Core Lithium is seeking a new leader after tough year, exit of chief executive Gareth Manderson

There has been a change at the top of a struggling NT company. Read what happened and why.

There have been changes at the top at struggling Territory lithium miner Core Lithium.

Chief executive Gareth Manderson exited the Perth-based company on the same day the organisation unveiled an interim loss of $167.6m.

He was joined on the way out by Core’s independent director Andrea Hall.

Core’s chief financial officer Doug Warden has stepped in as acting chief executive as a search begins for Mr Manderson’s replacement.

Former Core chief executive Gareth Manderson at the official opening of Core Lithium’s grants mine Picture: Glenn Campbell

A little under a year ago Mr Manderson and Core were riding high with the company’s share price at $1.17 on May 15, mining at its Grants pit near Finniss was strong and the company was preparing to announce the commencement of work on its BP33 mine.

But a worldwide lithium surplus saw the share price tank and by December, the NT News was reporting significant job losses at the Finniss site, about 80km south of Darwin, and the suspension of work on BP33.

In early January, Core suspended operations at its Grants mine, with an estimated 150 people losing their jobs.

At the time, Mr Manderson said Core Lithium was “here to stay” but others had grave doubts, with the stock being named the ASX’s worst performer in 2023, finishing the year at around 11 cents.

Mr Manderson and the company’s cause wasn’t helped by a spectacular decline in the price of spodumene, the key lithium ore mineral, during 2023.

It dropped 85 per cent year-on-year including a 50 per cent drop since October.

The remaining 280,000 tonnes of stockpiled ore at Finniss is expected to be depleted by about July.

To add injury to insult, Western Australian lithium miner Pilbara Minerals announced a contract to sell lithium to Yahua, the Chinese company that had been one of Core’s main customers.

Mr Manderson was appointed chief executive in August 2022 after the resignation of Core Lithium’s founder and inaugural chief executive Stephen Biggins.

He had previously spent four years in the Territory as mine manager at uranium miner ERA from 2007 to 2011 based in Jabiru.

The Territory connection was on Mr Manderson’s mind as he considered shifting from global giant Rio Tinto to tiny Core Lithium after Biggins stepped aside.

He joined the company at a pivotal time, with mine preparation about 70 per cent complete and production set to begin in late 2022.

“The opportunity is taking Core Lithium and building a company,” he told the NT News soon after his appointment.

“The team has gone from exploration to development very quickly getting into an operation and running a business. That was actually quite engaging and I saw it as a fantastic way to spend the second-half of my career.”

Core’s share price was 16 cents at close of trading Friday.

Originally published as Core Lithium is seeking a new leader after tough year, exit of chief executive Gareth Manderson