Empire Metals Ltd (AIM:EEE) has appointed Narelle Marriott as its new process development manager, commencing 11 March 2024.
Marriott, a former metallurgist at BHP, will be part of a small team of metallurgists and engineers that will manage the ongoing development of the Pitfield titanium project.
This will involve devising an economic metallurgical processing flowsheet through to the development of a demonstration process-product plant, said the statement.
Shaun Bunn, Empire’s managing director, and Andrew Faragher, exploration manager, will continue to lead the technical work at Pitfield.
Empire added it has also taken on two senior titanium industry consultants, Trevor Nicholson and Eugene Dardengo.
Between them, they have over 72 years of experience in the titanium processing and extraction industry, Empire added.
The titanium deposit Pitfield, in Western Australia, is potentially huge.
One broker recently described it as "unlike anything we have seen before with a strike extent of 30km and a 5km deep keel identified by coincident magnetics and gravimetric geophysical surveys".
Shaun Bunn commented today: "Building our in-house technical expertise and investing in the right talent is key as we look to accelerate the economic assessment and development of the Pitfield titanium project.
"Marriott's appointment as process development manager is a key milestone for the company and significantly bolsters our project team's processing and project development capabilities.
“This appointment, along with the appointment of the two senior titanium industry technical consultants, ensures we have the expertise required to successfully develop and execute our project development plans.”