rare,” the word “Selten” represents Selten Metal Corp’s desire to become a leading producer of heavy and light rare earth elements in the United States-as US sourced rare earths are becoming increasingly critical to the climate economy, modern technologies and for global geopolitical stability.

The THOR Heavy & Light Rare Earth Project

The THOR Project is situated 120km from Las Vegas in an active mining region in Southern Nevada, 26 kilometres from what was once the largest rare-earth element (“REE“) mine in the world, Mountain Pass. In 2017, Mountain Pass reopened as the largest REE mine in the Western Hemisphere, and the only REE mine in North America (operated by MP Materials Corp). Reference to mineralization on any properties beyond THOR isn’t necessarily indicative of mineralization on the THOR Project. Selten Metal is focused on sustainable exploration and development for the THOR Project.

Selten is in the process of having a current technical report on the THOR Project commissioned and further and more fulsome disclosure will be provided in subsequent news releases. The technical report will be filed on the Resulting Issuer’s (as defined below) SEDAR profile on completion of the Transaction.

Pursuant to the Option Agreement, in order for Selten to acquire an initial 75% interest in and to the THOR Project, Selten must: (a) make a cash payment of $1,100,000 to NexOptic by May 15, 2022 (the “Option Cash Payment“), (b) issue to NexOptic such number of common shares in its capital as will represent 9.5% of the issued and outstanding Selten shares post-issuance (on a pre-Transaction basis), (c) issue to NexOptic an additional 500,000 shares on the date which is 12 months following the date on which Selten is listed on a Canadian securities exchange (the “Listing Date“) and (d) issue to NexOptic a further additional 500,000 shares on the date which is 24 months following the Listing Date. If a Listing Date does not occur within 24 months of the date of the Option Agreement, the option contemplated thereunder will terminate. The Option Agreement provides that, upon the exercise of the initial option, Selten Metal will have the right (the “Second Option“) to acquire the remaining 25% interest in the THOR project, by issuing to NexOptic an additional 5,000,000 common shares, which issuance shall occur upon the date which is either 36 months following the Listing Date or 48 months following the Listing Date, at the discretion of Selten. For greater certainty, any and all share issuance obligations of Selten Metal under the Option Agreement will be satisfied through the issuance of an equal number of common shares of the Resulting Issuer, in the event the Transaction is consummated.

Resulting Issuer Board of Directors and Management

Upon completion of the Transaction, the board of directors and senior management of the Resulting Issuer is expected to be drawn largely from the current Selten Metal team and will be comprised of individuals with extensive experience in the development, financing and growth of public resource companies.

The following sets out the backgrounds of the persons who are currently expected to be directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer following completion of the Transaction.

Jenny-Claire M. Ganasi, CEO and Director, is a Chartered Professional Accountant with more than 15 years experience working with public companies. Prior to joining Selten Metal, Jenny-Claire spent six years on secondment in Norway supporting Teekay Offshore Partners (L.P. (now Altera Infrastructure L.P. owned by Brookfield Business Partners) (NYSE: ALIN) with corporate, management reporting and finance, planning and analysis for the executive leadership team and board of directors. Prior to this, Jenny-Claire spent four years with Teekay LNG Partners (NYSE: TGP) in Vancouver in corporate reporting and four years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Vancouver in both audit and assurance and tax groups. Jenny-Claire holds a bachelor of Technology in Accounting and a diploma in Financial Management, Advanced Taxation from British Columbia Institute of Technology, and a certificate in Sustainability Management from University of British Columbia.

Paul McKenzie, Director, is the CEO and a director of NexOptic and was the CEO of NexOptic’s predecessor Elissa Resources, the company that made the original rare earth discoveries on the THOR Project. Paul’s experience includes founder, co-founder, CEO, CFO and director roles for several successful public companies in the strategic minerals sector (including discoveries through to feasibility stage, green energy, and battery metals) and the technology sector (including software solutions and artificial intelligence). Paul has assisted in raising approximately USD $120 million in working capital for his affiliated corporations and has managed subsidiaries and projects in Canada, the United States, South Korea, Mongolia, and China. Paul has been directly involved in partnerships, joint ventures, asset sales, license agreements and mergers and acquisitions between his companies and numerous corporations ranging from start-ups to multinationals with market capitalization exceeding USD $600 billion.

Jim Guilinger, Director and Lead THOR Consultant, is a geologist with extensive REE expertise spanning more than 40 years. This includes project management and being a technical lead on rare earths projects throughout the USA including Wyoming, Nevada, and Arizona. Jim has completed numerous industrial and strategic minerals market studies, analysis, and investigations for clients and companies around the world. Jim is the Chief Operating Officer at Bradda Head Lithium and has been a private consultant for more than 20 years through World Industrial Minerals (“WIM“). Prior to forming WIM, Jim was a director of Exploration and Development in Mexico for Eldorado Gold and managed numerous industrial minerals, precious and base metal projects. Jim is a “qualified person” as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Jessie Friend, Director, has overseen brand and business direction from start-ups to divisions of multinationals including Panavision and has assembled sales and marketing teams that continue to work globally. Jessie is also a fleet advisor for Boom & Bucket, a modern marketplace for everything heavy equipment for the mining industry, renewable energy companies, pipelines and more. Jessie brings to Selten Metal exceptional negotiating, business management, budgeting, financial reporting, and team building skills.

Jason Felsman, THOR Project Manager, is a geologist with over a decade of experience working as a consulting geologist and project manager to companies such as Agnico Eagle (NYSE: AEM), Newmont (NYSE: NEM) and others. His extensive REE experience includes senior geologist with Rare Element Resources (OTCQB: REEMF). Jason is an expert in project management including drill program planning and management and has extensive skills and experience in mineral property evaluation, project mapping and sampling. Jason is highly proficient in GIS: ArcGIS & QGIS and experienced in Petrographic and Micro-Analytical Techniques (SEM, LA-ICPMS, CL). Jason completed his geological studies at University of Arkansas: B.S., and University of Idaho: M.S.

James Clark, Senior Project Consultant, has more than 30 years of experience as an exploration geologist for a variety of commodities, including REE’s, industrial minerals, precious, base, and other specialty metals. James has extensive REE experience that includes working on 33 REE prospects across three continents. In 1998, James founded Applied Petrographics to provide petrographic and microanalytical services to the mining industry and clients include Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD), Newmont (NYSE: NEM), Hecla (NYSE: HL), AngloGold (NYSE: AU), CVRD, Quest Rare Minerals, and Rare Element Resources. Prior to this, James worked for a variety of mining companies, including Molycorp, Hecla, Newmont, and Rare Element Resources. During his time at Hecla he played a key role in identifying Rare Element Resources’ current Bear Lodge rare earth resource and the property’s underlying gold mineralization potential. While at Rare Element Resources, James served as VP of Exploration.

In addition, it is also anticipated that one of the current directors of Railtown will be appointed to the Resulting Issuer’s board of directors and a CFO and a corporate secretary will be appointed for the Resulting Issuer. Once determined, the identify of these individuals will be disclosed in a subsequent news release.

The Transaction

It is intended that the Transaction will constitute the “Qualifying Transaction” of Railtown, as such term is defined in the policies of the TSXV. Upon completion of the Transaction, the shareholders of Selten Metal will become shareholders of Railtown, a publicly traded company listed on the TSXV. The resulting company after completion of the Transaction (the “Resulting Issuer“) will carry on the current business of Selten Metal and intends to be listed on the TSXV as a Tier 2 resource issuer.

The Transaction is proposed to be effected by way of a “three-cornered” amalgamation under which securityholders of Selten Metal will exchange their shares of Selten Metal for Common Shares. Shareholders of Selten Metal will be issued one Common Share at a deemed price of $0.20 per share for each common share held of Selten. In addition, upon completion of the Transaction, the Resulting Issuer will assume Selten Metal’s obligation to issue common shares to NexOptic pursuant to the terms of the Option Agreement.

On completion of the Transaction, Selten Metal will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Resulting Issuer. On closing (the “Closing“) of the Transaction, the Resulting Issuer’s name will be changed to “Selten Metal Corp.” or another name acceptable to Selten Metal.

Closing of the Transaction is subject to certain conditions, including but not limited to: (a) the completion of satisfactory mutual due diligence; (b) the receipt of all necessary approvals of the boards of directors of Railtown and Selten Metal; (c) the receipt of all required consents and approvals, including without limitation, approval of the Transaction by the TSXV as Railtown’s Qualifying Transaction; (d) the Resulting Issuer satisfying the initial listing requirements set by the TSXV for a Tier 2 mining issuer; (e) the entry into of a definitive agreement; (f) approval of the shareholders of Selten Metal; and (g) the completion of the Financing (defined below).

The Company also intends to issue 475,000 Common Shares to Canaccord Genuity Corp. at a deemed price of $0.20 per share in connection with the Transaction. The payment of the finder’s fee is subject to TSXV acceptance. Further details regarding the Transaction and any finder’s fees payable will be included in a subsequent news release once additional details become available.

Sponsorship

Railtown will be seeking an exemption from the sponsorship requirements of the TSXV pursuant to the provisions of section 3.4(a)(ii) of TSXV Policy 2.2.

Proposed Financing

In connection with the Transaction, Selten Metal intends to complete a private placement (the “Financing”) of 15,000,000 common shares at a price of $0.15 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,250,000. Finder’s fees may be paid to qualified finders in accordance with the Financing.

It is anticipated that $1,100,000 of the net proceeds from the Financing will be used towards the Option Cash Payment.

Further details regarding the Financing will be included in a subsequent news release once additional details become available.

Pro Forma Share Capital of the Resulting Issuer

Assuming the sale of all 15,000,000 shares pursuant to the Financing, it is anticipated that, on Closing of the Transaction, there will be 50,911,602 common shares of the Resulting Issuer issued and outstanding (52,711,602 common shares on a fully diluted basis), assuming the exercise of all outstanding options and warrants. It is expected that following the completion of the Transaction and the Financing, but assuming no exercise of the Second Option, existing Railtown shareholders will hold approximately 25.5% of the common shares of the Resulting Issuer, former shareholders of Selten Metal will hold approximately 35.5% of the common shares of the Resulting Issuer and NexOptic will hold approximately 9.5% of the common shares of the Resulting Issuer.

It is anticipated that a portion of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Resulting Issuer will be subject to the escrow and resale restrictions pursuant to the policies of the TSXV.

Selected Financial Information

The following table sets out selected financial information with respect to Selten as at and for the period noted. This information information has not been audited, and may be subject to adjustment:

As at December 31, 2021 and
for the period from incorporation
on May 26, 2021 to December 31, 2021
(unaudited)
Total Revenues Nil
Net Income (Loss) $(117,842)
Total Assets $130,305
Total Liabilities $28,147

 

Further financial information will be included in the listing application to be prepared in connection with the Transaction.

About Railtown

Railtown is publicly listed on the TSXV under the symbol RLT.P. Railtown was formed as a Capital Pool Company in accordance with policies of the TSXV in order to identify and evaluate businesses and assets for acquisition and financing.

The address of the Company’s registered and records office is 2200 – 885 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, V6E 3E8.

For further information, please contact:

Railtown Capital Corp.:
Cameron White, Chief Executive Officer
Phone: 604-765-2601
Email: [email protected]

Selten Metal Corp.:
Jenny-Claire Ganasi, Chief Executive Officer
Email: [email protected]
www.seltenmetal.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain “forward-looking statements” under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the terms and conditions of the proposed Transaction; the Company’s objectives, goals or future plans; Selten Metal’s objectives, goals or future plans; statements regarding issuing subsequent news releases; completion of the Financing; payment of the Option Cash Payment; statements regarding the Second Option; the composition of the board of directors and management of the Resulting Issuer; statements regarding obtaining a waiver to the sponsorship requirements of the TSXV; further financial information being included in the listing application to be prepared in connection with the Transaction; the receipt of the requisite approvals with respect to the Transaction and the business and operations of the Resulting Issuer following the completion of the Transaction. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; those additional risks set out in Railtown’s public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although Railtown believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, Railtown and Selten Metal disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Reader Advisory

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to TSXV acceptance and, if applicable pursuant to TSXV requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility of the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118485

Fintech

How to identify authenticity in crypto influencer channels

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Modern brands stake on influencer marketing, with 76% of users making a purchase after seeing a product on social media.The cryptocurrency industry is no exception to this trend. However, promoting crypto products through influencer marketing can be particularly challenging. Crypto influencers pose a significant risk to a brand’s reputation and ROI due to rampant scams. Approximately 80% of channels provide fake statistics, including followers counts and engagement metrics. Additionally, this niche is characterized by high CPMs, which can increase the risk of financial loss for brands.

In this article Nadia Bubennnikova, Head of agency Famesters, will explore the most important things to look for in crypto channels to find the perfect match for influencer marketing collaborations.

 

  1. Comments 

There are several levels related to this point.

 

LEVEL 1

Analyze approximately 10 of the channel’s latest videos, looking through the comments to ensure they are not purchased from dubious sources. For example, such comments as “Yes sir, great video!”; “Thanks!”; “Love you man!”; “Quality content”, and others most certainly are bot-generated and should be avoided.

Just to compare: 

LEVEL 2

Don’t rush to conclude that you’ve discovered the perfect crypto channel just because you’ve come across some logical comments that align with the video’s topic. This may seem controversial, but it’s important to dive deeper. When you encounter a channel with logical comments, ensure that they are unique and not duplicated under the description box. Some creators are smarter than just buying comments from the first link that Google shows you when you search “buy YouTube comments”. They generate topics, provide multiple examples, or upload lists of examples, all produced by AI. You can either manually review the comments or use a script to parse all the YouTube comments into an Excel file. Then, add a formula to highlight any duplicates.

LEVEL 3

It is also a must to check the names of the profiles that leave the comments: most of the bot-generated comments are easy to track: they will all have the usernames made of random symbols and numbers, random first and last name combinations, “Habibi”, etc. No profile pictures on all comments is also a red flag.

 

LEVEL 4

Another important factor to consider when assessing comment authenticity is the posting date. If all the comments were posted on the same day, it’s likely that the traffic was purchased.

 

2. Average views number per video

This is indeed one of the key metrics to consider when selecting an influencer for collaboration, regardless of the product type. What specific factors should we focus on?

First & foremost: the views dynamics on the channel. The most desirable type of YouTube channel in terms of views is one that maintains stable viewership across all of its videos. This stability serves as proof of an active and loyal audience genuinely interested in the creator’s content, unlike channels where views vary significantly from one video to another.

Many unauthentic crypto channels not only buy YouTube comments but also invest in increasing video views to create the impression of stability. So, what exactly should we look at in terms of views? Firstly, calculate the average number of views based on the ten latest videos. Then, compare this figure to the views of the most recent videos posted within the past week. If you notice that these new videos have nearly the same number of views as those posted a month or two ago, it’s a clear red flag. Typically, a YouTube channel experiences lower views on new videos, with the number increasing organically each day as the audience engages with the content. If you see a video posted just three days ago already garnering 30k views, matching the total views of older videos, it’s a sign of fraudulent traffic purchased to create the illusion of view stability.

 

3. Influencer’s channel statistics

The primary statistics of interest are region and demographic split, and sometimes the device types of the viewers.

LEVEL 1

When reviewing the shared statistics, the first step is to request a video screencast instead of a simple screenshot. This is because it takes more time to organically edit a video than a screenshot, making it harder to manipulate the statistics. If the creator refuses, step two (if only screenshots are provided) is to download them and check the file’s properties on your computer. Look for details such as whether it was created with Adobe Photoshop or the color profile, typically Adobe RGB, to determine if the screenshot has been edited.

LEVEL 2

After confirming the authenticity of the stats screenshot, it’s crucial to analyze the data. For instance, if you’re examining a channel conducted in Spanish with all videos filmed in the same language, it would raise concerns to find a significant audience from countries like India or Turkey. This discrepancy, where the audience doesn’t align with regions known for speaking the language, is a red flag.

If we’re considering an English-language crypto channel, it typically suggests an international audience, as English’s global use for quality educational content on niche topics like crypto. However, certain considerations apply. For instance, if an English-speaking channel shows a significant percentage of Polish viewers (15% to 30%) without any mention of the Polish language, it could indicate fake followers and views. However, if the channel’s creator is Polish, occasionally posts videos in Polish alongside English, and receives Polish comments, it’s important not to rush to conclusions.

Example of statistics

 

Wrapping up

These are the main factors to consider when selecting an influencer to promote your crypto product. Once you’ve launched the campaign, there are also some markers to show which creators did bring the authentic traffic and which used some tools to create the illusion of an active and engaged audience. While this may seem obvious, it’s still worth mentioning. After the video is posted, allow 5-7 days for it to accumulate a basic number of views, then check performance metrics such as views, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), signups, and conversion rate (CR) from clicks to signups.

If you overlooked some red flags when selecting crypto channels for your launch, you might find the following outcomes: channels with high views numbers and high CTRs, demonstrating the real interest of the audience, yet with remarkably low conversion rates. In the worst-case scenario, you might witness thousands of clicks resulting in zero to just a few signups. While this might suggest technical issues in other industries, in crypto campaigns it indicates that the creator engaged in the campaign not only bought fake views and comments but also link clicks. And this happens more often than you may realize.

Summing up, choosing the right crypto creator to promote your product is indeed a tricky job that requires a lot of resources to be put into the search process. 

Author Nadia Bubennikova, Head of agency  at Famesters

Author

Nadia Bubennikova, Head of agency at Famesters

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Fintech

Central banks and the FinTech sector unite to change global payments space

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The BIS, along with seven leading central banks and a cohort of private financial firms, has embarked on an ambitious venture known as Project Agorá.

Named after the Greek word for “marketplace,” this initiative stands at the forefront of exploring the potential of tokenisation to significantly enhance the operational efficiency of the monetary system worldwide.

Central to this pioneering project are the Bank of France (on behalf of the Eurosystem), the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico, the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. These institutions have joined forces under the banner of Project Agorá, in partnership with an extensive assembly of private financial entities convened by the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

At the heart of Project Agorá is the pursuit of integrating tokenised commercial bank deposits with tokenised wholesale central bank money within a unified, public-private programmable financial platform. By harnessing the advanced capabilities of smart contracts and programmability, the project aspires to unlock new transactional possibilities that were previously infeasible or impractical, thereby fostering novel opportunities that could benefit businesses and consumers alike.

The collaborative effort seeks to address and surmount a variety of structural inefficiencies that currently plague cross-border payments. These challenges include disparate legal, regulatory, and technical standards; varying operating hours and time zones; and the heightened complexity associated with conducting financial integrity checks (such as anti-money laundering and customer verification procedures), which are often redundantly executed across multiple stages of a single transaction due to the involvement of several intermediaries.

As a beacon of experimental and exploratory projects, the BIS Innovation Hub is committed to delivering public goods to the global central banking community through initiatives like Project Agorá. In line with this mission, the BIS will soon issue a call for expressions of interest from private financial institutions eager to contribute to this ground-breaking project. The IIF will facilitate the involvement of private sector participants, extending an invitation to regulated financial institutions representing each of the seven aforementioned currencies to partake in this transformative endeavour.

Source: fintech.globa

The post Central banks and the FinTech sector unite to change global payments space appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.

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TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud

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TD Bank has inked a multi-year deal with Google Cloud as it looks to streamline the development and deployment of new products and services.

The deal will see the Canadian banking group integrate the vendor’s cloud services into a wider portion of its technology solutions portfolio, a move which TD expects will enable it “to respond quickly to changing customer expectations by rolling out new features, updates, or entirely new financial products at an accelerated pace”.

This marks an expansion of the already established relationship between TD Bank and Google Cloud after the group previously adopted the vendor’s Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for TD Securities Automated Trading (TDSAT), the Chicago-based subsidiary of its investment banking unit, TD Securities.

TDSAT uses GKE for process automation and quantitative modelling across fixed income markets, resulting in the development of a “data-driven research platform” capable of processing large research workloads in trading.

Dan Bosman, SVP and CIO of TD Securities, claims the infrastructure has so far supported TDSAT with “compute-intensive quantitative analysis” while expanding the subsidiary’s “trading volumes and portfolio size”.

TD’s new partnership with Google Cloud will see the group attempt to replicate the same level of success across its entire portfolio.

Source: fintechfutures.com

The post TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.

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