Marula Mining Plc - Strengthening of Board of Directors

 

Marula Mining PLC

 

 ("Marula'' or the "Company")

24 July 2023

 

Strengthening of Board of Directors

 

 

Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU) an African focused mining and development company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Angeline Greenwood and Mr Richard Lloyd as directors of the Company with immediate effect and a strengthening of its Board of Directors with a number of proposed independent non-executive and executive appointments in Africa and the United Kingdom, subject to standard regulatory due diligence. Marc Nally and Ian Harebottle will step down as directors effective immediately.

 

These current and proposed changes to the Company's Board of Directors comes as Marula advances its planned listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange ("AIM") and proposed dual listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Nairobi Securities Exchange and are considered necessary as the Company looks to continue in its delivery of mine production and development of its strategy in the battery metals sector in East and Southern Africa.

 

Highlights:

 

• Appointment of Ms Angeline Greenwood as Independent Non-Executive Director with immediate effect
• Proposed appointment of Ms Hannah Wang'Ombe and Mr Munyaradzi Murape subject to completion of standard regulatory due diligence
• Mr Richard Lloyd re-joins the Board as Chairman with immediate effect and will transition to Executive Director on the Company's proposed admission to trading on AIM, when Mr Quinton van der Burgh, CEO of Q Global Commodities ("Q Global"), will join the Board as Chairman
• Mr Ian Harebottle and Mr Marc Nally each resign immediately as Independent Non-Executive Directors with Mr Nally continuing to support the Company as a geological consultant

 

Ms Hannah Wang'Ombe - Proposed Independent Non-Executive Director

 

Hannah Wang'Ombe is currently the CEO of the Association of Women in Extractives Kenya, an organisation that provides women with opportunities for equitable professional and economic development within the Kenya mining sector. Hannah has over 10 years' experience in stakeholder engagement, relationship building, crisis management, and public policy processes at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, where she worked as a Researcher and Head of Strategy and Planning.

 

Ms Wang'Ombe's appointment is subject to standard regulatory and due diligence reviews by the Company's advisers.

 

Mr Munyaradzi Murape - Proposed Independent Non-Executive Director

 

Munyaradzi Murape is the CEO of Redstone Partners Limited, a UK-headquartered financial markets development company focused on the Southern African region. He began his career working in investment banking in Zimbabwe, for a range of banks including HSBC (Private) Securities Limited and CBZ Bank Limited. Munyaradzi has over 20 years' experience as an investment banker, corporate leader, public and private sector investor. In 2015, he earned the award of the Archbishop Tutu Fellowship at Oxford University.

 

Mr Murape's appointment is subject to standard regulatory and due diligence reviews by the Company's advisers.

 

Ms Angeline Greenwood - Independent Non-Executive Director

 

Ms Greenwood is an experienced finance executive, having worked in the UK and internationally and is currently the Finance Director at the Harlequin Football Club Ltd.  Ms Greenwood has previously worked as the Group Financial Controller for the ICG Medical Group and was Group Financial Controller for Avantia Group.  Ms Greenwood is an ACCA Chartered Accountant and has a BA Degree in Accounting and Finance.

Ms Greenwood's appointment is effective immediately.

 

Save as set out below, no further information regarding Ms Angeline Nicola Jayne Greenwood is required to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 4.9 of the AQSE Growth Market Access Rulebook.

 

Ms Angeline Nicola Jayne Greenwood (aged 49) has held the following current and former directorships within the past five years:

 

Current Directorships	Former Directorships in the past five years
G Financial Consultancy Ltd	None
Management of 54 Queens Road Limited

 

Ms Greenwood was appointed as a director of XY Books Limited on 2 September 2013 and resigned on 14 February 2014.  XY Books Limited was placed into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation on 2 April 2014. Approximately £441,000 was outstanding to creditors when the company was dissolved on 22 September 2017.

 

Ms Greenwood holds no ordinary shares or warrants or options over ordinary shares in the Company.

 

There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 4.9 of the AQSE Growth Market Access Rulebook.

 

Mr Richard Lloyd - Chairman

 

Mr Lloyd has over 25 years natural resources investment banking and mining geology experience and is a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining ("FIMMM") and the Geological Society ("FGS"). Mr Lloyd was previously a Director in the Resources, Energy Infrastructure team at ANZ Bank London, having joined from Commerzbank AG. He has also held positions at Standard Bank London & Dresdner Kleinwort.

 

Mr Lloyd was a former Director and Chairman of the Company between August 2020 and November 2022 and since then has been working with the Company's executive management team and also in the role of Chairman Designate.

 

Save as set out below, no further information regarding Mr Richard Andrew Lloyd is required to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 4.9 of the AQSE Growth Market Access Rulebook.

 

Mr Richard Andrew Lloyd (aged 50) has held the following current and former directorships within the past five years:

 

Current Directorships	Former Directorships in the past five years
Minexia Limited	Goldstone Resources Limited
Minexia Nominees Limited	Marula Mining plc
AUAG Holdings Limited
Veragold Mining Company Inc.

 

Mr Lloyd holds 1,575,000 ordinary shares and  287,500 warrants over new ordinary shares in the Company.

 

There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 4.9 of the AQSE Growth Market Access Rulebook.

 

The Directors of Marula are responsible for the contents of this announcement. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of UK Market Abuse Regulation.

Jason Brewer, Marula Mining PLC CEO said:

"I look forward to welcoming Hannah and Munya to the Board as Independent Non-Executive Directors following completion of standard regulatory due diligence, both of whom are based in our key areas of mine development and operations here in East and Southern Africa. They are very impressive individuals, whom I have spent a considerable amount of time with of late and where I have no doubt that their broad experience and expertise, will be great assets to Marula.

"I look forward to working with Angie in London, who will, alongside Richard, give us a strong presence in the `City' and will assist in continuing to strengthen our corporate position there.

"This proposed strengthening of the Board will put the Company in an excellent position as we push ahead with our many new mine developments and project acquisitions, dual listings in South Africa and Kenya and new primary listing on AIM.

"I look forward to having Quinton van der Burgh, CEO of Q Global, joining the Board as Chairman on the Company's proposed admission to trading on AIM. Our relationship with Q Global has strengthened over recent months, allowing Marula to accelerate and further develop its portfolio of assets. Richard Lloyd re-joins the Board as Chairman and will support these new mine development activities throughout Africa.

"I would also like to thank Ian and Marc, for all of their hard work and input, as they step down as Independent Non-Executive Directors. We wish them the best of luck in all their future endeavours."

 

About Marula Mining

Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU) is an African focused battery metals investment and exploration company and has interests in several high value mine projects in Africa; Blesberg Lithium and Tantalum Mine in South Africa, Nkombwa Hill Project in Zambia and Kinusi Copper mine, Bagamoyo Graphite Project and Nyorinyori Graphite Project in Tanzania. As we advance operations at these battery metals focused projects, Marula will continue to build and expand its interests in other high-quality projects in Africa.

Marula's strategy is to identify and invest in advanced and high-value mining projects throughout East, Central and Southern Africa that the Directors believe would deliver returns for its shareholders. The Board and management team aims to establish Marula as a socially and environmentally responsible, sustainable, and profitable producer of critical metals and commodities that are of increasingly strategic importance to modern technologies and the global economy.

Marula's shares are traded on the AQUIS Stock Exchange (AQSE), Marula is exploring opportunities to admit its shares to trading on AIM, the market operated by the London Stock Exchange Group plc, and Kenya's Nairobi Securities Exchange and South Africa's Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

For enquiries contact:

 

Marula Mining PLC Jason Brewer, Chief Executive Officer   Faith Kinyanjui Mumbi Investor Relations	Email : jason@marulamining.com   Email : info@marulamining.com
AQSE Corporate Adviser Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, Liam Murray / Ludovico Lazzaretti	+44 (0)20 7213 0880
Broker Peterhouse Capital Limited, Charles Goodfellow / Duncan Vasey	+44 (0)20 7469 0930
Financial PR and IR BlytheRay Tim Blythe / Megan Ray / Said Izagaren	+44 (0)20 7138 3204

 

 

Caution

 

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.