American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR) has welcomed Chris Gibbs as managing director, CEO and board member, effective November 1, 2021.
The appointment comes ahead of the company’s OTC listing and at a time of significant growth.
Recently, ARR announced plans to drill eight diamond holes across its La Paz Southwest Rare Earth Project area in Arizona in a bid to firm up a conceptual exploration target of 742-928 million tonnes.
ARR identified the importance of the USA having domestic supplies of rare earths and with its exploration expertise acquired the existing La Paz Rare Earths deposit in Arizona in 2019 and the Halleck creek Wyoming deposits in 2O2O/21.
A necessary transition
The appointment of Gibbs comes as Keith Middleton steps down as CEO and managing director. The outgoing company leader will still play a prominent role with ARR as a senior member of the Board of Directors based in Australia.
He will continue to support ARR via investor relations, strategic matters and business development initiatives through a transition period reaching into 2022.
Middleton requested the transition himself.
“This transition comes at a time when Keith’s strategic initiatives and investor marketing efforts have delivered significant shareholder value, with growth in assets and greater visibility of the projects as seen within the US domestic supply chain,” ARR chairman Creagh O’Connor said.
“We are, however, now moving into the development phase in North America which requires proven mining skills in the ongoing development of our US projects as they transition from exploration through to commercial development.
“The selection of Chris Gibbs to succeed Keith as CEO results from his extensive experience and demonstrated track record of driving growth and operational excellence across all aspects of global operations for industry-leading mining companies, particularly in North America.
“We are confident in Chris’s ability to take the company to the next level of operational performance; positioning ARR as a key resource in the strategically critical US Rare Earth industry while scaling the company and its management team to meet the increased demand for American sourced rare earths to reduce reliance on Chinese imports.
“We are thankful to Keith for all that he has done for ARR over the last 18 months and are delighted that he will remain a key member of our team and board of directors in support of Chris.”
Middleton said he was proud of what had been achieved so far.
“It’s been a privilege to manage ARR. I am proud of everything our US team has accomplished so far during this difficult time of COVID lockdowns and remote operations, and I’m thankful of the support the board has shown me during my tenure.
"Whilst stepping back to a non-executive director I remain absolutely committed to making ARR a major player in the American Rare Earths marketplace and am delighted to welcome Chris to the team.”
Who is Chris Gibbs?
The incoming CEO was formerly with Argonaut Gold and has more than 28 years of experience in the resource sector within Australia, Canada, USA, South America, Africa and Europe.
Gibbs has a proven track record for implementing organisational change and delivering business results.
ARR's new incoming CEO Chris Gibbs.
He joined Argonaut Gold in 2018 as vice president and general manager of the Magino Project. He has also held leadership positions with Centerra Gold, including VP of Operations, VP Operational Excellence and VP general manager of the Langeloth Metallurgical Facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he was responsible for providing strategic leadership and oversight of operations, driving a culture of continuous improvement, M&A integration and supporting operational readiness activities at new mines.
Before Centerra Gold acquired Thompson Creek Metals, he was the VP general manager of the Endako Mine in British Columbia, and VP, Human Resources in Denver, Colorado.
He has also been involved with Barrick Gold, Placer Dome and Millennium Chemicals.
“I am honoured and excited that the board has selected me to succeed Keith as managing director and CEO,” Gibbs said.
“It’s been outstanding to watch all that American Rare Earths has accomplished in a short period of time.
"The company has made significant progress in developing its very large, rare-earth deposit in Arizona which has a consistent grade, that is very clean and environmentally sustainable which together with the development of its richer and equally exciting deposit in Wyoming makes ARR a key partner as we work with others to build an American domestic supply chain of Rare Earths.
"I will work tirelessly to build on ARR’s strong foundation, further scale the company in the USA and help deliver strong results for all of our key stakeholders.”