MinRes, Zenith add board diversity

UPDATED: Perth companies Mineral Resources and Zenith Energy have added to the diversity of their boards, appointing Chinese businesswoman Xi Xi and local executive Stephanie Unwin to their respective boards.

Ms Xi'S appointment was followed one day later by Galaxy Resources asking for her resignation, which came just four months after she was appointed a non-executive director of the lithium miner.

"Upon becoming aware of the obvious and direct conflict of interest, and a potential breach of fiduciary duties, her resignation was requested and has been accepted with immediate effect," Galaxy said in a statement.

For MinRes and Zenith, the appointments brought a woman onto the board of these companies for the first time.

They follow several other Perth-based companies, such as Austal, Independence Group, Western Areas and Resolute Mining, that have appointed female directors for the first time in recent months.

MinRes said Ms Xi would round out the board composition with particular emphasis on the company’s exposure to Asian resources markets.

Ms Xi has served as a director of Sailing Capital, a $US2 billion private equity fund founded by the Shanghai International Group in 2012.

She previously worked as an analyst and portfolio manager for Tigris Financial Group in New York.

In addition, Ms Xi has been a non-executive director of Sydney-based investment company Zeta Resources since 2013.

She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Colorado School of Mines.

Ms Unwin has joined Zenith’s board just three months after she left state-owned power utility Synergy to become managing director of listed biotech Phylogica.

Her past experience includes being a director of listed companies Integra Mining and Alacer Gold Corp.

Zenith is a remote power producer that listed on the ASX in May after completing a $25 million initial public offering.