Pangolin Diamonds Names New President & CEO; Amends Agreements with Insider; Sets Date for Annual General Meeting
January 27 2014 - 7:30AM
Marketwired
Pangolin Diamonds Names New President & CEO; Amends Agreements
with Insider; Sets Date for Annual General Meeting
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan 27, 2014) - Pangolin
Diamonds Corp. (TSX-VENTURE:PAN) (the "Company" or "Pangolin")
announces that it has named Rick G. Bonner, P.Geol., as its
President and Chief Executive Officer. Willem Smuts, who has served
in this roll since the Company was first formed, has resigned.
Mr. Bonner has over thirty years of mineral exploration
experience on four continents exploring for gold, uranium, copper
and diamonds. Relevant diamond exploration and African experience
includes professional contract work for Kennecott Canada and Diavik
Diamond Mines, both part of the Rio Tinto group. He then worked
directly for Diavik Diamond Mines, adding kimberlite resources as
well as operating their bulk-sampling drilling programs in northern
Canada. These programs recovered significant carat weights for
grade and value determinations with the objective of adding to the
Diavik mining reserves.
Mr. Bonner previously served as BHP Minerals' Senior Project
Geologist for Botswana and Namibia, Africa. Subsequently, he
co-founded Westport Resources Namibia, which developed into a
significant exploration company wholly owned by Forsys Metals
Corp., a TSX-listed company operating in Namibia. This work
included advancing their key project, the Valencia uranium deposit,
from the exploration stage to reserve-resource definition stage
while delivering an overall resource increase of approximately
550%.
Mr. Bonner is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors,
the Society of Economic Geologists and the Canadian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy as well as being a licensed Professional
Geologist with NAPEG, Canada. He is currently a Director of
Augustine Ventures Inc. (TSX-V) and has in the past served on the
boards of several other private and public junior mining
companies.
Dr. Leon Daniels, Chairman of Pangolin, commented: "We are
delighted to have Rick Bonner join our senior management team. His
past experience working in Africa and with diamonds will be of
great assistance." He also commented: "I also wish to thank Willem
Smuts for his contribution to Pangolin over the years and wish him
well as he pursues other interests."
Amendments to Agreements with Insider
The Company also announces that it has reached an agreement with
Nomathata Diamonds Inc. ("Nomathata"), a private company controlled
by Dr. Leon Daniels, a director, the Chairman and a significant
shareholder of the Company, to amend certain terms contained in two
agreements that were entered into before the Company went public.
Specifically, pursuant to a share purchase agreement between the
Company and Nomathata dated December 22, 2011 (the "Original
Acquisition Agreement"), the Company had previously agreed, as part
consideration for acquiring the Company's prospecting licenses in
Botswana, to pay Nomathata a further amount of Cdn $1.2 million
within 24 months of the Company discovering a 5th Kimberlite on its
licensed properties in Botswana. The parties have now amended and
clarified those obligations. Specifically, the parties have agreed
that the $1.2 million payment obligation will now be payable within
24 months of the discovery of the 10th (not 5th) Kimberlite,
provided that each such Kimberlite is "diamondiferous" as verified
by a Qualified Person (as such term in defined in NI 43-101). In
addition, the parties have agreed that for a Kimberlite to be
diamondiferous, it must be a Kimberlite in which a "macro" diamond
is contained - namely a diamond being greater than 0.5 mm in size.
If a known diamondiferous Kimberlite is acquired by the Company, it
will not be counted as one of the 10 as described above.
As a consequence of the amendments to the Original Acquisition
Agreement described above, the parties also agreed to clarify a
term contained in the existing December 20, 2011NSR Royalty
Agreement (the "Existing NSR Agreement") in favour of Nomathata.
Specifically, the parties agreed to amend the existing definition
of "Project Area" contained in the Existing NSR Agreement to
clarify what diamond production, if any, on project lands and
licenses owned by the Company would attract the payment of the
1.15% NSR - to Nomathata. In short, the amendment of the definition
clarifies that any future NSR payable to Nomathata on any new
licenses acquired by the Company in Botswana, either by acquisition
or by joint-venture, will only be payable if Dr. Daniels plays (or
played) a significant role in the acquisition of such diamond
prospecting licenses. If a known diamondiferous Kimberlite is
acquired by the Company, the NSR will not apply.
The amendments to the Original Acquisition Agreement and
Existing NSR Agreement constitute a "related party transaction"
under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority
Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), but
are exempt from the formal valuation and minority approval
requirements of MI 61-101. The Company believes that amendments to
the Original Acquisition Agreement and Existing NSR Agreement are
clarifying in nature and are, on balance, very beneficial to the
Company.
Annual General Meeting
The Company also confirms that it has fixed Wednesday, March 5,
2014 as the date for the Company's Annual General Meeting of its
Shareholders. Proxy materials in respect to the shareholders
meeting will be disseminated to shareholders and filed on SEDAR in
due course.
About Pangolin Diamonds Corp.
Pangolin Diamonds Corp. is building a leading diamond
exploration and development company in the heart of Botswana, the
world's leading diamond producing country by value. The Company is
the 100% owner of four separate project areas including the Tsabong
North, Jwaneng South, Malatswae and Mmadinare Projects. Pangolin's
management and team leaders have over 145 years of combined diamond
exploration experience in southern Africa. This makes the Company
the most experienced diamond explorer in Botswana other than De
Beers Exploration and Debswana. The Company is equipped for
exploration, with two diamond drill rigs and a fully portable
one-tonne per hour Dense Media Separation Plant used to prepare
samples and make diamond concentrates. Pangolin is well-funded to
continue its exploration programs for the next year.
For more information on Pangolin Diamonds Corp, please refer to
www.pangolindiamondscorp.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Pangolin Diamonds Corp.Scott YoungInvestor
Relations+1.416.488.1370scott@pangolindiamondscorp.comPangolin
Diamonds Corp.Graham C. WarrenChief Financial
Officer+1.416.594.0473+1.416.594.1630gwarren@pangolindiamondscorp.comwww.pangolindiamondscorp.com
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