Purvis leaves Troy for top MZI role

Martin Purvis is leaving his post as managing director and chief executive of Troy Resources to take on the same responsibilities at mineral sands miner MZI Resources, following Trevor Matthews’ resignation in November.

Following the announcement, Troy shares were down 20.8 per cent this morning. They were worth 9.9 cents each just before midday.

MZI shares were unchanged at 24.5 cents each.

Mr Purvis will begin in his new role at MZI in July, taking the reins from Steve Ward who has been acting as interim CEO and managing director since Mr Matthews resigned.

Mr Ward will return to his position as a non-executive director.

In his new role, Mr Purvis will be paid a base salary of $456,201 plus superannuation and incentives.

“We are delighted to appoint someone with Martin’s energy, leadership ability and extensive natural resources management expertise,” MZI chairman Rod Baxter said.

“Martin will be a tremendous asset for MZI as we look to build on the strong production base we have established at Keysbrook, and further consolidate and grow our status as a major supplier of premium quality mineral sands products into a rapidly improving global market.”

In a statement, Troy said Mr Purvis would continue in his role until the end of the month, at which point chairman Fred Grimwade would assume an interim executive role.

Troy chief financial officer Stacey Apostolou also announced her resignation, citing personal reasons for the decision, but will remain until a successor is found.

“Moving forward, the focus of all our resources must be on delivering continuous improvement in production performance from Karouni,” Mr Grimwade said.

“I have been encouraged by the work completed over the past few months by the team on site and believe that this considerable effort will position us well for the future.”