Klaus Eckhof steps down as AVZ reports biggest spodumene intersection
AVZ Minerals’ executive chairman Klaus Eckhof has stepped down as the company reports its biggest spodumene intersection to-date from resource drilling at Manono.
A day after Klaus Eckhof reported he was relinquishing his executive chairman role, AVZ Minerals (ASX: AVZ) has pulled up another record lithium intersection at its Manono project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This latest intersection is from the 20,000m resource drilling program at the project and was 341.62m thick, which the company claims is its widest result to-date.
The intersection was unearthed from the Roche Dure pegmatite and comprised an upper interval of 302.10m grading 1.54% lithium and 875 parts per million tin.
This beats the previous record of 2950.03m grading 1.75% lithium and 856ppm tin from 62m.
According to AVZ, results indicate the pegmatite thickens towards the northwest and is closer to the surface in this area.
Other intersections in this locality include 299.88m with an interval of 268.75m grading 1.55% lithium and 751ppm tin, and 303.16m with an interval of 278.96m grading 1.58% lithium and 1,053ppm tin.
“The Roche Dure pegmatite continues to produce intercepts with excellent grades of lithium and tin,” AVZ managing director Nigel Ferguson said.
“This bodes well for the calculation of the maiden JORC compliant mineral resource in July and ongoing drilling for the complete pegmatite body and updated resource calculation,” Mr Ferguson added.
A scoping study for Manono was kicked-off yesterday and is due for completion in August.
Klaus Eckhof relinquishes board position
Today’s news follows the company’s announcement yesterday that Klaus Eckhof’s executive chairman position had been relinquished with immediate effect, triggering the company’s hunt for a new executive.
Mr Eckhof’s resignation may not be a surprise to many after his off and on-market share selloff antics earlier this month caused the company’s share price to plummet 30% during intraday trade and sparked ire among investors.
Between 4 June and 6 Jun, Mr Eckhof offloaded almost half his stake in AVZ to free up more than A$4.5 million.
He initially divested 9.5 million shares off-market for A$1.615 million before disposing on-market to generate A$2.94 million.
At the time, Mr Eckhof told Small Caps he had a “small window” to sell stock and that “everyone has personal financial needs”.
Since the disposal, AVZ’s share price has continued to fall to hit a six-month low earlier this week when it closed at A$0.083.
Mr Eckhof served on the AVZ board for four years.