Though still gaining traction in Western Canada, crowdfunding is now being tapped by all types of industries as a leg up for accelerated growth.
B.C.-based junior mining company Kal Minerals Corp. has turned to Vested Technology Corp.’s online crowdfunding platform to build out its portfolio and expand the company.
“Kal Minerals is the first exploration company in Canada that is using the crowdfunding exemption offered by the British Columbia Securities Commission,” said David Patterson, chief operating officer at Vested.
Vested is a Vancouver-based startup crowdfunding platform that is not registered under Canadian securities legislation.
“The portal,” Patterson said, “allows a passageway for private companies to meet with private investors to fund small amounts of money through many investors, up to $250,000 twice a year.”
Equity crowdfunding has been legal in B.C. since May 2015, but he said this is the first time the option has been used this way in the province.
“This is definitely a milestone for junior exploration in B.C., but also for people that want to see how crowdfunding works at the grassroots level.”
Patterson is a veteran in the startup sphere, having spent roughly 30 years funding the resource and technology sectors. He has an MBA from Simon Fraser University (SFU) and is a member of the SFU athletic advisory committee, which is how he connected with Kal Minerals president and CEO Raymond Wladichuk.
“Ray played football for SFU, so I’ve known him from a few different walks of life,” Patterson said. “I also played football at the school.”
Wladichuk, who played in the Canadian Football League for two years before starting Kal Minerals, studied engineering at SFU with a focus on alternative energy.
He obtained his degree in earth sciences.
His company is focused on aluminum alloys and other related metals and minerals.
“We are trying to build a portfolio of good projects,“ Wladichuk said.
That portfolio begins with the option of earning 100% interest in the Jack White property in B.C.’s New Westminster mining division, between Merritt and Hope.
“This B.C. property has great copper numbers and is in a regional scandium-high area, which is the best aluminum-strengthening alloy,” said Wladichuk. “We’ve already raised $70,000 for exploration, which is Step 1 for building this company up.”
The Jack White property is a skarn or calcium-bearing calc-silicate mineral deposit in the center of a regional scandium anomaly. Scandium is a rare earth element and is scarce and valuable.
Wladichuk launched his campaign on February 21 and has reached 10% of the required funds. The company has until May to raise the minimum of $25,000.
According to the BC Securities Commission, Vested is one of nine crowdfunding portals permitted to use the start-up crowdfunding prospectus exemption in B.C. Portals must either be registered as a dealer or rely on an exemption from the requirement to register as a dealer. Portals relying on the dealer registration exemption are not permitted to offer investment advice.
FrontFundr is the only portal registered as a dealer that is currently using the start-up crowdfunding prospectus exemption in B.C.
