Pangolin Diamonds Corp. announced the election of Gareth Penny to its board of directors as non-executive Chairman of the Board. Mr. Penny’s position on the Board is subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

“We are very pleased to have Mr. Penny join the Board of Pangolin. His lifetime industry experience and proven leadership and operational skills, coupled with his extensive international business management expertise, will be invaluable additions to our Board,” commented Dr. Leon Daniels, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Mr. Penny is currently non-Executive Chairman of MMC Norilsk Nickel, and as non-Executive Director and RemCo Chairman of Julius Bär Holding Limited.

During his career of over three decades Mr. Penny has worked in various forms of mining including 22 years with De Beers and Anglo American, the last five of which he was Group CEO of De Beers. During his tenure with De Beers, Mr. Penny was instrumental in reshaping not only the company but also the diamond industry. Mr. Penny was the prime architect in the change to the De Beers business model. He also has had exposure across the diamond pipeline, interacting with geologists, overseeing the development of new mining projects in Botswana, South Africa and Canada, managing mining operations, raising funds, and sorting, valuing and marketing diamonds. Mr. Penny has also been heavily involved in reputational and governance enhancements in the diamond industry. Options to purchase up to 2,000,000 common shares (options) were granted to Mr. Penny pursuant to the company’s stock option plan. The options are subject to vesting provisions in accordance with the Plan and are exercisable at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of five years.