AMC teams up with Eric Sprott on mining investment (really)

Noah Zivitz, BNN Bloomberg

AMC Entertainment Holdings Corp., which got swept up in last year's meme stock rally, is teaming up with one of Canada's best known mining experts on an investment.

AMC announced Tuesday morning that it's joining with Eric Sprott on investments in Hycroft Mining Holding Corp. Each of them will plow US$27.9 million into Hycroft in exchange for a 21.8 per cent stake in the miner.

"To state the obvious, one would not normally think that a movie theatre company’s core competency includes gold or silver mining," said AMC CEO Adam Aron in the release.

He went on to state that AMC's "demonstrated expertise" in navigating liquidity challenges will be beneficial to Hycroft, as the miner seeks to develop a 71,000-acre mine in Nevada.

The investments will see AMC and Sprott acquire 23,408,240 units in Hycroft, with each unit consisting of a common share and a warrant to purchase another common share for US$1.068. Hycroft shares closed at US$1.39 on the Nasdaq Monday.

After peaking at US$62.55 last May, AMC shares lost 78 per cent of their value through the close of trading Monday.

“We couldn't be more pleased to announce this transformational investment in the future of Hycroft, anchored by Eric Sprott, one of the world's leading precious metals investors, and AMC Entertainment Holdings, which has proven its expertise and ability to address liquidity challenges and to raise capital to optimize the value of significant underlying assets,” said Hycroft President and Chief Executive Diane Garrett in a release.

Hycroft said proceeds will go toward general corporate purposes and work on assessing the future of the mine in Nevada.