Jervois appoints Valdecir Botassini as SMP Refinery Project Director

(TheNewswire)



HIGHLIGHTS

  • - Valdecir Botassini joins with the experience of a 35-year career at Votorantim Group where he led both its nickel and zinc divisions; he also served as Chief Operating Officer of Votorantim's mines and smelters across Brazil and Peru.

    - Mr. Botassini's experience spanned operational, technical and commercial roles, including 20 years at São Miguel Paulista Refinery ("SMP") in São Paulo, Brazil, finishing as General Operations Manager.  Jervois agreed to acquire SMP last year.

    - Mr. Botassini is a key appointment as Jervois drives the restart of SMP and development of its Idaho Cobalt Operations ("ICO"), targeting concentrate production from mid-2022.

    - At SMP, Jervois is on track to become a vertically integrated producer of refined cobalt and nickel .

TheNewswire - 2 6 January 2021 - Jervois Mining Limited ("Jervois" or the "Company") (ASX:JRV) (TSXV:JRV) (OTC:JRVMF) announces the appointment of Valdecir Botassini as São Miguel Paulista Refinery (" SMP ") Project Director.  Mr. Botassini will manage the feasibility study for the restart of the SMP nickel cobalt refinery in São Paulo, Brazil, which Jervois announced its agreement to acquire last year .

Mr. Botassini is a mechanical and chemical engineer and ex-Votorantim SA (" Votorantim ") senior executive who spent 20 years at SMP in various engineering roles, culminating in the role of General Operations Manager, the lead executive position at site.

Mr. Botassini then ran Votorantim's nickel division (which included SMP) for five years and its zinc division (now Nexa Resources SA, NYSE: NEXA) (" Nexa ")) for a number of years.  He was also Chief Operating Officer of Votorantim's mines and smelters across Brazil and Peru.

As Senior Vice President Engineering of Nexa, Mr. Botassini was part of the management team that prepared and executed its Initial Public Offering (the "Nexa IPO ") in New York and Toronto in 2017, where he led the development of the project management, governance and organizational model for the listing.

Subsequent to the Nexa IPO, Mr. Botassini had executive responsibility for development and implementation of Nexa's greenfield mining and smelting portfolio, including the US$500 million Aripuanã zinc mine in Matto Grosso.  Mr. Botassini was also a member of the Boards Directors of Votorantim investee companies, Compañia Minera Atacocha and Compañia Minera Milpo. Mr. Botassini retired from Nexa early in 2020.

Mr. Botassini has commenced work at SMP, and is assisting Jervois finalise the scope of the engineering contract for the Feasibility Study to restart the refinery.  The facility has been on care and maintenance since 2016.  Jervois' Idaho Cobalt Operations (" ICO ") in the United States remains on schedule for initial concentrate production from mid-2022, with SMP envisaged to process sulphide concentrate produced from ICO, together with third party suppliers.  Restarting the SMP refinery will transform Jervois into a vertically integrated producer of refined cobalt and nickel.

On behalf of Jervois Mining Limited

Bryce Crocker, CEO.

For further information, please contact:

Investors and analysts:

Bryce Crocker

Chief Executive Officer

Jervois Mining Limited

bcrocker@jervoismining.com.au

Media:

Nathan Ryan

NWR Communications

nathan.ryan@nwrcommunications.com.au

Mob: +61 420 582 887

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to the timing of concentrate production at ICO, restart of operations at SMP Refinery, third party supply of concentrate for SMP Refinery, and Jervois becoming a vertically integrated producer of refined cobalt and nickel along with certain other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Copyright (c) 2021 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.

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