Macro Metals appoints experienced board to drive Pilbara iron ore projects
Macro Metals (ASX: M4M) has announced the appointment of an experienced board of directors to drive the development of its iron ore portfolio in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Under the new structure, Simon Rushton will take up the role of managing director while Evan Cranston and well-known resources investor Tolga Kumova will become non-executive directors.
Robert Jewson has been appointed executive technical director, and Peter Huljich will retain the role of non-executive chair.
Current board members Campbell Smyth and Ashley Pattison will step down this week.
The incoming board members have subscribed for up to $1.22 million of a total $1.35m share placement to advance exploration activities across the tenement package including permitting, geophysical surveys, mapping, sampling and drilling.
They will subscribe for up to 675 million shares priced at $0.002 each plus 337.5 million in free options as part of their commitment towards capturing shareholder value and delivering on the company’s strategy.
Mr Smyth and Mr Pattison have each committed $40,000 to the placement.
Managing director bio
Mr Rushton was a co-founder and inaugural managing director of privately-owned junior producer Hedland Mining and was instrumental in managing site establishment activities and a re-start of mining at the Poondano project for Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN).
He also founded Australasian Sands International and helped fast track the development of the greenfields concreting, sand mining and export business.
Mr Rushton has been a non-executive director of Hazer Group (ASX: HZR) and a non-executive chair of Reed Industrial Minerals, which operates the Mt Marion lithium mine in WA’s goldfields region.
He is currently the operations director of crushing, screening and materials handling business Destec Contracting, which has established contracts with tier 1 multinational mining companies.
Great potential
Mr Rushton said there was great potential within Macro’s iron ore assets.
“Macro’s iron ore portfolio has the potential for multiple sources of iron ore production utilising the well-established and proven export infrastructure of the Pilbara and mid-west,” he said.
“I can see substantial scale [for the company] to become a multi-mine producer.”
“The newly-appointed board and I have commenced our prioritisation of the Pilbara iron ore assets within the Macro portfolio and we look forward to providing further updates with respect to exploration and development activities in coming weeks.”
Other board members
Mr Cranston is the principal of corporate advisory and administration firm Konkera Corporate and has extensive experience in the areas of equity capital markets, corporate finance, structuring, asset acquisition, corporate governance and external stakeholder relations.
Throughout his career, he has identified, funded and supported the exploration and development of multiple globally-significant mining ventures.
Mr Kumova is a resource industry entrepreneur and corporate finance specialist with over 15 years’ experience in stockbroking, public offerings and corporate restructuring.
He has raised over $500m for publicly-listed mining companies in Australia, from early-stage explorers through to those in construction and operation.
Mr Kumova is currently a director of junior explorer Aston Minerals (ASX: ASO).
Mr Jewson has 18 years’ experience working with multi-sized mining and exploration companies in a number of jurisdictions across a range of commodities.
He has held corporate and technical roles in areas of due diligence, corporate structuring, business development, exploration management and acquisitions and divestments.
Mr Jewson was a co-founder of Macro’s iron ore portfolio strategy.
Macro’s tenements
Macro has acquired six highly-prospective tenements across the midwest and west-central Pilbara from private company Mining Equities for a cash reimbursement of $54,420 and a 2% sales royalty.
The W5 project is located 5km along strike from the Iron Ridge mine owned by Fenix Resources (ASX: FEX) in the state’s mid-west and was previously held by Sino Steel Midwest Corporation, which spent more than $3m on exploration over 23 years of ownership.
Macro is planning a full exploration program to determine W5’s potential for hosting direct shipping ore hematite mineralisation.
The Deepdale project is adjacent to the Robe Valley (Rio Tinto, ASX: RIO) and Robe Mesa (CZR Resources, ASX: CZR) projects in the West Pilbara and comprises three exploration exploration licence applications prospective for channel iron deposits (CID) and detrital iron deposits.
The Bellary Springs project sits to the west-north-west of Paraburdoo and contains multiple CID targets identified from satellite imagery which warrant field mapping and sampling to confirm their presence and extent.
The Turner project is situated 5km north-west of Rio Tinto’s Turner Syncline mine and contains CID-style targets that Macro has prioritised for field mapping and sampling.