Nyota Minerals (AIM, ASX: NYO) has appointed Peter David Pettman as a non-executive director, in which capacity he will perform the role of deputy chairman and will chair the remunerations committee.
Pettman began specialising in the mining sector in 1996 after working in industrial sales for 20 years as a partner of UK stockbroker Williams de Broe. He was responsible for advising on the successful flotation of FTSE 250 constituent Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP), Nyota Minerals, Sylvania Resources (AIM&ASX: SLV) and Indonesia operating coal miner Churchill Mining (AIM: CHL).
The new non-exec is expected to contribute its market insight and fundraising experience to the company and assist with securing finance for the Tulu Kapi gold project in Ephiopia.
Pettman currently has an interest in 220,000 ordinary shares of Nyota and 2 million options to acquire ordinary Nyota shares at $0.15 on or before 31 December 2012.
Nyota’s non-executive director Terence McConnachie, who was instrumental in the company’s acquisition of the Muremera nickel project, has retired form his position.
Chief executive Melissa Sturgess commented “I am delighted that David has agreed to join the board of Nyota at this exciting time in the company's development. He will be an invaluable sounding board for me and a significant asset to the company. I would like to also thank Terry for his support during the past few years. He has provided me with important counsel at key times and I will continue to seek his views in the future.”
The company has appointed Christo de Vos as the corporate administrator of the Muremera nickel project and has issued his nominee 250,000 options exercisable at US$0.17 on or before 30 June 2013 as compensation.
The company raised £2.25 million to accelerate drilling at Tulu Kapi in December, two months after an independent technical review by Venmyn Rand to NI43-101 standard confirmed that the project was highly prospective with good upside potential from additional mineralisation and high gold recoveries from testwork. Back in February, the company said that metallurgical tests at the project showed potential for high recoveries at low costs.
Nyota is looking to increase the current JORC resource of 0.69 Moz (million ounces) of gold to 1 Moz and upgrading part of that resource to the measured and indicated category.