Silver Bear Resources Inc. (TSX:SBR) is pleased to announce that the Company and Closed Joint Stock Company “ZAO Prognoz” the Company’s indirect wholly-owned Russian subsidiary, have received US$42,924,995 on drawdown of the Tranche A funds under the previously announced facilities agreement dated September 5, 2016 with the Company’s major shareholders, Inflection Management Corporation Limited and A.B. Aterra Resources Ltd. with respect to the financing of the final development, construction and commissioning of the Company’s Mangazeisky Silver Project.

The Tranche A term loan facility of approximately US$42.9 million consisted of approximately US$30.44 million provided by Inflection and US$12.47 million provided by Aterra. US$32.9 million of the Tranche A Funds was made available to the Company and US$10 million of the Tranche A Funds was made available to Prognoz. On drawdown, the Company used approximately US$32.9 million of the Tranche A Funds to repay, by means of set-off, the principal and accrued interest on certain outstanding promissory notes previously issued by the Company to Inflection and Aterra, as required under the terms of the Facilities Agreement. The remaining US$10 million of the Tranche A Funds will be used by Prognoz for final development, construction and commissioning of the Mangazeisky Silver Project and for general administrative and corporate expenses.

The Facilities Agreement provides for the drawdown of three tranches as follows:

• Tranche A – a term loan facility of approximately US$42.9 million, being the Tranche A Funds, which the Company received on September 22, 2016;
• Tranche B – a working capital facility of US$10 million; and
• Tranche C – a contingent facility of US$2 million.

The Company expects that after the repayment, by means of set-off, of certain outstanding promissory notes previously issued by the Company, the Secured Loan Funding will result in net new funding to the Company and Prognoz of approximately US$22 million.

Please see the material change report of the Company dated September 15, 2016 available on SEDAR for additional details on the Facilities Agreement.

About Silver Bear

Silver Bear is focused on the development of its wholly-owned Mangazeisky Silver Project, covering a licence area of approximately 570 km² that includes the high-grade Vertikalny deposit, located 400 km north of Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha within the Russian Federation. The Company was granted a 20-year mining licence for the Vertikalny deposit in September 2013 and completed a Feasibility Study in Q2 2016. The Company is implementing a fast-track execution plan to complete major construction of the Mangazeisky Silver Project by the end of 2016, with steady state production planned to start in Q1 2017.