Uranium industry pioneer John Borshoff abruptly ends tenure as Deep Yellow’s chief executive, shares tumble

Shares in Deep Yellow have tanked after long-serving chief executive John Borshoff stepped down suddenly from the top job on Monday. Mr Borshoff, who had been in the role for nearly a decade, has finished up as CEO but will stay on in an advisory role until the end of next month to “ensure a smooth leadership transition process”. Deep Yellow’s stock finished Monday down 18.8 per cent to $1.88, equating to about $423 million of shareholder wealth wiped out. Shares in the Subiaco-based company have risen more than 480 per cent over the past five years. “John has been with the company since 2016, and under his leadership, Deep Yellow has grown from a junior explorer to an ASX200 company, on the verge of becoming a multi-asset, multi-geography uranium producer,” Deep Yellow stated in an ASX announcement. “Besides his invaluable leadership of Deep Yellow, the board wishes to sincerely thank John for his five decades of contribution to the global uranium industry. “His work has spanned from exploration to mine construction and production, including founding Paladin Energy.” Surprisingly, there was no statement from Mr Borshoff in the ASX announcement. Deep Yellow’s chief financial officer Craig Barnes will take the CEO reins on an interim basis. Non-executive chairman Chris Salisbury, who was formerly the boss of Rio Tinto’s WA iron ore arm, will step into a temporary executive chair role “to support Mr Barnes and the organisation during this transitional period”. Mr Barnes will receive a “temporary exertion fee” of $20,156 a month as the acting CEO. Mr Salisbury will also get a temporary exertion fee — of $6875 a month — while he is in the executive chair role. “The exertion fees will be in addition to normal salary (and) director fees as applicable, all other employment terms and conditions for Mr Barnes and Mr Salisbury remain unchanged,” Deep Yellow stated. “A global search for a replacement (CEO) for Deep Yellow is at an advanced stage and a further announcement will be made when this process has concluded.” The company is currently working towards a final investment decision at its flagship Tumas uranium project in Namibia. Tumas is expected to have an initial cost of $750 million to bring into production and generate future cash flows of $912m. Deep Yellow also controls the Mulga Rock uranium project — a development in the Goldfields that has been stifled by conservationists and anti-nuclear campaigners. A revised definitive feasibility study at Mulga Rock commenced in the middle of this year. “(The DFS will have) a key focus on completing an evaluation program to include critical minerals, rare earth elements and additional uranium, to increase the scale and life-of-mine of the project,” according to Deep Yellow.