Marula Mining PLC - Award of Employee Shares

  24 February 2025

Marula Mining PLC

("Marula'' or the "Company")

Award of Employee Shares

Director/PDMR Shareholding

Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU A2X: MARU), an African-focused mining and development company, announces that it has awarded 7,825,000 new ordinary shares at a price of 4.5 pence per share  ("Employee Shares") to directors and employees of the Company. The Employee Shares are being issued on a discretionary basis and as part of the long-term incentives the Company established for its employees and Directors.

The award of the Employee Shares has been approved by the Company's Remuneration Committee and has been based on the following criteria:

·    incentivising its employees to commit their medium and long-term futures to the Company as it continues to grow and advance its battery metals mining strategy

·    promoting local share ownership amongst its employees in the key countries that it operates and where its ordinary shares have or may have a dual listing  

·    rewarding employees and Directors for progress made to date in achieving key strategic milestones and setting the Company on its path towards achieving continued growth, cashflow generation, profitability and delivering on its existing dividend policy

·    to further reward those Directors and key employees who will have the greatest impact on the Company's share price for achieving milestones that are expected to enhance shareholder value.

Milestones for the granting of the Employee Shares were specifically tailored to the activities of the specific employee, with the shares to be issued based on various operating and project parameters including commencement of mining and processing activities, entering of sales agreements and also relating to the strengthening of, amongst other things, the Company's community-based initiatives, health and safety performance, environmental and sustainable mining practices and corporate governance.

The Employee Shares have been issued to 33 employees located in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya and all five of the Company's Directors. All recipients of the Employee Shares are subject to a voluntary 12-month lock-in from the date of Admission (as defined below) in respect of the Employee Shares. 4,270,000 of the Employee Shares, representing 55% of the total, have been issued to employees and Directors based in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, with the balance issued to employees and Directors in the United Kingdom.

This is the first issue of shares to employees and directors since the Company commenced its battery metals strategy in Africa almost 3 years ago in March 2022.

The following Directors have been issued the Employee Shares:

The resultant shareholdings of the Directors are summarised below.

¹ 19,750,000 ordinary shares are held by Gathoni Muchai Investments Limited ("GMI"), Jason Brewer, Chief Executive Officer and shareholder of the Company, is a connected person to the Chief Executive Officer of GMI and a substantial shareholder and director of GMI.

Admission

Application has been made for the Employee Shares to be admitted to trading on the Aquis Stock Exchange AQSE Growth Market and A2X Markets on or around 28 February 2025 ("Admission") and will rank pari passu with the ordinary shares of the Company in issue. The Company's ordinary shares remain suspended from trading.

Total Voting Rights

Following Admission, the Company's issued share capital will comprise 268,072,344 ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each, with each share carrying the right to one vote, therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 268,072,344. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in the Company, or a change to their interest in the Company, under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

The Directors of Marula are responsible for the contents of this announcement. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of UK Market Abuse Regulation.

About Marula Mining

Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU A2X: MAR) is an African focused battery metals investment and exploration company and has interests in several high value mining operations and mine development projects in Africa: the Blesberg Lithium and Tantalum Mine, Northern Cape Lithium and Tungsten Project and Kruisrivier Cobalt Mine, all in South Africa; the Larisoro Manganese Mine and Kilifi Manganese Processing Operation both in Kenya; the Kinusi Copper Mine, the Nyorinyori Graphite Project and the NyoriGreen Graphite Project all in Tanzania. As we advance operations at these battery metals focused projects, Marula will continue to build and expand its interests in other high-quality projects in Africa.

Marula's strategy is to identify and invest in advanced and high-value mining projects throughout East, Central and Southern Africa that the Directors believe would deliver returns for its shareholders. The Board and management team aims to establish Marula as a socially and environmentally responsible, sustainable, and profitable producer of critical metals and commodities that are of increasingly strategic importance to modern technologies and the global economy. Marula's shares are traded on AQUIS Stock Exchange (AQSE) in London and A2X Markets in South Africa. Marula is exploring opportunities to admit its shares to trading on Kenya's Nairobi Securities Exchange and South Africa's Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Marula's shares are traded on AQUIS Stock Exchange (AQSE) in London and A2X Markets in South Africa. Marula is exploring opportunities to admit its shares to trading on Kenya's Nairobi Securities Exchange and South Africa's Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

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Caution:

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.