Jardine reaches Apex as LionOre seeks 4th CEO

LionOre Australia Ltd is looking for its fourth chief executive in 12 months after Glenn Jardine announced he would be leaving to take up a full time consultancy role at the company run by the man he replaced.

Mr Jardine will commence work at Apex Minerals NL - the Perth-based gold and base metals explorer run by Mark Ashley, who stepped down from LionOre in May this year after nine years with the company.

Mr Jardine said in an announcement he was looking forward to working alongside several former colleagues.

"I am confident that Apex is well positioned to secure quality projects which will add considerable value to the Company and underpin its long-term growth," he said.

This appointment comes three days after the resignation of Apex non-executive chairman and founding director Stephen Stone, to be replaced by Kagara Zinc Ltd chairman Kim Robinson.

LionOre, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian company LionOre Mining International, has appointed company chairman Bryan Hyde as acting managing director while a replacement is sought. Mr Hyde has previously served as managing director of Tati Nickel Mining Company Ltd.

The full text of an announcement from Apex Minerals is pasted below
Perth-based Apex Minerals NL (ASX: AXM) has moved to further strengthen its management team as it continues to assess a number of advanced and production opportunities in the resources sector, with the announcement today that it has secured the services of Mr Glenn Jardine as a full time consultant - initially for a fixed period of three months - commencing 1 November 2006.

Mr Jardine will step down as CEO of LionOre Australia Pty Ltd at the end of October, a role he assumed following the resignation of Mr Mark Ashley earlier this year. Prior to that he was Chief Operating Officer at LionOre and from 1998 was responsible for the successful development of the Emily Ann, Maggie Hays, Waterloo underground nickel and the Thunderbox open pit gold mines.

Glenn is a mining engineer with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) from the University of Queensland and is a Fellow of the AUSIMM. Before joining LionOre in 1998, Mr Jardine was General Manager and Project Manager of the Henty Gold Mine in Tasmania for Goldfields Limited. His previous experience includes technical, project and production mining engineering roles covering a range of commodities, principally within the RGC Group.

Managing Director of Apex Minerals, Mr Mark Ashley said that Mr Jardine's extensive industry experience would be invaluable in assisting the Company to analyse and assess a number of potential development/production opportunities currently under review.

"Glenn's appointment adds further depth to what is already one of the strongest Board and management teams in the Australian resources sector today," Mr Ashley said. "Against the backdrop of the current industry-wide skills shortage, the team Apex has assembled gives our Company a very strong competitive edge as we assess and build a portfolio of quality mining and resource assets."

In lieu of remuneration for his services during the initial three month contract period, Mr Jardine will be issued with 1.5 million 5 year options in Apex at [35 cents per share] a [17%] premium to the current share price. Of these options, 500,000 will vest immediately and be available for exercise at any time during their 5 year term, with the balance of 1 million having a 2 year escrow period in line with Apex's existing employee option scheme. In the event that a full time employment contract isn't entered into following the initial 3 month consulting period, the second tranche of 1 million options under the agreement will automatically fall away.

Mr Jardine said he was looking forward to working alongside several former colleagues in a dynamic, growing resources company. "I am confident that Apex is well positioned to secure quality projects which will add considerable value to the Company and underpin its long-term growth," he said.

Apex is strongly focused on building a substantial new resource vehicle by securing and pursuing new advanced exploration and development projects in Australia with a view to moving to production status as soon as possible.