17.Equity

Offering and private placement transaction

On July 17, 2019, the Company entered into an agreement with certain institutional investors providing for the issuance and sale of 8,653,846 shares of the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.26 per share, and in a concurrent private placement transaction, the issuance of 8,653,846 Series A warrants to purchase up to 8,653,846 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $0.35 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $2.25 million (the “Offering”). Each Series A warrant became exercisable on January 17, 2020 and will expire on January 17, 2025, five years from the initial exercise date. Each of the investors in the Offering held warrants that were issued by the Company in May 2016 and were exercisable until November 2021 at an exercise price of $0.75 per share. In connection with the Offering, the Company also agreed to exchange, on a one-for-one basis, the May 2016 warrants for Series B warrants to purchase 4,500,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.35 per share. Each Series B warrant became exercisable on January 17, 2020 and will expire on May 20, 2022 but are otherwise subject to the same terms and conditions as the Series A warrants.

The net proceeds of the Offering were recorded in equity and appear as a separate line item in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity. Total costs for the Offering were approximately $0.3 million, including the placement agent fee of six percent of aggregate gross proceeds, listing fees and legal and other costs. Such costs were recorded as a reduction to “Additional paid in capital” on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Using the Black Scholes model, the fair value of the Series A warrants issued was approximately $2.1 million and the incremental fair value of the Series B warrants, when compared to the warrants that they replaced, was approximately $0.3 million. The Black Scholes inputs for the Series A warrants included the closing stock price on July 16, 2019 (the day preceding the date the Company entered into the agreement to issue the shares) of $0.33, the exercise price and exercise period of the warrants, the Company’s applicable volatility rate for the period of the Series A warrants of 95%, and the applicable risk-free rate of 1.9%. The Black Scholes inputs for the Series B warrants included the closing stock price on July 16, 2019 of $0.33, the exercise price and exercise period of the warrants, the Company’s applicable volatility rate for the period of the Series B warrants of 88%, and the applicable risk-free rate of 1.9%.

Registered direct purchase agreement and commitment purchase agreement and registration rights agreement

On May 9, 2018 the Company entered into a registered direct purchase agreement (the “Registered Purchase Agreement”) with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC (“LPC”) pursuant to which LPC purchased 3,153,808 shares of the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.4122 per share, the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the NYSE American on May 8, 2018, for an aggregate purchase price of $1.3 million.

On May 9, 2018, the Company also entered into a commitment purchase agreement (the “Commitment Purchase Agreement” and together with the Registered Purchase Agreement, the “LPC Program”) and a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) with LPC, pursuant to which the Company, at its sole discretion, has the right to sell up to an additional $10.0 million of the Company’s common stock to LPC, subject to certain limitations and conditions contained in the Commitment Purchase Agreement. The Company closed on the Commitment Purchase Agreement in July 2018.

On June 7, 2018, pursuant to the terms of the Registration Rights Agreements, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-225483) (the “Registration Statement”) registering the resale up to 15,222,941 shares of the Company’s common stock to be issued to LPC pursuant to the terms of the Commitment Purchase Agreement. The Registration Statement was declared effective on June 28, 2018. Proceeds from the LPC Program will be used for general corporate purposes, including advancing the exploration program at the Company’s El Quevar property in Argentina.

Subject to the terms of the Commitment Purchase Agreement, the Company will control the timing and amount of any future sale of the Company’s common stock to LPC. LPC has no right to require any sales by the Company under the Commitment Purchase Agreement but is obligated to make purchases at the Company’s sole direction, as governed by such agreement. There are no upper limits to the price LPC may be obligated to pay to purchase common stock from the Company and the purchase price of the shares will be based on the prevailing market prices of the Company’s shares at the time of each sale to LPC. LPC has agreed not to cause or engage in any manner whatsoever, any direct or indirect short selling or hedging of the Company’s shares of common stock. The Company has the right to terminate the Commitment Purchase Agreement at any time, at its discretion, without any cost or penalty.

In consideration for LPC’s commitment to purchase shares pursuant to the Commitment Purchase Agreement, the Company paid LPC a commitment fee of $300,000 and incurred an additional approximate $190,000 in stock exchange fees, legal and other associated costs in connection with the LPC Program. The total costs for the LPC Program will be recorded as a reduction to equity as common stock is sold to LPC. As of December 31, 2018, approximately $58,000 of LPC Program costs had been amortized against $1.3 million in proceeds received, resulting in $432,000 of deferred LPC Program costs, recorded in “Other long-term assets” on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of December 31, 2018, no additional common stock had been sold to LPC under the LPC Program following the initial sale of common stock pursuant to the Registered Purchase Agreement.

During the year ended December 31, 2019 the Company sold 2,113,642 shares of common stock to LPC under the LPC Program at an average sales price per share of approximately $0.28, resulting in net proceeds of approximately $590,000. In addition, approximately $58,000 of LPC Program costs were amortized, resulting in a remaining balance of $376,000 of deferred LPC Program costs, recorded in “Other long-term assets” on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2019. Subsequent to December 31, 2019 the Company sold an aggregate of approximately 825,000 common shares under the Commitment Purchase Agreement at an average price of $0.27 per common share for total proceeds of approximately $0.2 million during the year to date period ended February 25, 2020.

At the Market Offering Agreement

In December 2016, the Company entered into an at-the-market offering agreement (as amended from time to time, the “ATM Agreement”) with H. C. Wainwright & Co., LLC (“Wainwright”), under which the Company may, from time to time, issue and sell shares of the Company’s common stock through Wainwright as sales manager in an at-the-market offering under a prospectus supplement for aggregate sales proceeds of up to $5.0 million (the “ATM Program”) or a maximum of 10 million shares. On September 29, 2017, the Company entered into an amendment to the ATM Agreement with Wainwright to reflect a new registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-220461) under which shares of the Company’s common stock may be sold under the ATM Program. On November 23, 2018 the Company entered into a second amendment of the ATM Agreement extending the agreement until the earlier of December 20, 2020, or the date that the ATM Agreement is terminated in accordance with the terms therein. Offers or sales of common shares under the ATM Program will be made only in the United States and no offers or sales of common shares under the ATM Agreement will be made in Canada. The common stock will be distributed at the market prices prevailing at the time of sale. As a result, prices of the common stock sold under the ATM Program may vary as between purchasers and during the period of distribution. The ATM Agreement provides that Wainwright will be entitled to compensation for its services at a commission rate of 2.0% of the gross sales price per share of common stock sold.

The Company reimbursed certain legal expenses of Wainwright totaling $50,000 and incurred additional accounting, legal, and regulatory costs of approximately $109,000 in connection with establishing the ATM Program. Such costs have been deferred and will be amortized to equity as sales are completed under the ATM Program. At December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively, unamortized costs totaling $135,000 and $136,000 appear on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets as “Other long-term assets.”

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company sold an aggregate of 33,995 shares of common stock under the ATM Agreement at an average price of $0.34 per share of common stock for total proceeds of approximately $11,000. Subsequent to December 31, 2019 the Company sold an aggregate of approximately 545,000 common shares under the ATM Program at an average price of $0.31 per common share for total proceeds of approximately $0.2 million during the year to date period ended February 25, 2020.

The Company did not sell any stock under the ATM Program during the year ended December 31, 2018. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company incurred a nil amount and approximately $15,000, respectively in additional accounting, legal, and regulatory costs associated with the ATM Program that were included in “General and administrative costs” in the Consolidated Statement of Operations.

Equity Incentive Plans

Under the Company’s Amended and Restated 2009 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Plan”) awards of the Company’s common stock may be made to officers, directors, employees, consultants and agents of the Company and its subsidiaries. The Company recognizes stock-based compensation costs using a graded vesting attribution method whereby costs are recognized over the requisite service period for each separately vesting portion of the award.

The following table summarizes the status of the Company’s restricted stock grants issued under the Equity Plan at December 31, 2019 and 2018 and changes during the years then ended:


	The Year Ended December 31,
	2019			2018
		Weighted			Weighted
		Average Grant			Average
		Date Fair			Grant Date
	Number of	Value Per		Number of	Fair Value
Restricted Stock Grants	Shares	Share		Shares	Per Share
Outstanding at beginning of period	340,001	$	0.45	203,334	$	0.55
Granted during the period	312,000		0.26	280,000		0.37
Restrictions lifted during the period	(333,998)		0.41	(143,333)		0.44
Forfeited during the period	—		—	—		—
Outstanding at end of period	318,003	$	0.30	340,001	$	0.45

During the year ended December 31, 2019 the Company recognized approximately $0.1 million of compensation expense related to the restricted stock grants. The Company expects to recognize additional compensation expense related to these awards of approximately $0.1 million over the next 18 months. During the year ended December 31, 2019, 312,000 shares were granted to two employees, with 104,000 shares vesting on the grant date and the remaining shares vesting equally on the first and second anniversaries of the grant date. In addition, during 2019, restrictions were lifted on 229,998 shares granted to five employees in a prior year.

During the year ended December 31, 2018 the Company recognized approximately $0.1 million of compensation expense related to the restricted stock grants. During the year ended December 31, 2018, 280,000 shares were granted to six employees, with one third of the grants vesting on the grant date and the remaining shares vesting equally on the first and second anniversaries of the grant date. In addition to the vesting of one third of the shares granted in 2018, restrictions were lifted on 50,000 shares granted to an employee in a prior year.

The following table summarizes the status of the Company’s stock option grants issued under the Equity Plan at December 31, 2019 and 2018 and changes during the years then ended:


	The Year Ended December 31,
	2019			2018
		Weighted			Weighted
		Average			Average
		Exercise			Exercise
	Number of	Price Per		Number of	Price Per
Equity Plan Options	Shares	Share		Shares	Share
Outstanding at beginning of period	30,310	$	8.06	40,310	$	8.05
Granted during the period	—		—	—		—
Forfeited or expired during period	—	$	—	(10,000)		8.00
Exercised during period	—		—	—		—
Outstanding at end of period	30,310	$	8.06	30,310	$	8.06
Exercisable at end of period	30,310	$	8.06	30,310	$	8.06
Granted and vested	30,310	$	8.06	30,310	$	8.06

The Company does not expect to record any additional expense related to these options.

Also, pursuant to the Equity Plan, the Company’s Board of Directors adopted the Non-Employee Director’s Deferred Compensation and Equity Award Plan (the “Deferred Compensation Plan”). Pursuant to the Deferred Compensation Plan the non-employee directors receive a portion of their compensation in the form of Restricted Stock Units (“RSUs”) issued under the Equity Plan. The RSUs vest on the first anniversary of the grant and each vested RSU entitles the director to receive one unrestricted share of common stock upon the termination of the director’s board service.

The following table summarizes the status of the RSU grants issued under the Deferred Compensation Plan at December 31, 2019 and 2018 and changes during the years then ended:


	The Year Ended December 31,
	2019			2018
		Weighted			Weighted
		Average Grant			Average
		Date Fair			Grant Date
	Number of	Value Per		Number of	Fair Value
Restricted Stock Units	Shares	Share		Shares	Per Share
Outstanding at beginning of period	2,230,038	$	0.93	1,887,317	$	1.16
Granted during the period	600,000		0.24	600,000		0.42
Restrictions lifted during the period	—		—	(257,279)		1.44
Forfeited during the period	—		—	—		—
Outstanding at end of period	2,830,038	$	0.78	2,230,038	$	0.93

For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 the Company recognized approximately $0.2 million of compensation expense, each year, related to the RSU grants. During each of the years 2019 and 2018, 100,000 RSUs were granted to each of the six board members. Restrictions lifted on 257,279 RSU shares during 2018 relate to the retirement of a member of the Company’s Board of Directors during the year. The Company expects to recognize additional compensation expense related to the RSU grants of approximately $0.1 million over the next six months.

Key Employee Long-Term Incentive Plan

The Company’s 2013 Key Employee Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “KELTIP”) provides for the grant of units (“KELTIP Units”) to certain officers and key employees of the Company, which units will, once vested, entitle such officers and employees to receive an amount, in cash or in Company common stock (such method of settlement at the sole discretion of the Board of Directors) issued pursuant to the Company’s Equity Plan, measured generally by the price of the Company’s common stock on the settlement date. KELTIP Units are not an actual equity interest in the Company and are solely unfunded and unsecured obligations of the Company that are not transferable and do not provide the holder with any stockholder rights. Payment of the settlement amount of vested KELTIP Units is deferred generally until the earlier of a change of control of the Company or the date the grantee ceases to serve as an officer or employee of the Company.

On February 26, 2019, the Company awarded an additional total of 705,000 KELTIP Units to two officers of the Company. Due to the Company’s desire to preserve its limited current cash reserves for funding expenditures related to its portfolio of exploration projects, the Company determined it no longer had the current intent to settle any of its outstanding KELTIP Units in cash. The Company now intends to settle all of the KELTIP Units, including those previously issued, in common stock of the Company, an option that the Board of Directors holds in its sole discretion so long as sufficient shares remain available under the Equity Plan. As a result, the Company recorded approximately $254,000 of compensation expense, included in “Stock based compensation” in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the KELTIP Units awarded on February 26, 2019 with a similar amount recorded as “Additional Paid-in Capital” in the Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity. The Company has treated the previously awarded KELTIP Units as effectively modified at February 26, 2019. The Company marked-to-market the prior KELTIP Units as of that date and recorded approximately $227,000 of additional compensation expense, included in “Stock based compensation” in the Consolidated Statement of Operations and recorded approximately $583,000 as “Additional Paid-in Capital” in the Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity, an amount representing the sum of the compensation expense recorded on February 26, 2019 and the liability for the KELTIP Units recorded at December 31, 2018. All KELTIP Units are recorded in equity at December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019 2,325,000 KELTIP Units were outstanding.

At December 31, 2018 the Company had awarded 1,620,000 KELTIP Units to two officers of the Company, reported as a liability of approximately $356,000 and included in “Accounts payable and other accrued liabilities” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets on the basis that the Company had the intent to settle the obligation in cash.

Through December 31, 2018, the KELTIP Units were marked to market at the end of each reporting period and for the year ended December 31, 2018 the Company recognized an approximate $334,000 reduction to compensation expense related to the KELTIP Units. At December 31, 2018 1,620,000 KELTIP Units were outstanding.

Common stock warrants

The following table summarizes the status of the Company’s common stock warrants at December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, and the changes during the years then ended:


	The Year Ended December 31,
	2019			2018
		Weighted			Weighted
	Number of	Average Exercise		Number of	Average Exercise
	Underlying	Price Per		Underlying	Price Per
Common Stock Warrants	Shares	Share		Shares	Share
Outstanding at beginning of period	11,517,696	$	0.81	11,478,172	$	0.81
Granted during the period:
Series A warrants	8,653,846		0.35	—		—
Dilution adjustment	168,669		0.80	39,524		0.87
Expired during period	(5,686,365)		0.80	—		—
Exchanged during the period:
May 2016 warrants	(4,500,000)		0.75	—
Series B warrants	4,500,000		0.35	—
Exercised during period	—			—		—
Outstanding at end of period	14,653,846	$	0.39	11,517,696	$	0.81

The warrants relate to prior and current registered offerings and private placements of the Company’s stock.

In September 2014, the Company closed on a registered public offering and concurrent private placement with The Sentient Group (“Sentient”) in which it sold units, consisting of one share of common stock and a five-year warrant to acquire one half of a share of common stock at an exercise price of $1.21 per share. A total of 4,746,000 warrant shares were issued that became exercisable on March 11, 2015. Pursuant to the anti-dilution clauses in the 2014 warrant agreements, the exercise price of the warrants has been adjusted downward as a result of the subsequent issuance of the Company’s common stock in separate transactions, including the conversion of the Senior Secured Convertible Note which the Company entered into in October 2015 to borrow $5.0 million from Sentient, the Company’s largest stockholder, the May 2016 Offering and private placement, the ATM Program, the issuance of shares to Hecla in August 2017, the Registered Purchase Agreement with LPC and LPC share sales (discussed above) and the July 17, 2019 offering and private placement transaction. Prior to their expiration on September 10, 2019, the number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the September 2014 warrants increased from the original 4,746,000 shares to 5,686,365 shares (940,365 share increase) and the exercise price had been reduced from the original $1.21 per share to $0.80 per share. The 5,686,365 warrants expired on September 10, 2019, five years from the original date of issuance.

In May 2016, the Company issued 8.0 million registered shares of common stock at a purchase price of $0.50 per share in a registered direct offering (the “Offering”) resulting in gross proceeds of $4.0 million. In connection with the Offering, each investor received an unregistered warrant to purchase three‐quarters of a share of common stock for each share of common stock purchased. The resulting 6,000,000 warrant shares have an exercise price of $0.75 per share, became exercisable on November 7, 2016 and will expire on November 6, 2021, five years from the initial exercise date. In connection with the July 2019 registered direct offering discussed above, the Company agreed to exchange, on a one-for-one basis, 4,500,000 of the May 2016 warrants for Series B warrants to purchase 4,500,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.35 per share. Each Series B warrant is exercisable six months from the date of issuance and has a term expiring in May 2022.

As discussed above, on July 17, 2019, the Company issued 8,653,846 registered shares of common stock in a registered direct offering. In a concurrent private placement transaction, each investor received a Series A warrant to purchase a share of common stock for each share of common stock purchased. Each Series A warrant is exercisable six months from the date of issuance and has a term expiring in January 2025.

All outstanding warrants are recorded in equity at December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018.