CONTEXT FOR SHAREHOLDERS ON BOARD & MANAGEMENT CHANGES
I hope that 2024 has started well for you. It has certainly been an exciting start to the year for uranium markets, with the spot price rapidly ascending into triple figures and currently sitting around US$100/lb.
The purpose of today’s email is to provide some additional context to the significant board and management changes that weannouncedearlier this week. These changes (anticipated to take effect around 7 March 2024) are:
- After almost 15 years of dedicated service, Bannerman’s Non-Executive Chairman, Ronnie Beevor, will be retiring from the Bannerman Board.
- Upon Ronnie’s departure, I am pleased to be assuming the role of Executive Chairman.
- I am also delighted that our current Chief Operating Officer (COO), Gavin Chamberlain, will be the company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
These changes are designed to set Bannerman up optimally for the next phases of our evolution, as we take Etango towards targeted development and profitable uranium production.
I discuss below the rationale for these moves, the positive implications for your investment in Bannerman and how it impacts my role. |
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| Critical differences at each stage of the junior mining journey |
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Junior miners go through a natural process: exploration to (hopefully) discovery and resource definition, to feasibility, to finance and development and, finally, operation. The requisite management skill sets for each of these phases are distinctly different. Further, the stakes grow higher as a company matures through this process, meaning the costs of getting it wrong grow exponentially.
In my experience as a lawyer and investor, I have seen countless examples where a CEO backs themselves to grow into the next stage, but their personal growth simply cannot climb the learning curve quickly enough to keep up with the company’s development. Moreover, most of my experience of this situation as a lawyer was to help clean up the pieces, so I have always been determined to not put Bannerman into this situation.
As a business, we have continually been cognisant of this dynamic. This has been readily observable in our resourcing and personnel decisions as we have progressed through scoping of the Etango-8 concept, then preliminary and detailed feasibility work, to the current phase of FEED and finance/marketing workstreams, with the target of moving into the construction phase and eventually production operations. These most recent changes are just another step in this overarching organisational skills progression. |
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| Establishing our leadership for the next phase |
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As we commence our transformation into an operating uranium producer, and as a result of some of these earlier resourcing decisions, we now have the ideal individual to lead our business through the detailed design, construction and ramp-up phases.
Exactly a year ago, weappointedGavin Chamberlain as Chief Operating Officer. We needed an exceptional leader, with deep management experience in southern Africa and proven expertise as a project builder. Gavin had all of that, topped off by direct experience building the multi-billion-dollar Husab uranium mine in Namibia.
Gavin performed exceptionally well in his first year, immediately hitting the ground running. He quickly demonstrated his deep experience – fitting straight into our culture, handling the contractors, and showing a strategic thought process and organisational leadership that evidenced his capability extended well beyond that of a COO.
In short, he is a vastly more experienced and more capable manager than I am. His transition into the CEO role will be seamless and maintains the high-performance culture of our team. In other words – an ideal outcome for shareholders. |
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 | Brandon Munro & Gavin Chamberlain discuss how to build a uranium mine with Crux Investor, Cape Town, February 2023 |
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The opportunity for Gavin to be elevated to the CEO role has aligned with me moving to Executive Chairman. This alignment came about when our current Chairman, Ronnie, notified us that he felt the time was right for him to retire from the Bannerman Board, with the Etango ML having beengranted in Decemberand the project now fully permitted.
Ronnie has been with Bannerman almost 15 years, with approximately 11 years in the role of Non-Executive Chairman. I first met him in 2009, only a couple of months after his appointment to the Bannerman Board, when I was recruited as GM Corporate Development. Shortly after, I moved to Namibia and assumed responsibility for our Environmental Clearances and Community Development Plan.
My first impressions of Ronnie were very positive – astute, personable and well connected. My appreciation of these attributes has only been burnished over time. Since my appointment as CEO in 2016, Ronnie has played an invaluable role in mentoring and supporting both me and the broader executive management team. I have learnt a huge amount from him, not the least of which is the science (and art) of effectively chairing and managing a board.
Ronnie has also played a huge role in seeing our business through some very difficult times in the uranium cycle. In particular, he was instrumental in guiding the company through the post-Fukushima challenges of the entire nuclear industry and to its current position of financial strength and shovel-readiness at Etango. For that I am truly grateful to him, both personally and as a Bannerman shareholder. |
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 | Ronnie Beevor and I informed the Ministry of Mines and Energy of our leadership changes
(L-R , Ms Twapewa Kadhikwa, Director Bannerman Namibia, Mining Commissioner Ms Isabella Chirchir, Mr Ronnie Beevor, retiring Non-Executive Chairman, Deputy Minister Ms Kornelia Shilunga, Mr Brandon Munro, Executive Chariman-elect, Ms Matjiua Hengua, Senior Stakeholder Relations Advisor - Bannerman Namibia) |
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| My role as Executive Chairman |
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I am particularly delighted to be moving into the Executive Chairman role. I believe that this is a role that is best suited to my capabilities and leadership style. It will also enable me to spend maximum time and energy on those activities with which I can add most value for shareholders.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the position of Executive Chairman (acknowledging that it is not a particularly common role in places like North America), I would like to clarify that this is very much an executive role in substance as well as title. The key difference to my role as CEO is that I will now be able to narrow my focus and efforts to a subset of responsibilities, rather than being spread across all major corporate and operational workstreams.
My core areas of executive responsibility in the new role will include: capital markets profiling, direct interface and general investor relations initiatives; nuclear industry relationships and interactions; strategic leadership; and overall business development. A key focus in coming months will naturally be the strategic financing of Etango, and achieving a great outcome for all existing shareholders.
I am excited by the opportunity to apply my skills and endeavour in this more focused manner going forward. I firmly believe that this dedicated focus, combined with Gavin’s elevation to the role of CEO, provides the business with the strongest possible executive leadership platform transitioning towards and into development and operations. |
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From a shareholder’s perspective, it is essentially business as usual. I will have more time to focus on where I can add the most value, Gavin steps into a role where he can add the most value with his specific talents and expertise, and other Exco management will continue to function as the high-performing team you know.
Critically, you should also sleep better at night knowing that your new CEO has built projects several times larger and more complex than Etango. |
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At this juncture, I want to thank you, and all our shareholders, for your support. Eight years ago, I was appointed CEO. I am proud to have led the company through a very difficult time in the uranium cycle. We were able to use those tougher years constructively, and your company emerged stronger as a result – with a scaled-down and re-imagined development path for Etango (Etango-8 Mtpa / 3.5Mlb U3O8 pa) that is more economic, better suited to current building market conditions, and retains all additional expansion potential once profitable uranium production has commenced.
Your support through this journey has been deeply appreciated. I hope we can continue to enjoy it as we move through the next exciting phases with Etango.
Kind regards,
Brandon
1 February 2024 |
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Brandon Munro
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Corporate Office
Suite 7 ■ 245 Churchill Ave ■ Subiaco WA 6008
Post PO Box 1973 ■ Subiaco WA 6904
T +61 (0)8 9381 1436
www.bannermanenergy.com
E[email protected]
ASX:BMN OTCQX:BNNLF NSX:BMN |
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