Tony Brooke elevated to CEO at Richland Resources

The AIM-traded company said Brooke had previously acted as vice-president of marketing and sales for its wholly-owned subsidiary, Capricorn Sapphire, and assisted with its sales and marketing initiatives alongside his team at Gem Dreams, as it announced on 23 November 2016.

Following his announcement in mid-January of his intention to retire, Richland confirmed on Monday that Dr Bernard Olivier had now resigned as chief executive officer and a director of the Company also with immediate effect in order to pursue his other interests.

“The company would like to thank Dr Olivier for his significant contributions to the company's development, initially in Tanzania and more recently in relation to the establishment and commissioning of the company's Capricorn Sapphire mine,” the board said in its statement.

“Brooke is a leading expert in the gemstone industry and will be using his expertise and experience to further develop the company's Capricorn Sapphire mine in Queensland, Australia.”

Under pre-existing contractual arrangements between Capricorn Sapphire, Tony Brooke and Gem Dreams in connection with his sales and marketing assistance, and the company's beneficiation strategy, Richland said it also issued 3,581,237 new common shares to Brooke in respect of sales commissions of $42,717 earned during the period from 1 December 2016 to 31 December last year.