Greatland Gold PLC Board Changes and Grant of Options (6308U)

TIDMGGP

RNS Number : 6308U

Greatland Gold PLC

19 January 2017

19 January 2017

Greatland Gold plc

("Greatland" or "the Company")

Board Changes and Grant of Options

Greatland Gold plc (LON:GGP), the London Stock Exchange AIM listed precious and base metals exploration and development business, is pleased to provide an update on corporate developments.

Highlights

-- Gervaise Heddle is appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Greatland Gold and Callum Baxter is appointed as Chief Technical Officer;

-- Gemma Cryan, a geologist with over 15 years industry experience, joins Greatland Gold and is to be appointed as the Company's new Geology Manager;

-- Greatland Gold announces the grant of 75,000,000 new options to directors and staff representing in aggregate 4.6% of the existing issued share capital of the Company.

Alex Borrelli, Non-Executive Chairman, commented: 'I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Gervaise Heddle as Chief Executive Officer and Callum Baxter as Chief Technical Officer, and the appointment of Gemma Cryan as Geology Manager.

Gervaise and Callum have been instrumental in the recent successes of the Company, including the delineation of large zones of gold mineralisation at the Company's 100% owned Ernest Giles project and the successful execution of an agreement to purchase the Havieron gold project in Western Australia.

I am also very pleased to announce that Gemma Cryan will formally join our team at Greatland. Gemma is an outstanding geologist with over 15 years industry experience and she brings both valuable field experience and experience at the corporate level. Gemma holds formal qualifications in geology including BSc Hons in Earth Sciences and is a Non-Executive Director of Starvest plc, an AIM listed natural resources investment company.

Our decision to appoint Gemma to the team reflects the increasing level of exploration activity at Greatland and our expectations that the pace will quicken in 2017 as we advance all five of our major exploration projects and continue to pursue new external opportunities.'

Information on Gervaise Heddle and Callum Baxter

Gervaise Heddle was appointed as an Executive Director of the Company on 18 July 2016, and was previously a Non-Executive Director of the Company. Callum Baxter was appointed as an Executive Director of the Company on 6 April 2016, and has been a director of the Company since it was listed in 2006.

Grant of Options and Directors' Shareholdings

Greatland Gold plc announces the grant of 75,000,000 options to directors and key staff representing in aggregate 4.6% of the existing issued share capital of the Company. Each option has a 6 month vesting period and entitles the holder upon exercise to one ordinary share of 0.1 pence in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares"). All options have a life of three years from the vesting date at an exercise price of 0.28 pence per share. The exercise price represents a 48% premium to the 10 day VWAP of 0.189 pence as at the close of business on Wednesday, 18 January 2017. All options will vest immediately upon a change of control event.

Gervaise Heddle, Chief Executive Officer, and Callum Baxter, Chief Technical Officer, will both receive 28 million options each, Alex Borrelli, Non-Executive Chairman, will receive 14 million options, and Gemma Cryan, Geology Manager, will receive 5 million options.

Following the grant of options to directors, the resultant total directors' shareholdings are as follows:

 
 Director         Position             Shares     % of share    Options 
                                        Held        capital       Held 
                                                    of the 
                                                    Company 
---------------  -----------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 
 Alex Borrelli    Chairman           13,000,000      0.8%      39,000,000 
---------------  -----------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Gervaise         Chief Executive 
  Heddle           Officer           3,000,000       0.2%      53,000,000 
---------------  -----------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Callum           Chief Technical 
  Baxter*          Officer           24,572,951      1.5%      53,000,000 
---------------  -----------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 

*Callum Baxter is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starvest plc. Starvest plc holds 85,333,333 shares of Greatland Gold plc or 5.2% of the share capital of the Company.

Enquiries:

Greatland Gold PLC

Callum Baxter/Gervaise Heddle

Tel [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

www.greatlandgold.com

SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nominated Adviser)

Mark Brady/Sean Wyndham-Quin/James Keeshan

Tel [phone]

SI Capital Limited (Broker)

Nick Emerson / Andy Thacker

Tel [phone]

Notes for Editors:

Greatland Gold plc is London listed (LON:GGP) natural resource exploration and development company with a current focus on gold and nickel exploration projects.

The Company has five main projects; three situated in Western Australia and two in Tasmania. All projects are 100% owned by Greatland or Greatland has the right to take 100% ownership.

Greatland is seeking to identify large mineral deposits in areas that have not been subject to extensive exploration previously. It is widely recognised that the next generation of large deposits will come from such under-explored areas and Greatland is applying advanced exploration techniques to investigate a number of carefully selected targets within its focused licence portfolio.

The Company is also actively investigating a range of new opportunities in precious and strategic metals and will update the market on new opportunities as and when appropriate.

Note: This announcement contains inside information which is disclosed in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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January 19, 2017 06:47 ET (11:47 GMT)