Caravel Minerals makes advisory and senior executive appointments

Copper explorer Caravel Minerals (ASX: CVV) has announced new executive and advisory appointments to help move its namesake copper project through feasibility studies and prepare for the transition into an operating mine.

The company has appointed Don Hyma as an advisor to the board to guide the project implementation strategy for the Caravel project in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region, as well as more broadly assist the board in assessing feasibility study results.

Caravel has also named Jason Vos as the company’s new mining manager and Michael Klvac as the approvals and compliance manager.

New board advisor

Caravel said Mr Hyma is a mining industry executive with more than 30 years of major project experience in Canada, Chile, New Caledonia and Australia. His experience ranges from studies through to delivering major projects primarily in nickel, copper and iron ore.

Mr Hyma currently provides independent advisory services to the mineral resources sector from his base in Perth, WA.

His previous positions include director of projects for Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG), Mitsui & Co technical director, Iron Ore Company of Canada vice president of projects, Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) general manager of projects, as well as senior project management roles at Falconbridge (now Glencore).

Caravel chairman Wayne Trumble said Mr Hyma’s expertise and knowledge in developing major mining projects “will be of great assistance”.

Executive appointments

Caravel’s new mining manager Mr Vos is “highly experienced” in the role with a track record of building and operating large-scale open pit teams.

His previous experience includes similar mining manager and mine planner roles at Perseus Mining’s (ASX: PRU) Yaoure gold mine in West Africa, Harmony Gold’s Hidden Valley mine in Papua New Guinea, Pilbara Minerals’ (ASX: PLS) Pilgangoora lithium mine in WA and AngloGold Ashanti’s (ASX: AGG) Tropicana gold mine.

Caravel said Mr Vos will be responsible for all aspects of the mine planning, design and operational preparation.

In his position as approvals and compliance manager, Mr Klvac will be responsible for managing the process of securing and complying with all approvals required to develop the Caravel copper project. This includes the implementation of an environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework to support the company in its activities.

Mr Klvac has more than 25 years of experience in the WA mining industry including roles with Hamersley Iron (Rio), Western Mining Corp, BHP (ASX: BHP) and BCI Minerals (ASX: BCI) in commercial, risk, business planning and approvals senior management roles.

Mr Trumble said he looks forward to working with “Vossie and Mick” in developing the Caravel copper project.

“Bringing in the right people is vital to the success of the project and we are very happy we have been able to attract such capable and experienced individuals to join us,” he added.

The Caravel copper project

The Caravel copper project is located about 150km northeast of Perth and based on an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 661.9 million tonnes at 0.28% copper for a total 1.86Mt of contained copper.

The Bindi deposit hosts the largest resource within the project at an estimated 223.4Mt at 0.36% copper for 796,000t of contained metal.

A major drilling program has been underway at Bindi since 2020 with recent results identifying wide zones of high-grade copper mineralisation.