Trevali Mining (TSX:TV; OTCQX: TREVF) announced on Thursday that president and chief executive officer Dr. Mark Cruise and chair of the board of directors Mike Hoffman plan to step down.
Both Cruise and Hoffman will continue in their current roles until their successors are appointed in order to ensure a smooth transition to a new leadership team for the long-term benefit of Trevali and its stakeholders, the company stated in a release, adding that the moves are part of an ongoing transition that aims to evolve Trevali from an exploration company into a major producer.
“Over the past decade Trevali has transformed from a successful explorer to a multi-operational, zinc focused, global base metal mining company. 2018 was a busy year as we built the new management and operating teams and the company is well positioned for my successor to take the company to the next stage of its evolution. Given my intimate knowledge of the assets I look forward to continuing to support the team going forward,” Cruise stated in the release.
The Vancouver-based miner said the board of directors has started searching for a new president and chief executive and a new chair of the board, formed a transition oversight committee to oversee the search process and ensure an efficient transition.
Trevali also reported preliminary Q4 2018 full year production and sales results, and provided its production, cash costs, and capital and exploration expenditure guidance for 2019.
Highlights were:
- Total 2018 zinc production of 407 million payable pounds, in-line with initial guidance of 400 – 427 million pounds set at the start of 2018. Total lead production of 41.7 million payable pounds and silver production of 1.2 million ounces.
- Consolidated Q4 production of 103 million pounds payable zinc, 9.7 million payable pounds of lead and 285,423 payable ounces of silver.
- Zinc concentrate inventories reduced to 57 thousand DMT at year end, a 26 thousand DMT reduction from the third quarter. Normal shipping schedules were realized at all operations in the fourth quarter and there were no material inventory backlogs that affected concentrate sales.
- Repurchased 12.7 million shares as part of the normal course issuer bid.
- 2019 zinc production guidance of 361 – 401 million payable pounds, with the decline from 2018 attributed to the anticipated grade declines at Perkoa and Rosh Pinah. Lead and silver production are expected to modestly increase to 44 to 49 million payable pounds and 1.32 to 1.47 million ounces respectively as higher grades are mined.
- Production in 2019 at Caribou is expected to be in-line with 2018 as site continues to advance underground development to increase operating flexibility. At Santander, higher grades and increased throughput are expected to result in increased zinc production levels in 2019.
- Operating costs in 2019 are expected to be higher than those in 2018 as additional investments are made to improve operating flexibility and ensure stable operating results.
- Capital and committed exploration expenditures are expected to be $74 million and $8 million, respectively, with 2019 exploration to focus on regional targets at Perkoa and near-mine opportunities at Santander.
Trevali has four mines: the 90% owned Perkoa mine in Burkina Faso, the 90% owned Rosh Pinah mine in Namibia, the wholly-owned Caribou mine in the Bathurst Mining Camp of northern New Brunswick in Canada, and the wholly-owned Santander mine in Peru.
By Thursday afternoon, Trevali’s stock had dropped 10%.
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