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CONVERTIBLE DEBT
12 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2023
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
CONVERTIBLE DEBT

9.CONVERTIBLE DEBT

 

   As of June 30, 
   2023   2022 
Current Portion:          
Lind III convertible security  $-   $2,169 
Noncurrent Portion:          
Yorkville convertible debentures  $10,561   $- 

 

 

 

Lind III Convertible Security

 

On February 16, 2021, the Company issued to Lind Global Asset Management III, LLC (“Lind”), an entity managed by The Lind Partners, the convertible security (the “Lind III Convertible Security”) pursuant to the Convertible Security Funding Agreement, dated February 16, 2021, as amended by Amendment #1 to the Convertible Security Funding Agreement, dated December 2, 2021, between the Company and Lind (as amended, the “Lind III Agreement”). The Lind III Convertible Security had a face value of $11,700 (representing $10,000 in funding plus an implied 8.5% interest rate per annum for the term of the Lind III Convertible Security). After deducting a $350 commitment fee as set forth in the Lind III Agreement, NioCorp received net proceeds of $9,650 from the funding of the Lind III Convertible Security. The Company used a portion of the proceeds from the funding of the Lind III Convertible Security to purchase a key land parcel associated with the Company’s Elk Creek Project, with the remainder spent for general corporate purposes.

 

The Lind III Convertible Security had a term of (i) 24 months or (ii) 30 calendar days after the date on which the face value of the Lind III Convertible Security is nil due to such amount having been fully converted and/or fully repaid (including with any applicable premium) in accordance with the terms of the Lind III Agreement, whichever is earlier.

 

Pursuant to the Lind III Agreement, Lind was entitled to convert the Lind III Convertible Security into Common Shares in monthly installments over its term at a price per Common Share equal to 85% of the volume-weighted average price Common Shares on the TSX for the five trading days immediately preceding to the date on which Lind provides notice to the Company of its election to convert. The Lind III Agreement provided that Common Shares issuable upon conversion, together with the number of Common Shares issued upon exercise of Warrants, shall not exceed 4,358,800 Common Shares.

 

On February 19, 2021, in connection with the funding and issuance of the Lind III Convertible Security, the Company issued 855,800 Common Share purchase warrants, exercisable at a price per Common Share of C$9.70, expiring February 19, 2025 (the “Lind III Warrants”), to Lind pursuant to the Lind III Agreement.

 

The Company identified embedded derivatives in the Lind III Convertible Security that were evaluated to be immaterial at both the closing date and at June 30, 2022.

 

The Company allocated the net proceeds of $9,477 from the Lind III Convertible Security as follows:

 

  $1,712 was allocated to Common Stock, representing the fair value of the Lind III Warrants based on the Black Scholes pricing model using a risk-free interest rate of 0.40%, an expected dividend yield of 0%, a volatility of 51.60%, and an expected life of 4.0 years.
     
  $7,938 was allocated to the convertible debt liability. Transaction costs of $173, in addition to a commitment fee of $350, were recognized as a direct deduction from the debt liability, resulting in a net opening balance of $7,765. This balance was accreted up to the face value of the Lind III Convertible Security at maturity using the effective interest method and recorded as non-cash interest expense in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss.

 

Changes in the Lind III Convertible Security are as follows:

 

    For the year ending June 30,
    2023   2022
Beginning balance   $ 2,169     $ 7,234  
Fair value increase due to debt extinguishment     201       -  
Conversions     (1,950 )     (7,635 )
Accretion expense     95       2,570  
Payment at maturity     (515 )     -  
Balance, end of period   $ -     $ 2,169  

 

 

 

On September 25, 2022, the Company and Lind entered into the Waiver and Consent Agreement, dated September 25, 2022, between the Company and Lind (the “Lind Consent”), which included the following principal terms: (i) the consent of Lind to the GXII Transaction disclosed in Note 5 and Yorkville Financings disclosed below and in Note 11d, including all actions taken by NioCorp as set out in the Business Combination Agreement to permit the completion of the Transactions; (ii) the consent of Lind to NioCorp’s expected cross-listing to the Nasdaq and the consolidation of the Common Shares in order to meet the minimum listing requirements thereof; (iii) the waiver of Lind of its participation right for up to 15% of the total offering in the Yorkville Equity Facility Financing; and (iv) the waiver of Lind of certain restrictive covenants in the Lind III Agreement.

 

As consideration for entering into the Lind Consent, Lind received, amongst other things: (i) the right to receive a payment of $500, which would have been reduced to $200 if the Transactions had not been consummated on or before April 30, 2023 (collectively, the “Consent Payment”); (ii) an extension of its existing participation rights under the Lind III Agreement in future financings of NioCorp for a further two-year period, subject to certain exceptions as well as an extension of such participation rights beyond the additional two-year period if Yorkville or any affiliate is a party to any such applicable transaction; and (iii) the right to receive additional Warrants (the “Contingent Consent Warrants”) if on the date that is 18 months following the Closing Date, the closing trading price of the Common Shares on the TSX or such other stock exchange on which such shares may then be listed, is less than C$10.00 (on a post-Reverse Stock Split basis), subject to adjustments. The number of Contingent Consent Warrants to be issued, if any, is based on the Canadian dollar equivalent (based on the then current Canadian to US dollar exchange rate as reported by Bloomberg, LP) of $5,000 divided by the five-day volume weighted average price of the Common Shares on the date of issuance. Further, the number of Contingent Consent Warrants issued will be proportionately adjusted based on the percentage of Warrants currently held by Lind that are exercised, if any, prior to the issuance of any Contingent Consent Warrants. The Lind Consent was signed as an amendment to the existing Lind III Agreement.

  

Management determined that the Lind Consent should be evaluated using ASC 470, which requires an evaluation of the contract amendment under debt modification guidance. The Company performed a comparison of the discounted cash flows of the Lind III Convertible Security pursuant to the existing Lind III Agreement and pursuant to the Lind III Agreement as amended by the Lind Consent and determined that a debt extinguishment loss of $201 had occurred. Further, ASC 470 requires that the minimum estimated Consent Payment of $200 also be included in the calculation of the initial loss on debt extinguishment. The Company also evaluated the Contingent Consent Warrant feature included in the Lind Consent and determined that the Contingent Consent Warrants meet the criteria to be considered separate, freestanding instruments, should be accounted for as a liability under ASC 480, and should be booked at fair value on the date of the Lind Consent, with subsequent changes in valuation recorded as a non-operating gain or loss in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss. The following table summarizes the components of the initial loss and final loss on extinguishment:

 

Component of loss   Amount  
Minimum Consent Payment at inception   $ 200  
Loss on debt extinguishment     201  
Initial fair value of Contingent Consent Warrants     1,221  
Initial loss on debt extinguishment     1,622  
Additional Consent Payment booked1     300  
Total loss on debt extinguishment   $ 1,922  

 

  1 Represents the difference between the accrual of the minimum Consent Payment at September 25, 2022 and the actual payment made on March 17, 2023.
     

 

The change in the fair value of the Contingent Consent Warrants is presented below:

 

    Amount  
Initial valuation, September 25, 2022   $ 1,221  
Change in valuation     489  
Valuation at June 30, 2023   $ 1,710  

 

 

 

The Contingent Consent Warrants are classified as a Level 3 financial instrument and were valued utilizing a Monte Carlo simulation pricing model, which calculates multiple potential outcomes for future share prices based on historic volatility of the Common Shares to determine the probability of issuance at 18 months following the applicable valuation date and to determine the value of the Contingent Consent Warrants. The following table discloses the primary inputs into the Monte Carlo model at each valuation date, and the probability of issuance calculated by the model.

 

Key Valuation Input  

September 25,

2022

   

June 30,

2023

 
Share price on valuation date   $ 7.82     $ 5.03  
Volatility     62.4 %     63.0 %
Risk free rate     3.93 %     4.11 %
Probability of issuance     59.4 %     80.8 %

 

Loss on debt extinguishment is presented as a non-operating expense in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. This accounting also resulted in a decrease in the amount of accretion to be recognized over the remaining life of the Lind III Convertible Security through February 2023. Accretion expenses are disclosed as a part of interest expense, which is not included as a component of operating costs.

 

Yorkville Convertible Debentures

 

In connection with the GXII Transaction, on January 26, 2023, NioCorp entered into definitive agreements with respect to the Yorkville Financings, including a Securities Purchase Agreement, dated January 26, 2023 (as amended the “Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement”), between the Company and Yorkville, and a Standby Equity Purchase Agreement, dated January 26, 2023 (the “Yorkville Equity Facility Financing Agreement”), between the Company and Yorkville.

 

Pursuant to the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement, at the Closing, Yorkville advanced a total amount of $15,360 to NioCorp in consideration of the issuance by NioCorp to Yorkville of (i) $16,000 aggregate principal amount of unsecured convertible debentures (the “Convertible Debentures”) and (ii) Common Share purchase warrants, exercisable for up to 1,789,267 Common Shares for cash or, if at any time there is no effective registration statement registering, or no current prospectus available for, the resale of the underlying Common Shares, on a cashless basis, at the option of the holder, at a price per Common Share of approximately $8.9422, subject to adjustment to give effect to any stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split or similar transaction (the “Financing Warrants”).

 

Each Convertible Debenture issued under the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement is an unsecured obligation of NioCorp, has an 18-month term from the Closing Date, which may be extended for one six-month period in certain circumstances at the option of NioCorp, and incurs a simple interest rate obligation of 5.0% per annum (which will increase to 15.0% per annum upon the occurrence of an event of default). The outstanding principal amount of, accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, and premium, if any, on the Convertible Debentures must be paid by NioCorp in cash when the same becomes due and payable under the terms of the Convertible Debentures at their stated maturity, upon their redemption or otherwise.

 

Subject to certain limitations contained within the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement and the Convertible Debentures, including those as described below, holders of the Convertible Debentures will be entitled to convert the principal amount of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on each Convertible Debenture, in whole or in part, from time to time over their term, into a number of Common Shares equal to the quotient of the principal amount and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, being converted divided by the Conversion Price. The “Conversion Price” means, as of any Conversion Date (as defined below) or other date of determination, the greater of (i) 90% of the average of the daily U.S. dollar volume-weighted average price of the Common Shares on the principal U.S. market for the Common Shares as reported by Bloomberg Financial Markets during the five consecutive trading days immediately preceding the date on which the holder exercises its conversion right in accordance with the requirements of the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement (the “Conversion Date”) or other date of determination, but not lower than the Floor Price (as defined below), and (ii) the five-day volume-weighted average price of the Common

 

 

Shares on the TSX (or on the principal U.S. market if the majority of the trading volume and value of the Common Shares occurred on Nasdaq during the relevant period) for the five consecutive trading days immediately prior to the Conversion Date or other date of determination less the maximum applicable discount allowed by TSX. The “Floor Price” means a price of $2.1435 per share, which is equal to the lesser of (a) 30% of the average of the daily volume-weighted average price of the Common Shares on the principal U.S. market for the Common Shares as reported by Bloomberg Financial Markets during the five consecutive trading days immediately preceding the Debenture Closing and (b) 30% of the average of the volume-weighted average price of the Common Shares on the principal U.S. market for the Common Shares as reported by Bloomberg Financial Markets during the five consecutive trading days immediately following the Debenture Closing, subject to certain adjustments to give effect to any stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split, recapitalization or similar event.

 

The terms of the Convertible Debentures restrict the number of Convertible Debentures that may be converted during each calendar month by Yorkville at a Conversion Price below a fixed price equal to approximately $8.9422 (i.e., the quotient of $10.00 divided by 1.11829212 (being the number of Common Shares that were exchanged for each share of GXII at the Closing, after giving effect to the Reverse Stock Split)), subject to adjustment to give effect to any stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split, recapitalization or similar event. The Convertible Debentures are subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments.

 

The terms of the Convertible Debentures restrict the conversion of Convertible Debentures by Yorkville if such a conversion would cause Yorkville to exceed certain beneficial ownership thresholds in NioCorp or such a conversion would cause the aggregate number of Common Shares issued pursuant to the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement to exceed the thresholds for issuance of Common Shares under the rules of the TSX and Nasdaq, unless prior shareholder approval is obtained.

 

Pursuant to the terms of the Convertible Debentures, following certain trigger events, and until a subsequent cure event, NioCorp will be required to redeem $1,125 aggregate principal amount of Convertible Debentures (the “Triggered Principal Amount”) each month by making cash payments to the Investors, on a pro rata basis, in an amount equal to the Triggered Principal Amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest thereon, if any, plus a redemption premium of 7% of the Triggered Principal Amount. Such monthly prepayments under the terms of the Convertible Debentures are triggered (i) at the time when NioCorp has issued 95% of the total amount of Common Shares pursuant to the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing that it may issue under applicable TSX and Nasdaq rules or (ii) when NioCorp has delayed or suspended the effectiveness or use of the Convertible Debt Financing Registration Statement for more than 20 consecutive calendar days, and such monthly prepayment obligations will continue until, with respect to (i) above, shareholder approval is obtained or, with respect to (ii) above, the Investors may once again resell Common Shares under the Convertible Debt Financing Registration Statement, respectively.

 

The Convertible Debentures may also be redeemed at NioCorp’s option at any time and from time to time over their term at a redemption price equal to 110% of the principal amount being redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any.

 

In conjunction with the issuance of the Convertible Debentures, NioCorp issued to Yorkville 1,789,267 Financing Warrants at an exercise price of approximately $8.9422 per Common Share (the “Financing Warrant Exercise Price”), subject to adjustment to give effect to any stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split recapitalization or similar event.

 

The Financing Warrants are exercisable, in whole or in part, but not in increments of less than $50 aggregate Financing Warrant Exercise Price (unless the remaining aggregate Financing Warrant Exercise Price is less than $50), beginning on May 4, 2023, and may be exercised at any time prior to their expiration. Holders of the Financing Warrants may exercise their Financing Warrants, at their election, by paying the Financing Warrant Exercise Price in cash or, if at any time there is no effective registration statement registering, or no current prospectus available for, the resale of the underlying Common Shares, on a cashless exercise basis. 1/12th of the Financing Warrants will expire on each of the first 12 monthly anniversaries of the date that is six months following the Closing Date.

 

The Financing Warrants have customary anti-dilution adjustments to be determined in accordance with the requirements of the applicable stock exchanges, including the TSX. The terms of the Financing Warrants restrict the

 

 

exercise of Financing Warrants by Yorkville if such an exercise would cause Yorkville to exceed certain beneficial ownership thresholds in NioCorp or such an exercise would cause the aggregate number of Common Shares issued pursuant to the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement to exceed the thresholds for issuance of Common Shares under the rules of the Nasdaq and the TSX, unless prior shareholder approval is obtained.

 

The Financing Warrants were originally recorded as a $2,704 contingent liability on January 26, 2023, and were subsequently marked to market of $3,337 through March 16, 2023. The change in fair value during this period resulted in a loss of $633, which was booked to change in fair value of warrant liability in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss. The Financing Warrants were reclassified to shareholders equity on March 17, 2023, in connection with the closing of the Convertible Debentures as noted below.

 

The Company allocated the net proceeds of $15,360 from the Convertible Debentures as follows:

 

  $2,704 was booked to Common Shares, representing the initial fair value of the Financing Warrant tranches on January 26, 2023 based on the Black Scholes pricing model using a risk-free interest rate of 4.33%, an expected dividend yield of 0%, a volatility of 64.6%, and an expected life of 6 months to 18 months.

 

  $12,656 was booked to the convertible debt liability. In addition, transaction costs of $503 were recognized as a direct deduction from the debt liability, resulting in a net opening balance of $12,153 at an effective interest rate of 18.4%. This balance will be accreted to face value of the Convertible Debentures at maturity using the effective interest method and recorded as non-cash interest expense in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss.
     

Changes in the Convertible Debentures are as follows:

 

      Amount  
Opening balance, March 17, 2023    $ 12,153  
Accretion expense     1,962  
Principal and accrued interest converted   (3,554 )
Balance, June 30, 2023   $ 10,561  

Add: Unamortized debt issuance costs

    2,439  

Remaining principal balance, June 30, 2023

  $ 13,000  

 

Upon conversion, the portion of remaining unamortized issuance costs associated with the conversion are recognized as a component of interest expense.

 

The Convertible Debentures contain events of default customary for instruments of their type (with customary grace periods, as applicable) and provide that, upon the occurrence of an event of default arising from certain events of bankruptcy or insolvency with respect to NioCorp, all outstanding Convertible Debentures will become due and payable immediately without further action or notice. If any other type of event of default occurs and is continuing, then any holder may declare all of its Convertible Debentures to be due and payable immediately. The Company obtained a waiver from Yorkville with respect to any acceleration rights it may have under the Convertible Debentures in connection with the restatements of the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the periods ended September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2022 and the delay in filing the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2023. The Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing Agreement also contains certain covenants that, among other things, limit NioCorp’s ability to use the proceeds from the Yorkville Convertible Debt Financing to repay related party debt or to enter into any variable rate transaction other than with Yorkville, subject to certain exceptions.

 

Based on the Company’s closing Common Share price of $5.03 as of June 30, 2023, conversion of the remaining Convertible Debenture principal balance of $13.0 million, including accrued interest, would require the issuance of approximately 2,871,660 Common Shares. For each $0.10 change in the fair value of one Common Share, the total shares the Company would be obligated to issue would change by approximately 58,300 shares.