Avocet Mining PLC Prospectus December 2011

c105718pu070 Proof 5: 7.12.11_13:45 B/L Revision:
8. Pension Arrangements
At the date of this Prospectus, Avocet Mining does not operate a pension, retirement or similar
benefit arrangement. Accordingly, no payments in respect of pensions, retirement and similar benefits
for the Company’s Directors and Senior Managers have been made during 2011.
At 31 December 2010 a full provision of US$430,000 was made for outstanding post retirement
benefits relating to a benefit pension scheme operated by the Avocet Mining Group. This was in
relation to a former US Subsidiary which is no longer part of the Avocet Mining Group. Further
details of the defined benefit pension scheme previously operated by the Company are set out in Note
3 to the Consolidated Historical Financial Information in Part VII ‘‘Consolidated Historical Financial
Information – Other liabilities’’.
9. Share awards and plans
Directors and Senior Managers have been made discretionary awards under a number of plans
including cash bonuses, a Share Bonus Plan, share options and a SIP.
During 2010, the Remuneration Committee undertook a review of the Company’s remuneration
arrangements including all aspects of remuneration for Executive Directors and senior executives, and
share based remuneration throughout the Company. Accordingly, the Company replaced its existing
arrangements and adopted two long term incentive schemes, namely the Performance Share Plan and
the Share Option Plan.
(a) Share Bonus Plan
Between 2006 and 2010, the Company operated a Share Bonus Plan for Executive Directors and
other selected senior executives. The plan provided for awards linked to the Company’s share price
performance relative to the FTSE Gold Mines Index. Awards made under this plan to Executive
Directors and Senior Managers during 2010 are set out in the table below.
Table 22: Share Bonus Plan awards during 2010
12 months ended
31 December 2010
9 months ended
31 March 2010
Shares Cash Shares Cash
J. G. Henry* — — 494,505 —
Mike Norris 115,604 £250,000 271,978 —
Brett Richards 138,726 £300,000 206,825 —
Other management 175,784 £390,677 429,225 —
Total 430,114 £940,677 1,402,533 —
*J. G. Henry no longer holds employment with the Company
The change in accounting year end from 31 March to 31 December took place as of 31 December
2009; however the period over which all annual remuneration awards were assessed continued until
31 March 2010. The assessment period was then amended to a nine month period ended 31 December
2010, to align with the accounting and calendar year ends. As a result, the accounting year ended
31 December 2010 included two bonus period ends.
The performance of Avocet Mining’s share price was in the top quartile of the FTSE Gold Mining
index over the 12 months ended 31 March 2010, while over the nine months ended 31 December
2010, the share price performance exceeded all other constituents. As a result of this strong
performance in both periods of assessment, bonuses were payable to the Executive Directors for both
those periods.
The Share Bonus Plan was replaced by the two long term incentive schemes, namely the Performance
Share Plan and the Share Option Plan adopted by the Company in 2011.
(b) Share Option Scheme
The Company operated a Share Option Scheme, which was first approved by the Board in 1999,
under which awards were made to selected employees including the Executive Directors. Awards made
under this plan to Executive Directors and Senior Managers are set out in paragraph 6 of this Part
XI ‘‘Additional Information’’.
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