Steven Zaninovich Appointed as Operations Director

RNS Number : 8383T

Kodal Minerals PLC

27 July 2022

 

27 July 2022

Kodal Minerals plc

('Kodal Minerals' or the 'Company')

Steven Zaninovich Appointed to the Board as Operations Director

Kodal Minerals, the mineral exploration and development company focused on lithium and gold assets in West Africa, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Steven Zaninovich to the Board as Operations Director, effective from 1 August 2022. Mr Zaninovich has been steering the development of the Company's flagship Bougouni Lithium Project in southern Mali ("Bougouni") through his role as Project Manager since November 2018.

Mr Zaninovich brings to the Board more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry together with extensive knowledge of West Africa, having worked as C hief Operating Officer with Gryphon Minerals ("Gryphon") and Vice President of Major Projects at Teranga Gold Corporation, where he was also part of the Executive Management Team following its acquisition of Gryphon.

An engineer by trade, Mr Zaninovich's career has encompassed all stages of the project development life cycle including feasibility, construction, operations and maintenance.  In particular, his experience in the successful delivery and commissioning of a number of mining projects, including the Bald Hill Lithium Project in Western Australia, an active lithium mine, will be invaluable as Kodal continues to advance the Bougouni Lithium Project to development and construction.  Mr Zaninovich is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Bernard Aylward, CEO of Kodal Minerals, commented:

  "We are delighted to appoint Steve to the Board, who has worked with Kodal since 2018 as Project Manager on the Bougouni Lithium Project.  Steve has performed exceptionally well in this role as a key part of the team that has successfully achieved the environmental permitting and completed and recently updated an extensive Feasibility Study that supported approval of the Bougouni mining licence.

Steve is a high calibre and experienced mining professional and we welcome his experience and guidance as we look to enter the critical phase of development of our project.  Steve has worked closely with the Board over these recent years and we look forward to his assistance as an Executive Board member as we continue to work together to realise the full potential of the Bougouni project and Kodal Minerals as a whole."  

Following Mr Zaninovich's appointment, the Board of Kodal will be composed of five members: Non-executive Chairman Robert Wooldridge, Chief Executive Officer Bernard Aylward, Operations Director Steve Zaninovich and Non-executive Directors Charles Joseland and Qingtao Zeng.

The following information is disclosed pursuant to Rule 17 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Steven ("Steve") Evan Zaninovich, aged 54, is, or has been, a director of the following companies during the previous five years:

Current directorships/partnerships	Past directorships/partnerships
Mako Gold Limited Bellavista Resources Ltd Canyon Resources Limited Maximus Resources Limited Sarama Resources Ltd. Zivvo Pty Ltd MXR Minerals Pty. Ltd.	Indiana Resources Limited Mukuyu Resources Limited Indiana Developments Pty Ltd (dissolved)

Mr Zaninovich has a total beneficial interest in 7,142,857 ordinary shares of 0.03125p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares"). In addition, he has a beneficial interest in warrants over new Ordinary Shares as set out below:

Exercise Price per Share	Vested in Nov 2018	Vested in Nov 2021	Vest on commercial production from Bougouni	Total
0.14p	13,333,333	16,666,667	30,000,000	60,000,000
0.25p	13,333,333	16,666,667	30,000,000	60,000,000
0.38p	13,333,333	16,666,667	30,000,000	60,000,000
Total	39,999,999	50,000,001	90,000,000	180,000,000

Each warrant is exercisable into one Ordinary Share of the Company and has a life of five years from vesting.

In addition, an incentive programme has been agreed and Mr Zaninovich (or his nominee) has been granted the following Options and Performance Share Rights:

Vesting criteria	Options		Performance Share Rights
	Exercise Price	Number
Securing of finance for the Bougouni mine	£0.00280p	47,500,000	25,000,000  capped at £250,000 value
Receipt of funds from first sale of spodumene concentrate from Bougouni within 18 months of receipt of finance	£0.00325p	52,500,000	25,000,000  capped at £250,000 value
Production of 175,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate from Bougouni	£0.00380p	70,000,000	25,000,000  capped at £250,000 value
Total	£0.00335p average	170,000,000	75,000,000 total capped at £750,000 value

Each Option is exercisable in to one Ordinary Share of the Company and has a life of five years from vesting.

Under the terms of the Performance Share Rights, subject to the vesting conditions being satisfied, Mr Zaninovich may call for the applicable number of Ordinary Shares as set out in the table above to be issued to him at any time within five years of the vesting condition being met and upon payment by him of the nominal value for the Ordinary Shares. The number of Ordinary Shares that can be issued under each tranche of the Performance Share Right is capped at a monetary value of the Ordinary Shares at the time the relevant vesting criteria is achieved. Accordingly, the final number of Ordinary Shares that may be issued following each vesting criteria being met will be calculated as the 10 day volume weighted average price of the Company's Ordinary Shares over the period of five business days prior to the vesting criteria being met and the subsequent five business days. In the event of a change of control of the Company, 50 per cent. of any unvested Performance Share Rights will vest immediately, provided that the Company's share price at the time of the change of control exceeds 0.24 pence, being the share price when the awards were made.

The terms of these Performance Rights are similar to those granted to other members of Kodal's management team in August 2021.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.kodalminerals.com or contact the following:

Kodal Minerals plc

Bernard Aylward, CEO  Tel: [phone]

Allenby Capital Limited, Nominated Adviser

Jeremy Porter/Nick Harriss/Liz Kirchner  Tel: [phone]

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP, Financial Adviser & Broker

John Mackay/Adam Cowl  Tel: [phone]

St Brides Partners Ltd, Financial PR

Susie Geliher/Ana Ribeiro   Tel: [phone]

 

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