Eckhof takes reins at Kairos

Junior gold and lithium explorer Kairos Minerals has appointed Klaus Eckhof and Peter Turner to lead the company.

Mr Eckhof has been appointed non-executive chairman of Kairos while Mr Turner will be managing director.

Non-executive director Neil Hutchison has resigned from the board.

This comes six weeks after the resignation of the company’s former executive chairman Terry Topping and director Bruno Seneque.

They were replaced by dealmakers Phillip Coulson and Zane Lewis, who had lodged shareholder notices to remove the former directors.

Today’s appointments come one week after Kairos appointed Mt Hawthorn-based Corporate & Resource Consultants to assist with a strategic review of the company’s operations.

CRC has previously worked for two other companies led by Mr Eckhof, Moto Goldmines and AVZ Minerals.

As well as the new appointments, the company announced today plans to issue equity incentives to the four new directors.

Mr Eckhof will be issued 30 million options with an exercise price of five cents, compared to the current share price of 2.7 cents.

Mr Turner’s package includes 25 million performance rights tied to exploration milestones.

He said the company would focus on its Mt York gold project in the Pilbara and its Roe Hills lithium project in the Goldfields.

Subject to shareholder approval, Mr Coulson will be issued 32.5 million incentive options and Mr Lewis 17.5 million incentive options.

Mr Eckhof has more than 20 years’ experience developing mining projects, with particular success in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He was a founder and executive chairman (until 2018) of AVZ Minerals, which is focused on developing the Manono lithium project in the DRC.

AVZ has been a market darling over the past year, with its share price soaring to about $1.30 last month but has since crashed to about 78 cents.

The company suspended trading in its shares yesterday pending an announcement on its mining and exploration rights at Manono.

The suspension came after Jin Cheng Mining Company – a subsidiary of China’s Zijin Mining Group – commenced arbitration proceedings in Paris in regard to a disputed 15 per cent shareholding in Dathcom Mining, which holds the Manono project.

Jin Cheng’s claim has cast doubt on AVZ’s plan to maintain a controlling 51 per cent stake in the project.

AVZ has described Jin Cheng’s claim as vexatious and meritless.