Mozambique focused tantalum junior, Noventa Ltd (AIM: NVTA) announced the appointment of Daniel Cassiano-Silva as chief financial officer with effect of 1 January 2010. Cassiano-Silva will replace outgoing CFO Martin Hinxman, who decided last month to pursue alternative opportunities, following the decision to relocate the company’s operational headquarters to Mozambique.
The newly appointed CFO is being appointed as a director of all subsidiaries including Noventa's Mozambican principal operating subsidiary, but will not be appointed to the board of Noventa Ltd at this time. Cassiano-Silva was recently on secondment to the company from his current employer Deloitte & Touche LLP and is bi-lingual in English and Portuguese.
“He has already during his period of secondment proved to be a valuable addition to the team, and we are confident that he will excel in his new role”, Noventa chairman Eric Kohn TD commented, “Daniel's Portuguese language skills will be invaluable in developing our relationships with the Mozambican government and business community”.
Hinxman will be retained as a consultant for a transition period.
Noventa is currently planning to restart the Marropino mine around March or April 2010 and is actively looking to recruit key staff, including metallurgists and engineers, for its future plans. The group is working on designing an exploration program to evaluate its other license areas in Mozambique. The board is currently expecting this work to start in the first half of 2010.