Jervois Mining appoints additional ex-Glencore executive to its board
Jervois Mining has appointed industry veteran Peter Johnston as Non-Executive Chairman.
Junior cobalt explorer Jervois Mining (ASX: JRV) has added another Glencore string to its bow with the appointment of ex-nickel executive Peter Johnston to its Board of Directors.
Mr Johnston is recognised as one of Australia’s leading mining executives, with more than 35 years of operational and project development experience.
From 2013 to 2015, Mr Johnston was Head of Global Nickel Assets for Glencore International AG and sat on the Glencore executive management committee.
During this period, he was responsible for Glencore’s suite of nickel-cobalt operations in Australia, Canada, the Dominican Republic, New Caledonia and Norway, as well as its undeveloped nickel-cobalt project in Tanzania.
Mr Johnston’s appointment to the JRV Board signifies a unique achievement for the junior, in that all its Board members are previous successful executives of Glencore, one of the world’s largest diversified resource companies.
JRV Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bryce Crocker told a Hong Kong investment conference earlier this year that the Board’s combined expertise will help keep the junior on track towards first production at its Nico Young cobalt-nickel project in New South Wales, with particular focus on low capex and technical risk.
“I’ve intentionally brought on executives I’ve worked with before,” he said.
“We all have first-hand operational experience, and we fully understand the challenges and risks – capital, commissioning, financial, technical – associated with developments such as Nico Young.
“Junior companies are not typically organisationally-setup to execute projects.
“With our Board and our contingent being largely ex-Xstrata and Glencore, we are set up to focus on getting into production, generating cashflow and differentiating ourselves in the market as fast as we can.”
Mr Johnston joins non-executive directors Brian Kennedy and Michael Rodriguez, who have also worked for Glencore.
Mr Johnston previously held leadership positions as Executive General Manager of Western Mining Corporation’s nickel and gold divisions, Olympic Dam operations, Queensland Fertilizers and corporate human resources.
He has held senior executive roles with Alcoa of Australia Limited and is a previous Chairman of the Minerals Council of Australia, Chairman of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia, Vice President of the Australian Mines and Metals Association and President of the Nickel Institute, the senior industry body in the global nickel sector.
Mr Johnston is a current Director of NRW Holdings and a past Director of Minara Resources, Silver Lake Resources Limited, Emeco Holdings Limited and Central Norseman Gold Corporation Ltd.