Potash West (ASX:PWN) has appointed Dr Natalia Streltsova as a non-executive director as it progresses development of the Dinner Hill project in the Dandaragan Trough north of Perth, Western Australia.
Concurrently, Gary Johnson will step down from the board to focus on the development of promising lithium extraction technology.
Streltsova has extensive experience in the minerals industry, the last 15 years of which has been in technical leadership roles in major mining houses, such as Vale SA (NYSE:VALE), BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) and WMC Resources Limited.
Adrian Griffin, chairman, said:
“Her experience in overseeing project development in the mining industry will be invaluable as we drive to our goal of phosphate production from the Dandaragan Trough. Specifically her exposure to project evaluation in the fertiliser industry will be invaluable.”
He added that Johnson and his team at Strategic Metallurgy have supported the company’s technical development, particularly its wholly-owned K-Max process.
“The strong technical support will not be diminished by this step, as Mr Johnson will remain a key member of the technical review group,” Johnson noted.
“This step will allow a stronger corporate separation between the owner of 75% of the lithium technology, Li Technology Pty Ltd, and Potash West.
“Both parties remain committed to working together to deliver the value in the K-Max and L-Max technologies.”
Licensing the L-Max technology will allow several projects to be developed simultaneously.
Recent Activity
Earlier this month, Potash West attracted new institutional investors in an oversubscribed placement, with the funds to advance its world-class Dinner Hill Phosphate project.
The company sought to raise $1.5 million, but strong demand allowed $1.8 million to be raised before costs.
The placement was completed at $0.04 per share plus half a $0.07 option.
It also recently upgraded the size and grade of the company's resource at Dinner Hill Project, which highlighted its world-class size.
The phosphate indicated resource grew to 250 million tonnes at 2.9% P2O5, a 108% tonnage and 4% grade increase.
The potash mineralisation occurs mainly within the Molecap Greensand, which is now estimated to contain 175 million tonnes at 4% K2O, a 43% increase in tonnes and a 12% grade reduction.
The two resources, phosphate and potash are, in the main, contained in the same area and could be recovered by a single mining operation.
An optimised mining plan is expected within the next two months.
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