REG - Capital Metals PLC - Appointment of COO & Grant of Options

Capital MetalsAnnouncement

02/07/2024 12:15

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RNS Number : 8241U  Capital Metals PLC  02 July 2024

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE UK
VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH
LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED.  ON
PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS
INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

 

2 July 2024

 

Capital Metals PLC

 

("Capital Metals" or the "Company")

 

Appointment of Chief Operating Officer

&

Grant of Options

 

Capital Metals (AIM: CMET), a mineral sands company approaching mine
development stage at the high-grade Eastern Minerals Project in Sri Lanka (the
"Project"), is pleased to announce the appointment of Stuart Forrester as
Chief Operating Officer (non-Board position). Mr Forrester is an experienced
engineering professional with an extensive background in mining, processing
and project management including throughout the lifecycle of mineral sands
projects from mine construction to reclamation.

 

Mr Forrester began his career in 2001 as a Project Engineer with Rio Tinto
(LSE: RIO) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia before going on to hold
senior management roles including at Iluka Resources Limited (AX: ILU)
("Iluka"), Southern Ionics Minerals, Inc. ("Southern Ionics), and The Chemours
Company (NYSE: CC) ("Chemours").

 

Since 2021, Mr Forrester has been involved in the creation and leadership of
Black Mountain Metals II, a new mining investment vehicle in Australia which
facilitates the deployment of US private equity funds for the development of
Australian resource companies.

 

Prior to Black Mountain Metals II, Mr Forrester was Senior Director - Minerals
Operations for Chemours between 2019-2021, where he was responsible for all
leadership aspects of Chemours' mineral sands operations from greenfield
project development to mining, to finished production and sales, accountable
for five operating locations and seven mining/processing facilities in Georgia
and Florida, USA. While at Chemours, Mr Forrester successfully commissioned
the Jesup mine site in Georgia.

 

From 2017 until its acquisition by Chemours in 2019, Mr Forrester was
President at Southern Ionics, responsible for all leadership aspects of the
mineral sands business from greenfield project development to sales. Notably,
he increased mining and processing production rates by 35% and 10%
respectively.

 

From 2009-2017, Mr Forrester held various positions at Iluka, the
Australia-based global leader in the production of zircon and titanium
dioxide-derived rutile and synthetic rutile. During his time at Iluka, Mr
Forrester advanced from processing and operations management roles, with
responsibility for a A$600 million asset delivering A$400 million in annual
sales revenue, to USA Director & Regional Manager, responsible for
transition from operations to reclamation including 'life of mine'
rehabilitation plans.

 

Greg Martyr, Executive Chairman of Capital Metals, commented:

 

"Stuart Forrester's appointment is a key milestone in the Company's strategy
for developing the Eastern Minerals Project in a way that retains 100% of the
equity. Stuart has worked for the best and his experience at every stage of
the life cycle of mineral sands mines will be hugely valuable as we seek to
deploy modern mining techniques and constant rehabilitation at our operation
in Sri Lanka. Stuart is very well connected with the relevant service and
equipment providers that we will be working with to develop, and vendor
finance, our staged approach to the Project, with a view to getting it
self-funding as quickly as possible. He is clearly a passionate team builder
and the team and I are really looking forward to working with him."

 

Stuart Forrester, Chief Operating Officer of Capital Metals, commented:

 

"Capital Metals has made significant progress over the past year in realising
the value of the Eastern Minerals Project. The very high grade of the deposit
is an exciting prospect, leading to low impact mining that is simple and low
cost. I am looking forward to working with Greg Martyr and the broader team to
extract value from the land for the benefit of shareholders, Sri Lanka, and
the local community."

 

Grant of Options

 

Capital Metals has granted Mr Forrester, through his consulting company,
Inverness Consulting Pty Limited (the "Option Holder"), options to subscribe
for up to 6,000,000 new Ordinary Shares in the Company (the "Options"). The
Option Holder may only exercise the Options granted after they have vested and
where all applicable performance conditions, as set out below, have been
satisfied. The Options shall vest, and be subject to performance conditions,
as follows:

 

 Number of Ordinary Shares subject to Options  Performance Condition
 2,000,000                                     One year from the Commencement Date (being 15 July 2024)
 2,000,000                                     The Project receiving all approvals to enable the commencement of construction
                                               as approved by any funding arrangements with third parties on or before the
                                               1(st) anniversary of the Grant Date (being 1 July 2025).
 2,000,000                                     The Project achieving for 30 consecutive days the production capacity
                                               described in the IHC Report as Stage 1A of the Study Case Process CAPEX to HMC
                                               Production (being a mining rate of 0.55Mtpa), or any other production
                                               milestone agreed between the parties, on or before the 2(nd) anniversary of
                                               the Grant Date (being 1 July 2026).

 

The exercise price of the Options shall be 150% of the 30-day weighted average
share price of the Ordinary Shares of the Company on the day prior to this
announcement, being 3.22p per share.

 

 For further information, please visit www.capitalmetals.com
(http://www.capitalmetals.com) or contact:

 Capital Metals plc                           Via Vigo Consulting

 Greg Martyr (Executive Chairman)
 Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations)         +44 (0)20 7390 0234

 Ben Simons / Peter Jacob                     capitalmetals@vigoconsulting.com (mailto:capitalmetals@vigoconsulting.com)
 SPARK Advisory Partners (Nominated Adviser)  +44 (0)20 3368 3550

 Neil Baldwin / James Keeshan / Adam Dawes
 Tavira Financial                             +44 (0)20 7100 5100

 Jonathan Evans / Oliver Stansfield

 

About Capital Metals

 

Capital Metals is a UK company listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM:
CMET). We are developing the Eastern Minerals Project in Sri Lanka,
approximately 220km east of Colombo, containing industrial minerals including
ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and garnet. The Project is one of the highest-grade
mineral sands projects globally, with potential for further grade and resource
expansion. In 2022, a third-party Preliminary Economic Assessment provided a
Project NPV of US$155-235m based on existing resources, with further
identified optimisation potential. We are committed to applying modern mining
practices and bringing significant positive benefits to Sri Lanka and the
local community. We expect over 300 direct new jobs to be created and over
US$130m in direct government royalties and taxes to be paid.

 

Visit our website:

www.capitalmetals.com (http://www.capitalmetals.com)

 

Follow us on social media:

 

X (formerly Twitter): @MetalsCapital (https://twitter.com/MetalsCapital)

LinkedIn: @Capital Metals plc (https://uk.linkedin.com/company/capitalmetals)

 

Appendix - Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons
discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with
them.

 

 

 1.  Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely
     associated
 a)  Name                                                         Stuart Forrester
 2.  Reason for notification
 a)  Position/Status                                              Chief Operating Officer (non-Board position)
 b)  Initial notification/                                        Initial notification

     Amendment
 3.  Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction
     platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
 a)  Name                                                         Capital Metals plc
 b)  LEI                                                          213800RR4MW1ETEMS859
 4.  Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of
     instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each
     place where transactions have been conducted
 a)  Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument  Options over ordinary shares

Identification Code

                                                                  ISIN: GB00BMF75608
 b)  Nature of the transaction                                    Grant of options over ordinary shares
 c)  Price(s) and volume(s)

Price(s)  Volume(s)
                                                                                 3.22p     6,000,000

 d)  Aggregated information                                       Single transaction as in 4 c) above

Price(s)  Volume(s)
     - Aggregated Volume                                          3.22p     6,000,000

     - Price
 e)  Date of the transaction                                      1 July 2024
 f)  Place of the transaction                                     Outside a trading venue

d)

Aggregated information

 

- Aggregated Volume

 

- Price

Single transaction as in 4 c) above

 

 Price(s)  Volume(s)
 3.22p     6,000,000

e)

Date of the transaction

1 July 2024

f)

Place of the transaction

Outside a trading venue

 

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