Metamaterial Inc. is borrowing US$10 million from Plano, Texas-based oil and gas producer Torchlight Energy Resources, the company it hopes to merge with in the coming months.

Meta, as the Dartmouth company is known, announced in the autumn that it would merge with Torchlight through a reverse takeover. The result of the pairing is intended to give Meta a Nasdaq listing, while Torchlight will transform from a producer of fossil fuels to an innovative company producing light-altering materials.

The companies issued a statement earlier this week saying Torchlight will lend Meta US$10 million through a promissory note with an 8 percent interest rate. If the loan is not repaid within a year, Torchlight will have the right to convert the principal to Meta common stock.

The statement said Meta will use half the proceeds to accelerate the purchase of “pilot scale production equipment” and the other half will be used for general corporate purposes.

Meta has said before that it expects to raise about US$10 million through its Nasdaq listing, which is expected in the coming months.

Meta's shares, which are now listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, have been on a roll this year, rising from 66 cents on Dec. 31 to $3.60 on Thursday. The company currently has a market capitalization (the value of all its shares) of about $298 million, according to Yahoo Finance.

Meta is a specialist in producing metamaterials – materials comprising compounds not found in nature – that alter light, either by magnifying, repelling or filtering it. The company is best known for its metaAIR venture with Airbus, which is producing a transparent covering for airplane cockpit windows that can filter out laser attacks.