TSX-V-listed, Botswana-focused Giyani Metals is streamlining its board of directors as it transitions into a manganese battery metals producer.
Jonathan Henry, Michael Jones, John Petersen and Nicola Spooner have resigned from the board with effect from May 24.
The remaining directors are president and CEO Danny Keating, Alex Azpitarte, Thuso Dikgaka and Stephanie Hart.
Mark Burnett, director of mining investments at London-based RAB Capital, will join the board as interim chairperson.
The Giyani board has initiated a process to identify new directors with specific expertise in electric vehicle (EV) battery product marketing, project financing and capital markets experience, with a view to completing the process prior to the next AGM, when Burnett will step down as interim chairperson.
The streamlined board will focus on overseeing the execution of Giyani’s strategy, notably the construction and commissioning of a demonstration plant in South Africa, said Burnett in a statement.
Giyani recently secured $26-million in financing from two strategic partners, the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and the Sustainable Resources Fund, to progress its battery-grade manganese project, K. Hill, in Botswana to construction, after successfully building and operating the demonstration plant and completing a definitive feasibility study by the first half of next year.
The 2023 preliminary economic assessment for K.Hill is based on a yearly production capacity of 80 000 t of battery grade high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM).
The 600 kg/d demonstration plant will enable offtaker testing of Giyani's HPMSM product in the second half of this year.