Savannah to incentivise senior management as it expedites mining projects

13th April 2018 By: Marleny Arnoldi - Deputy Editor Online

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed resource development company Savannah Resources has implemented a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) to incentivise executive directors and certain senior management as the company continues to expedite its projects to tap into the growing market for energy metals.

The participants of the LTIP include CEO David Archer, Dale Fergason, Michael McGarty and Paul O’Donoghue.

Awards under the LTIP are structured accordingly with the company’s respective project operations in Portugal, Oman and Mozambique.

Savannah said on Friday that its board members believed that the LTIP would help to attract talented individuals in the future as the company expedited the development of its mining projects.

Some of the performance conditions include the project in Oman to start mining by December 2018; the project in Mozambique to complete its prefeasibility study (PFS) and get its mining lease granted by March 2019; and the project in Portugal to complete its feasibility study and enter into strategic initiatives, for example, an offtake agreement, by March 2019.

Savannah chairperson Matthew King said that the purpose of the LTIP was to focus management on achieving the company’s key strategic goal of building cash generative and profitable mining operations. “The performance conditions are intended as objective measures of our progress.”

Savannah’s operations include the Mina do Barroso lithium project in Portugal, which is being fast-tracked to production. The deposit has an inferred mineral resource of 9.1-million tonnes (containing 94 100 t of lithium) grading 1.03% lithium.

To date, three of at least eight pegmatites have been drilled and a scoping study is under way, due for completion during the second quarter of 2018, while Savannah is set to make a development decision by early 2019 and thereafter mining is targeted to start late 2019.

Archer said that there was an unprecedented rise in demand for energy metals as a result of the rapid rise of electric vehicles and new forms of energy storage. “Globally, all significant hard-rock lithium mines, that are currently supplying export markets, produce spodumene concentrates.

“Mina do Barroso continues to shape up as the European near-analogue to these highly successful Western Australian spodumene producers and our focus is now advancing the project so as to become the first significant spodumene lithium producer in Europe, which will cater to rapidly growing demand,” he commented.

Additionally, Savannah is involved at a copper project in Oman, which has high-grade potential near-term mine developments, with mining due to start later in 2018, after pending licence approvals and finalising interest from copper offtakers.

Further, Savannah, in a joint venture with global diversified miner Rio Tinto, has a heavy mineral sands asset called the Matumba project, in Mozambique. Following successful delivery of its scoping study, Savannah has increased its interest from 10% to 20% in the Matumba project.

A PFS is under way and mining licence applications have been submitted. The company targets production to start in 2020, with average yearly production of 456 000 t of roasted ilmenite and 118 000 t of nonmagnetic concentrate (rutile and zircon).

The company on Friday announced its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, in which it raised a total of £8.47-million to further invest into projects, and reported an operating loss of £2.84-million, which reflects the increased tempo of operational and investing activities in 2017.