Bennett, Warburton join Independence

Former Sirius Resources boss Mark Bennett and director Neil Warburton have joined the board of Independence Group, which acquired Sirius in a $1.8 billion takeover last month.

Mr Bennett and Mr Warburton have joined Independence as non-executive directors, with chairman Peter Bilbe describing the new board members as very experienced exploration and mining executives and directors.

“I look forward to their ongoing contributions to Independence,” Mr Bilbe said.

Mr Warburton was previously chief executive of mining contractor Barminco, and was also managing director of Coolgardie Gold.

Mr Bennett is also working towards listing his new gold and base metals exploration company, S2 Resources, on the ASX in the coming weeks.

He will be seeking to replicate the success of Sirius, which owned the highly-prospective Nova nickel mine in the Fraser Range.

Independence gained control of the Nova mine last month when it completed its takeover of Sirius, which was backed by major shareholder and prominent prospector Mark Creasy.

Sirius shareholders received 0.66 Independence shares for every share they held in the business, plus 52 cents per share in cash.

Independence shares closed 9.1 per cent higher at $3.57 each.