Paladin, Hancock shift
Paladin Energy has appointed former Mount Gibson Iron chief financial officer Alan Rule to replace Garry Korte, who has been poached by Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill Holdings, a subsidiary of Hancock Prospecting.
Mr Korte will join Roy Hill as CFO from May 24, while Mr Rule will join Paladin in July.
Mr Rule’s departure from Mount Gibson follows the resignation in recent months of managing director Luke Tonkin, company secretary and general counsel David Berg and former chairman Craig Readhead.
The iron ore miner is also looking to recruit a new managing director, with Jim Beyer acting as chief executive in the interim.
Meanwhile, the appointment of Mr Korte is the latest move to prepare Roy Hill for development, after Hancock reached agreement with Japan’s Marubeni and Korea’s POSCO to sell off a 30 per cent stake in the project for $3.2 billion last week.
Hancock is targeting 2014 for commencement of production at Roy Hill.
Della Martina joins Nexus
Nexus Energy has appointed former Woodside Energy executive Lucio Della Martina to head up its operations.
Mr Della Martina, who has led Woodside’s Pluto project since it was discovered in 2005, will join Nexus in mid-May.
Nexus said Mr Della Martina’s remuneration package includes a market-based salary and short-term and long-term incentives, focusing on performance.
Mr Della Martina joins Nexus shortly after it confirmed last month it had been approached by a number of large energy companies seeking a stake in its Crux joint venture with Shell in Western Australia’s far north.
Ashby to move from BHP
BHP Billiton’s head of iron ore Ian Ashby will stand down in July after 25 years with the resources giant.
Mr Ashby will be replaced as iron ore president by BHP's energy coal president Jimmy Wilson.
BHP's chief executive of ferrous and coal Marcus Randolph said Mr Ashby had led the company's iron ore division as it became BHP’s largest and most profitable business.
BHP's energy coal chief financial officer Andre Liebenberg will be acting president of energy coal until a permanent replacement is appointed.
Warburton heads Red Mountain
Former Barminco chief executive Neil Warburton has been appointed as Red Mountain Mining’s executive chairman and acting chief executive.
Mr Warburton has been on the board of Red Mountain Mining since the company was formed six years ago.
He takes over from Michael Wolley who stepped down as chairman and Andrew Richards, who has stepped down as chief executive.
Mr Bo Zhou has also resigned as non-executive director.
