Euro Manganese appoints Dr. Matthew James as Chief Executive Officer
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NR 2021-21
Euro Manganese appoints Dr. Matthew James as Chief Executive Officer
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (December 20, 2021) – Euro Manganese Inc. (TSX-V and ASX: EMN; OTCQX:
EUMNF; Frankfurt: E06) (the " Company" or " EMN") is pleased to announce that it has appointed
Dr. Matthew James as Chief Executive Officer effective December 20 , 2021. Dr. James’ appointment is
the result of a robust process, assisted by the global executive search firm Korn Ferry.
Dr. James is a highly experienced corporate executive in both established global industrials and small
growth companies. He will bring his extensive experience in the natural resources, chemicals and
environmental services sectors to drive the plans of the Company to transition from development stage
to a producer of high purity battery raw materials, principally for the growing European electric vehicles
market.
Dr. James has extensive experience in developing companies within the global natural resources industry.
As Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Communication s at Lynas Corporation, a speciality metals
company, he played an instrumental role raising over A$1 billion of equity and debt funding, including a
US$250 million government backed loan and over US$800 million of long-term advanced sales contracts
from Japanese, European, and US industrial companies across the automotive, chemical, and engineering
sectors.
During Dr. James’ time at Lynas, from 2002 to 2011, the company grew from a junior miner with an
undeveloped project to an ASX100 Company with a market capitalisation of approximately A$3.5 billion,
with mining operations in Australia and chemical plant operations in Malaysia. In 2011, Dr. James became
the founding Managing Director of Rutila Resources , where he negotiated the purchase of a vanadium -
titanium-magnetite deposit and secured native title agreemen ts and new Western Australia port
infrastructure licences in the Pilbara. Rutila was acquired by Todd Corporation in 2014.
Upon returning to the UK in 2014, Dr. James led a strategic growth consultancy focused on natural
resources, materials and environmental services. From 2017 to 2020, he was Vice President of Strategy
and Business Development on the executive leadership team at Harsco Corporation, a global industrial
environmental services company.
Dr. James worked in London at Deutsche Bank from 1995 -1998, followed by four years at McKinsey &
Company, where he provided support and advice to clients at the CEO and board level of major companies
in strategic, organisational and operational projects. Dr. James received a B. Eng. (Hons) degree in Ceramic
Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia and a Ph.D. in Material Science and
Engineering from Queens’ College at the University of Cambridge. He is a Graduate member of the
Australian Institute of Directors.
Dr. James will succeed Marco Romero, the founder of Euro Manganese and one of its largest shareholders.
Mr. Romero will relinquish his executive role with effect from January 4th and will step down as a director
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of the board. He will continue as an advisor to the Company, assisting with the transition to Dr. James and
on the generation of potential growth opportunities for the Company, in line with the Board’s strategy.
John Webster, non-executive chair of the EMN board, said: “We extend our sincere thanks to Marco for
getting us to where we are today. He set the Company ’s vision and its high technical , ethical and
environmental standards, secured our core asset and raised over $ 67 million to fund its evaluation and
planning. He also developed positive industry, community and customer relationships, and brought
together a strong team to advance the Chvaletice project. Matthew can now build on Marco’s outstanding
contributions, as he leads the Company through its next stage of development . The Board is pleased to
welcome Matthew as the next leader of our company. His technical, financial and management skills and
experience in taking early-stage companies to the next level will be invaluable to us as we progress our
plans to move from a development stage company into a sustainable producer of high purity manganese
products serving the fast -growing EV battery space. He will lead and build out our team to finance and
enable the development of Europe’s only significant manganese resource at Chvaletice in the Czech
Republic.”
Dr. James commented, “It is an exciting time to be joining Euro Manganese . There is international
consensus to dramatical ly reduce the world’s carbon footprint, driven by governments, investors and
consumers. The electrification of vehicles is an important part of the solution and has been embraced by
the automotive industry and consumers alike, with rapidly increasing global production forecasts.
However, the supply of the enabling raw materials needs to match this demand in ways that are both
environmentally and socially responsible. Euro Manganese is uniquely positioned to become a sustainable
speciality supplier of high purity manganese to the growing EV battery supply chain, with a secure source
of supply from our Czech Chvaletice Manganese Project, in the European Union. 2022 is an important year
of performance milestones towards achieving this goal, including the delivery of the Demonstration Plant,
completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study and the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment ,
customer acceptance testing and off -take contracts , and the commencement of project financing
discussions. I can’t wait to get started ; the priority is to build on the excellent work that Marco and the
team have accomplished to date, and to deliver the Chvaletice Manganese Project, with a vision to grow
into a multi-asset company.”
Terms of Employment
In accordance with ASX Listing Rule 3.16.4 the material terms of the employment contract are as follows:
Total Fixed Remuneration (“TFR”) GB £255,000 per annum to be reviewed annually.
Short term incentive plan of up to 50% of the TFR b ased on the achievement of short -term objectives
agreed between the board and the CEO annually.
Long term equity incentive plan as follows;
Number of Options: 12 million options
Term: 10 years from date of grant
Exercise Price: C$0.58
Vesting:
• 1.0 mi llion options will vest and become exercisable on 1 January 2023 with no performance
conditions applicable.
• 1.0 million options will vest and become exercisable on 1 January 2024 with no performance
conditions applicable.
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• 1.0 million options will vest and become exercisable on 1 January 2025 with no performance
conditions applicable.
• 1.5 million options will vest and become exercisable when the 30-day daily volume weighted
average price (“VWAP”) of trading in the common shares is at or above C$1.00 per share.
• 1.5 million options will vest and become exercisable when the 30-day VWAP of trading in the
common shares is at or above C$1.50 per share.
• 1.5 million options will vest and become exercisable upon execution of binding offtake
agreement(s) with one or more purchaser(s) where the production purchased from the Chvaletice
Manganese Project under the offtake agreement(s) is at least equal to 65% of the initial eight years
of mine production of high purity manganese products projected in the Feasibility Study upon which
the construction decision is made by the board of directors , and which study is included in an NI
43-101 Technical Report that is filed with Canadian securities regulators (the “Construction Decision
Feasibility Study”).
• 1.5 million options will vest and become exercisable upon the Company completing and receiving
funds under a financing(s) (whether debt, equity, offtake funding or joint venture) which net
proceeds are sufficient for the Company to fully fund the initial capital costs required to bring the
Chvaletice Manganese Project to production as set out in the Construction Decision Feasibility
Study.
• 1.5 million options will vest and become exercisable upon the Chvaletice Mangane se Project
declaring successful completion of a “plant performance test” for plant hand-over to the operations
team pursuant to any financing documents or if no such test is required “commercial production”
under IFRS (“PPT”), but provided that (A) the dat e upon which the PPT is declared complete is a
date that is within 120% of the number of days set for the PPT commencing on the date of a
construction decision by the Board of Directors and (B) the initial capital costs budgeted, incurred,
or expended by t he Company to bring the Chvaletice Manganese Project to the PPT is not more
than 120% on the initial capital costs set forth in the Construction Decision Feasibility Study (except
that if the Company declares force majeure, all time periods shall cease run ning and shall only
recommence 30 days after the ending of force majeure).
• 1.5 million options will vest and become exercisable upon the Chvaletice Manganese Project
process plant reaching continuous production at an average of above 90% of annual nominal
production capacity as set forth in the Construction Decision Feasibility Study for a 90 consecutive
day period.
If the vesting hurdles are not met, the options will not vest and be cancelled.
All options will vest immediately and become exercisable (notwithstanding the above) on the occurrence
of a Triggering Event (as defined in the Stock Option Plan).
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Stock Option Grant
The Company has also granted stock options to its directors, officers and employees to purchase up to an
aggregate of 4,150,000 common shares of the Company. Of these, 1,200,000 have been granted to
directors, 900,000 have been granted to officers and 2 ,050,000 have been granted to employees and
consultants. The stock options are exercisable for a term of ten years at an ex ercise price of C$0.58 per
common share. The options will vest one-third on the date of grant, and one-third on each of the first and
second anniversaries of the date of grant.
About Euro Manganese Inc.
Euro Manganese Inc. is a battery materials company whose principal focus is advancing the development
of the Chvaletice Manganese Project, in which it holds a 100% interest. The proposed Project entails re-
processing a significant manganese deposit hosted in mine tailings from a decommissioned mine,
strategically located in the Czech Republic. The Company’s goal is to become a leading, competitive and
environmentally superior primary producer of ultra- high-purity Manganese Products in the heart of
Europe, serving the lithium-ion battery industry, as well as other high-technology applications.
Authorized for release by the Chairman of Euro Manganese Inc.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies
of the TSX Venture Exchange) or t he ASX accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of t his
release.
Contact:
Euro Manganese Inc.
John Webster
Non-executive Board Chair
+1 (604) 618-5141
Media inquiries:
Ron Shewchuk
Director of Communications
+1 (604) 781-2199
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.mn25.ca
Company Address:
#709 -700 West Pender St., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6C 1G8
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Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release constitute “ forward-looking statements ” or “forward-looking
information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such statements and information involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance
or achievements of the Company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or
information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as “ may”, “would”, “could”,
“will”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “scheduled”, “forecast”, “predict”
and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results “ may”, “could”, “would”,
“might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking information or statements include,
without limitation, statements regarding the regulatory/permitting progress at the Project ; land access
for the Project; the completion and timing of the definitive feasibility study; the timing, installation of the
delivery and operation of the Demonstration Plant; the Company’s ability to negotiate offtake agreements
with potential customers; the evaluation and development of any new business opportunities; and the
Company’s ability to finance the full-scale, commercial development of the Project. Further, it should be
noted that no production decision has been made with respect to the Project and that such a decision will
only be made based on completion of a positive feasibility study, permitting and financing having been
secured.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forw ard-looking information or statements.
Forward-looking statements and information involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be
read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of
whether or n ot such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or information, including, but not
limited to, the factors discussed under “Risks Notice” and elsewhere in the Company’s MD&A, as well as
the inability to obtain regulatory approvals in a timely manner; the potential for unknown or unexpected
events to cause contractual conditions to not be satisfied; unexpected changes in laws, rules or
regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the
Company to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; and the failure of
exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support
continued exploration, studies, development or operations.
Although the forward -looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what
management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors
that actual results will be consistent with these forward -looking statements. These forward -looking
statements are made as of the date of this news release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by
this ca utionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any
obligation to update or revise the forward -looking statements contained herein to reflect events or
circumstances occurring after the date of this news release. The Company ’s actual results could differ
materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the factors set forth
in the “Risks Notice” section and elsewhere in the Company ’s MD&A for the year ended September 30,
2021 and its Annual Information Form.