Key Management Personnel Appointed To Drive Vietnam Development
Blackstone Minerals (ASX: BSX) has appointed Andrew Strickland as Head of Project Development and Richard Kitchener as General Manager Operations at the company’s Ta Khoa Nickel-Cu-PGE Project in Vietnam.
The company has also promoted existing employees Steve Ennor to the role of General Manager Project Development and Vũ Hồng Cấm Vân to General Manager Commercial.
Blackstone Minerals’ Managing Director Scott Williamson said the appointment of these key leadership roles is an important step towards delivering the redevelopment of the Ta Khoa Project over the coming years:
“Mr Strickland’s and Mr Kitchener’s skills and experience will be invaluable as the Company embarks on the next phase of its strategy to produce downstream nickel products for the lithium- ion battery industry, Mr Williamson said.
“Our leadership team is very excited to continue to build and grow in a way that elevates the experience of our shareholders and creates optimal solutions for both the near term and long term as we develop Ta Khoa into a fully integrated mine-to-market nickel business.
“I look forward to continuing this journey with our growing leadership team.”
Mr Strickland is an experienced Study and Project Manager, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, University of WA MBA graduate, with undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy from Curtin and the West Australian School of Mines.
Previously, Mr Strickland was Senior Study Manager for GR Engineering Services Limited, where he was responsible for delivering a series of Scoping and Feasibility Studies for Australian and international projects.
He has a history of developing mining and metals projects across different commodities and jurisdictions as well as a broad understanding and experience in minerals processing, project management and corporate strategy.
Mr Kitchener was Mining and Geology Manager at Masan Group’s Nui Phao Mine in Northern Vietnam for the past 10 years, responsible for the development of systems and procedures and negotiation of all contracts during the development and operation of the Nui Phao Mine.
Other previous roles include the position of General Manager Operations at Swan Gold Mining in Australia and General Manager of Operations at Ban Phuc Nickel Mines, Blackstone’s now renamed Ta Khoa Project. Mr Kitchener holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Camborne School of Mines. Mr Williamson said Mr Kitchener’s appointment in Vietnam signals a new chapter in the Project’s development and strengthens the expertise of the current regional management team of Steve Ennor and Ms Vũ Hồng Cấm Vân in their new roles as General Manager Project Development and General Manager Commercial to plan and manage the continued success of the Ta Khoa Project.
