Düsseldorf-headquartered Tantalus Rare Earths AG (XETRA: TAE) has appointed an experienced investment banker, Stephen Forman, as the company’s new chief executive. Tantalus said that the board unanimously selected Forman based on his extensive background in the financial community and his excellent contacts to investors worldwide.
Forman will take up his new duties on April 9 2010.
“I am very honored by the opportunity to join Tantalus Rare Earths AG as the new CEO. The company owns an excellent rare earth project in Madagascar”, Forman commented. “I look forward to strengthening the company’s profile and position in the international capital market.”
Forman has spent the past 16 years working in investment banking, specifically in roles in international equities for JPMorgan and UBS both in Australia and the United States, where he served as executive director.
Tantalus’ principal asset is the concession on the Ampasindava Peninsula in northern Madagascar , and last month the company reported "spectacular" grades of up to 31% of total rare earth oxides (REO), from the first preliminary assay results of their massive sampling campaign conducted between September and December 2009.
On the 300 square kilometre concession area a historic, non-JORC/NI43-101 compliant resource of approximately 15 million tons at 1.52% rare earth elements (REE) equivalent has been estimated, which given current prices, estimates the in-ground value at US$1.5 billion, Tantalus said.
The historic estimates originate from work conducted by a soviet geological mission during the late nineteen eighties and the early nineteen nineties. Previously, through tectonic-geological interpretation, three distinct radiometric anomalies were identified on the concession with zones covering 12km, 4km and 2.7km respectively.
The zones are composed of individual anomalies totalling over 30 km in strike length. During the period from September to early December 2009, these anomalies were systematically surveyed and sampled by Tantalus’ geological teams.
The most spectacular assay results were returned from two trenches, which were excavated on a weak radiometric anomaly. Channel samples measuring 5 metres in length were taken and 5 of 40 preliminary assay results have been received to date. Among the results TANT2-477053 was the highest grading with 31.09% REO, TANT2-477067 returned 16.40% REO and TANT2-477059 contained 9.16% REO. The other two samples graded approximately 3% REO.
The newly discovered mineralized zones are more substantial than the mineralization originally described by the Soviet teams, evidenced in part by the discovery of ore boulders approximately 2km north-west of the known mineralization, Tantalus said previously.