Bacanora Minerals Announces Appointment of Non-Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer

Calgary, Alberta (FSCwire) - BACANORA MINERALS LTD. ("Bacanora" or the "Company") (TSX-V: BCN and AIM: BCN), the Canadian and London listed lithium company, is pleased to announce that Ms. Eileen Carr has agreed to join the Board as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.  Ms. Carr is a Chartered Certified Accountant with over 25 years' experience in the resource sector during which she has worked on both energy and mining projects across the world, including projects in China, Russia, Australia, Latin America and Africa. 

In addition, the Company announces the appointment of Ms. Janet Boyce as Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect.  Ms. Boyce is a certified public accountant who has held a number of senior financial roles, including Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Gemfields plc, a leading supplier of gemstones.  Ms. Boyce replaces Mr. Derek Batorowski, who is stepping down as CFO to pursue other business interests.  Mr. Batorowski will continue to serve Bacanora as a Non-Executive Director of the Company. 

The appointments of both Ms. Carr and Ms. Boyce are in line with Bacanora's transition from an explorer to a lithium development company, as it enters the construction phase at its Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico, which was assigned a US$1.25 billion NPV and 26% IRR in its recently completed Feasibility Study.

Ms. Eileen Carr – Non-Executive Director

Over the course of her career, Ms. Carr has been a key member of teams behind the development of a number of successful mining operations across the world, including the Freda Rebecca gold mine in Zimbabwe, the Ayanfuri gold mine in Ghana, the Kalsaka gold mine in Burkina Faso and the Angovia gold mine in Ivory Coast.  She has served as Finance Director / CFO for both private and public companies starting with Cluff Resources in 1993.  She has since gone on to hold several executive directorships in the resource sector, including CFO at both AIM traded Monterrico Metals plc and Alexander Mining plc.  She was also a Director at European Goldfields Inc., a TSX listed gold exploration company with operations in Romania.

Ms. Carr has also held a number of Non-Executive Directorships and currently sits on the Board and the Audit Committee of Sylvania Platinum Limited, an AIM listed PGM (platinum group metals) company with operations in South Africa. Her first non-executive role was for Banro Corp in 1998 and more recently she was a Non-Executive Director for Talvivaara Mining Co, the Finnish nickel company, and Goldstar Resources NL, an ASX listed gold company.  Ms. Carr holds an MSc in Management from London University and is a SLOAN fellow of London Business School.

Ms. Janet Boyce – Chief Financial Officer

As a member of the executive management team between August 2013 and July 2017, Ms. Boyce played a key role in the formulation and implementation of group strategy at Gemfields.  During this period, Ms. Boyce's responsibilities included: managing the accounting, insurance, legal, tax, and treasury functions; providing strategic guidance to operating subsidiaries and divisions; and overseeing the financial activities of subsidiary companies and foreign operations.  As well as playing a key role in the Group's investor relations, she was instrumental in increasing the Group's banking facilities from US$15m to US$100m.  In addition, Ms. Boyce managed Gemfields' preparations for a main board listing: establishing risk management, internal audit, legal, tax and CoSec functions; integrating management reporting processes; implementing accounting systems; and upgrading corporate governance.

Prior to Gemfields, Ms. Boyce held a number of senior positions with ENRC Plc (August 2007 – July 2013), which at the time of her employment was a FTSE 100 mining and metals company.  Her roles included: Group accounting methodology manager; Deputy Finance Controller; Corporate accounting manager and Group reporting manager. Previously Ms. Boyce was part of the Audit and Assurance Services team at Ernst & Young LLP in London and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Philippines (2002 - 2007).

Peter Secker, CEO of Bacanora, commented, "To have secured the services of a Non-Executive Director and a CFO who have both held senior finance positions at multi-divisional natural resources companies, reflects the significant progress made by Bacanora in the last twelve months.  This has seen us complete a positive Feasibility Study at Sonora and also secure leading Japanese battery trader Hanwa as a strategic investor and offtake partner, in addition to other large institutional investors.  I look forward to working with both Janet and Eileen during what promises to be an exciting period for Bacanora, as we focus on embarking on the construction phase of a 35,000 tonnes per annum battery grade lithium carbonate operation at Sonora in H1 2018.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Derek Batorowski for the valuable contribution he has made to the Company as Finance Director over the years.  Derek was one of the founding Directors of Bacanora and has carried out the CFO function since the Company's incorporation. I look forward to continue working with him in the future as a Non-Executive Director, as we look to deliver on our objective to build a leading supplier of high value lithium products to fast growing industries such as electric vehicles and energy storage."

Disclosures under Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules

Ms. Eileen Carr, aged 61, holds or has held the following directorships and/or partnerships in the previous five years:

Ms. Carr was a Non-Executive Director of Talvivaara Mining Company Plc ("Talvivaara") from June 2007 until June 2014.  Talvivaara applied for corporate reorganisation proceedings governed by the Finnish Restructuring of Enterprises Act (47/1993, as amended) on 15 November 2013.  On 2 June 2017, Talvivaara announced that the District Court of Espoo had confirmed Talvivaara's Restructuring Programme.

Ms. Carr does not currently hold any shares in the Company.

There are no other disclosures to be made under Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules in respect of Ms. Carr.