TIDMHZM
RNS Number : 6732U
Horizonte Minerals PLC
27 November 2023
NEWS RELEASE
27 November 2023
BOARD AND MANAGEMENT CHANGES
Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM/TSX: HZM) ("Horizonte" or the
"Company") the nickel development company, announces the following
changes to its board of directors (the "Board") and senior
leadership team. These changes have been made as the Company
advances discussions for a financing solution for its flagship
Araguaia Nickel Project ("Araguaia" or "the Project") and the
completion of construction of the Project.
Jeremy Martin, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the
Company ("CEO") will step down as CEO and as a member of the
Company's Board alongside Simon Retter, Chief Financial Officer of
the Company who will step down as CFO and as a member of the
Company's Board. In addition, in accordance with best practice
corporate governance William Fisher, Non-Executive Interim Chair
and Owen Bavinton, Non-Executive Director, will step down from the
Company's Board having served as directors since 2011 and 2012
respectively. These director and officer changes are effective
today with all departing directors and officers agreeing to assist
the Board with an orderly handover.
Jeremy is a founding director of Horizonte and has led the
business as CEO since 2010. Under his leadership, Horizonte
discovered, acquired and consolidated its interests in the
Company's two tier-one nickel assets in Brazil. Jeremy oversaw the
development of these assets and took Araguaia from a greenfield
project through the feasibility stage and onto construction. The
Board is appreciative of his significant contribution to the
Company.
New Management and Board Appointments
The Company is pleased to announce the following proposed
appointments (subject to receipt of the usual director
certifications where applicable in accordance with the AIM Rules)
with further proposed Board directors expected to be announced in
the coming weeks.
Appointment of interim Chief Executive Officer:
The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Karim Nasr
as interim CEO and his proposed appointment as a Board director.
Mr. Nasr will lead the financing and restructuring process and will
work with the Board to appoint a new senior leadership team.
Mr. Nasr is Managing Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer of
La Mancha Resource Capital LLP ("La Mancha"), which advises La
Mancha Resource Fund SCSp, one of the Company's major shareholders.
Mr. Nasr has over 25 years of experience in corporate finance and
investments, including experience of restructurings in Brazil. Mr.
Nasr will step down from his day-to-day executive role within La
Mancha to devote himself to Horizonte and put in place a financing
plan to restart construction.
Proposed appointment of Paul Smith as Non-Executive Director and
Chair:
Mr. Smith is a corporate finance professional and senior board
member with extensive experience in driving industry-leading
performance at natural resource focused companies. Upon his
appointment taking effect, Mr. Smith will act as the Chair of the
Board. Pending such appointment taking effect, Non-Executive
Director, Vincent Benoit has agreed to act as interim Chair.
Appointment of interim Chief Operating Officer ("COO"):
The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Maryse
Bélanger as interim COO in a non-board capacity. Ms. Bélanger was
recently Chair of IAMGOLD Corporation (TSX: IMG) (NYSE: IAG). Ms.
Bélanger has been a consultant to the Company in recent months. Ms.
Bélanger has more than 30 years of experience in the global mining
sector with proven strengths in operational excellence and
turnaround, technical services and organizational efficiency,
including in Brazil.
The proposed new Board appointments of Karim Nasr and Paul Smith
are subject to the standard AIM director due diligence procedure.
Once completed, these appointments will become effective with a
further announcement to be released in due course. Mr. Nasr will
act as interim CEO in a non-board capacity with immediate
effect.
Non-Executive Director John MacKenzie commented, "Firstly, we
would like to thank Jeremy for his leadership and contributions to
the Company. Jeremy was a founding director of Horizonte and has
led the Company since 2010. We are grateful for his dedication to
the business and wish him well for the future.
I would also like to thank Simon Retter, William Fisher and Owen
Bavinton, who are also stepping down today as part of a
restructuring of the senior leadership team, for their contribution
to the evolution and growth of the business.
I am pleased to welcome Karim Nasr as interim Chief Executive
Officer. Karim is a highly respected senior leader and it is a
credit to Horizonte as a group that we are able to call on someone
of his calibre. The Board is grateful that Karim has agreed to lead
the Company through this financing and restructuring process.
I am also very pleased to welcome Paul Smith to our Board, which
he will chair after the usual onboarding procedures are
completed."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014, as retained in the UK
pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
For further information, visit www.horizonteminerals.com or
contact:
Horizonte Minerals plc info@horizonteminerals.com
Patrick Chambers (Head of IR) +44 (0) 203 356 2901
Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser & Joint
Broker)
Ross Allister
David McKeown
Bhavesh Patel +44 (0)20 7418 8900
---------------------------
BMO (Joint Broker)
Thomas Rider
Pascal Lussier Duquette
Andrew Cameron +44 (0) 20 7236 1010
---------------------------
Barclays (Joint Broker)
Philip Lindop
Richard Bassingthwaighte +44 (0)20 7623 2323
---------------------------
Tavistock (Financial PR)
Jos Simson
Cath Drummond +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
---------------------------
ABOUT HORIZONTE MINERALS
Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM/TSX: HZM) is developing two
100%-owned, Tier 1 projects in Pará state, Brazil - the Araguaia
Nickel Project and the Vermelho Nickel-Cobalt Project. Both
projects are high-grade, low-cost, with low carbon emission
intensities and are scalable. Araguaia is under construction and
when fully ramped up with both Line 1 and Line 2, is forecast to
produce 29,000 tonnes of nickel per year. Vermelho is at
feasibility study stage. Horizonte's combined production profile of
over 60,000 tonnes of nickel per year positions the Company as a
globally significant nickel producer. Horizonte's top three
shareholders are La Mancha Investments S.à r.l., Glencore Plc and
Orion Mine Finance.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Except for statements of historical fact relating to the
Company, certain information contained in this press release
constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities
legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not
limited to, the ability of the Company to complete any planned
acquisition of equipment, statements with respect to the potential
of the Company's current or future property mineral projects; the
ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study
regarding the second RKEF line at Araguaia on time, or at all, the
ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility study
regarding the Vermelho Project on time, or at all, the success of
exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future
exploration, production and development; the costs and timing for
delivery of the equipment to be purchased, the estimation of
mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the Company to
achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral resources; the
realization of mineral resource and reserve estimates and achieving
production in accordance with the Company's potential production
profile or at all. Generally, forward-looking information can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as
"plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget",
"scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words
and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results
"may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be
achieved". Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable
assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in
light of its experience and its perception of trends, current
conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that
management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the
circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are
inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity,
performance or achievements of the Company to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
information, including but not limited to risks related to: the
inability of the Company to complete any planned acquisition of
equipment on time or at all, the ability of the Company to complete
a positive feasibility study regarding the implementation of a
second RKEF line at Araguaia on the timeline contemplated or at
all, the ability of the Company to complete a positive feasibility
study regarding the Vermelho Project on the timeline contemplated
or at all, exploration and mining risks, competition from
competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience
with respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations
in metal prices; uninsured risks; environmental and other
regulatory requirements; exploration, mining and other licences;
the Company's future
payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the
Company's title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the
Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing
in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with
third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of
currency fluctuations and political or economic instability in
countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange
fluctuations; the Company's ability to manage its growth
effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the
Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to
continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company's
dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of
directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated
with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company
operates, together with the risks identified and disclosed in the
Company's disclosure record available on the Company's profile on
SEDAR at www.sedar.com, including without limitation, the annual
information form of the Company for the year ended December 31,
2022, and the Araguaia and Vermelho Technical Reports available on
the Company's website https://horizonteminerals.com/. Although
management of the Company has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other
factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove
to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ
materially from those anticipated in such statements.
Proposed new Board Directors:
Karim Nasr
Karim is Managing Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer of La
Mancha Resource Capital LLP ("La Mancha"), which advises La Mancha
Resource Fund SCSp, one of the Company's major shareholders. Karim
has over 25 years of experience in corporate finance and
investments. He joined La Mancha in 2018 as CFO and became Managing
Partner & co-CIO in 2019. From 2011 to 2017, he was CEO of
Digital World Capital LLP, an alternative asset manager managing
the Cross Comms fund, a long/short equity & credit fund
investing in Telecom & Media securities, and advised clients on
special situation investments. From 2001 to 2011, Mr. Nasr was a
member of the Executive and Investment Committee, Audit & Risk
Committee, and Remuneration & Nomination Committee of Wind
Telecom and Orascom Telecom, in charge of Corporate Finance,
raising US$68bn in capital and closing US$67bn in M&A
transactions. In particular, he led the 2011 US$25bn merger with
VEON, the 2005 US$17bn Wind Telecom Leveraged Buy-Out and managed
the 2009 EUR3.8bn debt restructuring of Wind Hellas in Greece.
Mr. Nasr also serves on the board of Elemental Altus Royalties
Corp (TSX-V:ELE) (AIM:ALS) and G Mining Ventures Corp.
(TSX-V:GMIN). He holds a Master's in Management from the University
of Paris IX. He is fluent in English, Arabic and French
Paul Smith
Paul Smith is a corporate finance professional and senior board
member with extensive experience of driving industry-leading
performance at natural resource focused companies. Mr. Smith is a
co-founder of Voltaire Minerals Partners, which provides innovative
solutions to the critical minerals supply chain, and is also a
Non-Executive Director at Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL), a global offshore
drilling business for the oil and gas industry, Echion
Technologies, the world's leading supplier of niobium-based anode
materials and Bunker Hill Mining Corp TSXV:BNKR. He was until
recently Executive Chairman at Trident Royalties (LON:TRR), a
mining royalty business.
Mr. Smith worked for Glencore plc ("Glencore") from 2011 to 2020
where, as Head of Strategy, his principal areas of focus were
capital markets, M&A and capital allocation. During this
period, Glencore successfully completed numerous large scale
corporate and capital markets transactions, most notably a US$90
billion merger with Xstrata Plc.
He was also the CFO of Katanga Mining Limited, Glencore's
TSX-listed and DRC-based subsidiary from 2019 until its de-listing
in 2020. He represented Glencore as a non-executive director of
Lonmin plc and Glencore Agriculture Ltd, and chaired Glencore
Technology from 2013-2015.
Prior to Glencore, Mr. Smith was an analyst and fund manager at
Marshall Wace Asset Management, where he focused on cyclical
sectors, including mining. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant
and has an MA in Modern History from Oxford University.
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END
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