Giyani Announces Appointment of President and Chief Executive Officer
TORONTO, April 03, 2023 - Giyani Metals Corp. (TSXV: EMM, GR: A2DUU8) ("Giyani" or the "Company"), developer of the integrated K.Hill battery-grade manganese project in Botswana ("K.Hill Battery Manganese Project" or "K.Hill"), is pleased to announce a number of senior management changes, including the appointment of Mr. Danny Keating as President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of the Company. Mr. Keating joins Giyani and its Board of Directors with immediate effect.
Mr. Keating brings almost 30 years of mining and resources industry experience, including several senior leadership roles as CEO of privately held Alufer Mining and Dynamic Mining, as well ASX-listed Lindian Resources. He is a South African qualified mining engineer, currently based in the United Kingdom, who started his career with Anglo American and Gold Fields working in production, as well as project development, project finance and strategy. He later worked in London as a mining analyst and corporate finance executive with Collins Stewart and ABN AMRO. He has practical experience of managing culturally diverse teams across multiple African jurisdictions, as well as cultivating strong relationships with government decision makers, local communities, business leaders and other stakeholders to deliver on business objectives.
Mr. Jonathan Henry will remain as Executive Chair of the Company working closely with Mr. Keating to ensure a smooth transition. It is expected that Mr. Henry will return to a Non-Executive Chair role in early-May 2023 and at such time Ms. Stephanie Hart, who has served as interim lead independent director during this transitionary period, will relinquish that role and will focus on her roles as a director and Chair of the Audit and Compensation Committees.
As part of the ongoing organizational restructuring, Mr. Derk Hartman has departed from his position as President and Chief Operating Officer with immediate effect.
Jonathan Henry, Executive Chair of the Company, commented:
"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am delighted to welcome Danny as our new CEO. He has the knowledge and expertise to allow the Company to build on its achievements in developing our low carbon process for production of a critical battery raw material and to establish ourselves as a globally significant player in the manganese battery chemicals market."
Danny Keating, incoming CEO of the Company, commented:
"Giyani has the potential to occupy a strategic position in the critical battery raw materials sector and I am excited about leading the Company through this pivotal time in its development. K.Hill is one of the very few advanced projects in the battery-grade manganese sector capable of meeting the surge of demand anticipated from the electric vehicle market and I am very much looking forward to working with the management team and the board of directors to evaluate and focus the Company's strategy and deliver the full potential of the Company for all of our stakeholders and partners."
The Company has granted Mr. Keating 3,000,000 stock options (each an "Option") in accordance with the Company's Stock Option Plan. Each Option is exercisable into one common share (a "Share") of the Company at a price of $0.20 per Share for a period of five years from today's date. The Options have a series of vesting provisions over a period of 36 months with the provision that Mr. Keating remains engaged by the Company at the applicable vesting dates.
About Giyani
Giyani's mission is to become a sustainable, low carbon producer of battery materials for the electric vehicle ("EV") industry. It has developed a hydrometallurgical process to produce high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate, a lithium-ion battery cathode precursor material critical for EVs, directly from ore from its manganese oxide deposits in Botswana, wholly-owned by its Botswana subsidiary Menzi Battery Metals (Pty) Limited. The Company's assets include the K.Hill Battery Manganese Project and the Otse and Lobatse manganese prospects, each of which has seen historical mining activities.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Giyani Metals Corp.
Jonathan Henry, Executive Chair
Contact:
Jonathan Henry
Executive Chair
+44 7798 801 783
jhenry@giyanimetals.com
Danny Keating
President & Chief Executive Officer
dkeating@giyanimetals.com
George Donne
VP Business Development
+44 7866 591 897
gdonne@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 the Options, the vesting provisions and Mr. Keating's continued engagement with the Company and the development of the Company's projects.
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 in how the world-wide economic and social impact of COVID-19 is managed; risks related to governmental regulations; risks related to obtaining necessary licences 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 Annual Information Form, all of which are filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
