New Appointments Strengthen the Giyani Metals Board and Management Team
TORONTO, Aug. 27, 2021 - Giyani Metals Corp. (TSXV:EMM, GR:A2DUU8) ("Giyani" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Stephanie Hart to the Giyani Board of Directors, with immediate effect. Ms. Hart will serve as the Chair of the Audit Committee, replacing Mr. John Petersen, who will remain on the Audit Committee. Following the appointment of Ms. Hart, the Board will be comprised of 5 directors, 4 of whom are independent. A number of changes have been made to the various Board committees and these will also take immediate effect. The Company is also pleased to announce the appointments to its management team namely, Mr. George Donne as Vice President ("VP"), Business Development, with effect from September 15, 2021, and Ms. Malika Arora, Controller, effective September 1, 2021. Mr. Jonathan Henry, Chair of the Company, commented:
"I am delighted that Stephanie is joining Giyani's Board. Her significant senior level expertise in finance, risk, operational and capital project roles in the international mining sphere, coupled with her knowledge of corporate governance will make an excellent addition to the Company's Board. I would also like to thank Mr. John Petersen for taking over from Eugene Lee in April as Audit Chair, guiding the Company through the last several quarters."
Board of Director Appointment
Ms. Hart is a Chartered Professional Accountant ("CPA") with over 20 years' senior level experience with broad financial, risk, operational and capital project roles in global mining. Ms. Hart spent much of her career working with Vale S.A., where she was most recently Head of Finance, North Atlantic Operations and Asian Refineries in the Base Metals business. Other roles at Vale included Director of Treasury, Pension Assets and Risk for Vale Canada, Director of Finance and Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") for the Goro Project and Operations in New Caledonia and General Foreperson in the Sudbury Smelter. Currently, Ms. Hart is the CFO at Willeson Metals Corp., a company exploring for gold in Manitoba, and Exiro Minerals Corp., a privately-owned exploration company. She was also recently appointed to the board of West Park Healthcare Centre Foundation. Ms. Hart has extensive experience in budgeting, reporting and analysis, internal controls, financial and risk management.
Mr. Robin Birchall, CEO of the Company, commented:
"On behalf of senior management, I would also like to welcome Stephanie to the Board, we look forward to working with her going forward as we advance the K.Hill Project.
The appointments of George and Malika bring complementary skills both in mining finance and corporate development as well as corporate governance expertise to the team. George also brings significant capital markets and senior level resource management experience that is ideally suited for the Company's current objectives. His experience, industry contacts and knowledge of the mining finance sector will contribute significantly to the Company's development and the growth of shareholder value."
VP Business Development Appointment
Mr. Donne has over 20 years of international natural resources sector experience in senior management and investment banking roles and holds a CFA Certificate in ESG Investing. Mr. Donne began his career with JPMorgan's Metals & Mining investment banking team in London and Johannesburg, before moving into industry and assuming senior management roles at a number of private and public natural resources companies across Africa, Latin America and the Former Soviet Union. Most recently, Mr. Donne was a Senior Investment Professional with Greenstone Resources, a USD475 million mining-focused private equity fund.
Controller Appointment
Ms. Arora is finance professional and a CPA with more than 16 years of experience, including 11 in the mining and natural resources industry, focused on financial reporting, system implementations, internal controls and accounting policy and procedures development. Most recently, she was Assistant Controller at Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., and she held similar roles at SNC Lavalin Inc. and Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp.
About Giyani
Giyani is a mineral resource company focused on becoming one of Africa's first low-carbon producers of high-purity electrolytic manganese precursor materials used by battery manufacturers for the expanding electric vehicle market, through the advancement of its manganese assets in the Kanye Basin in south-eastern Botswana, (the "Kanye Basin Prospects") through its wholly-owned Botswana subsidiary Menzi Battery (Pty) Limited. The Company's Kanye Basin Prospects consist of 10 prospecting licenses and include the past producing Kgwakgwe Hill mine and project, referred to as the K.Hill Project, the Otse manganese prospect and the Lobatse manganese prospect, both of which have seen historical mining activities.
The Company is currently undertaking a feasibility study on the K.Hill Project, following an updated preliminary assessment report announced on 12 April 2021 with a post-tax NPV of USD332 million and post-tax IRR of 80%, based on a development plan to produce around 891,000 tonnes of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate over a 10 year project life.
Additional information and corporate documents may be found on www.sedar.com and on Giyani Metals Corp. website at https://giyanimetals.com/.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Giyani Metals Corp.
Robin Birchall, CEO
Contact:
Robin Birchall CEO, Director
+44 7711 313019
rbirchall@giyanimetals.com
Judith Webster
Corporate Secretary and Investor Relations
+1 416 453 8818
jwebster@giyanimetals.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. persons," as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act ("U.S. Persons"), except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Company's securities to, or for the account of benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons.
Forward Looking Information
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Giyani expects to occur, are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "does not expect", "plans", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. Specific forward-looking statements and forward-looking information herein includes completion of receipt of TSXV approval for the private placement and completion of the private placement.
All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of the relevant management as of the date such statements are made and are subject to certain assumptions, important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Giyani's ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In the case of Giyani, these facts include their anticipated operations in future periods, planned exploration and development of its properties, and plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future. This information relates to analyses and other information that is based on expectations of future performance and planned work programs.
Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation: inherent exploration hazards and risks; risks related to exploration and development of natural resource properties; uncertainty in Giyani's ability to obtain funding; commodity price fluctuations; recent market events and conditions; risks related to the uncertainty of mineral resource calculations and the inclusion of inferred mineral resources in economic estimation; risks related to governmental regulations; risks related to obtaining necessary licenses and permits; risks related to their business being subject to environmental laws and regulations; risks related to their mineral properties being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers, or claims and other defects in title; risks relating to competition from larger companies with greater financial and technical resources; risks relating to the inability to meet financial obligations under agreements to which they are a party; ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel; and risks related to their directors and officers becoming associated with other natural resource companies which may give rise to conflicts of interests. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect Giyani's forward-looking information. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking information or statements.
Giyani's forward-looking information is based on the reasonable beliefs, expectations and opinions of their respective management on the date the statements are made, and Giyani does not assume any obligation to update forward looking information if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions change, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For a complete discussion with respect to Giyani and risks associated with forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, please refer to Giyani's financial statements and related MD&A, all of which are filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
