Redbank Mines heeds Kiernan's advice

Redbank Mines has listened to the advice of its largest shareholder, Michael Kiernan, with the spinout of its Fiji project into a separate, dedicated gold vehicle.

As part of major changes at the board and project level, the Mt Kasi gold project will be transferred into a separate entity that will be managed by soon-to-be former Redbank managing director Gino Vitale.

Mr Vitale will step down from his role at the end of this month with non-executive director Bruce Morrin to take over the managing director position.

James Searle has also taken up the role of chairman, a position made vacant following the resignation of Kim McGrath who stood down last month for personal reasons.

Mr Kiernan has also been appointed to the board along with Bernie Siddall and Shannon Caporn, who will take on the role of company secretary.

Mr Kiernan, who through his company Crawley Investments, holds a 19.88 per cent stake in Redbank.

The company said that following the spinout of Mt Kasi, it will change its name to Redbank Copper, in line with the company's new focus on copper exploration and development.

The company's flagship asset will be its Redbank copper project in the Northern Territory .

Last month, Mr Kiernan made the suggestion that Redbank should focus on its namesake copper project and the vending of Mt Kasi into a new company.

He also recommended that the copper project be put on care and maintenance for the next 12 months while an alternative mining plan is devised.

Redbank made no mention of halting works at the mine in its statement today.

The announcement is pasted below:

Australian high grade copper developer Redbank Mines Limited (ASX: RBM) announced today a number of changes to its Board as the Company repositions itself to focus solely on the exploration and development of high grade copper sulphide targets at its Northern Territory copper project.

Gino Vitale, will step down as Managing Director on 31 December 2008 and current Non-Executive Director Bruce Morrin, a Mining Engineer with significant copper experience with Anglo American and Mt Isa Mines, will assume the position of Managing Director from 1 January 2009.

As announced on 28 November 2008 Dr James Searle has assumed the role of Chairman. He has 25 years experience in exploration and project development holding Bachelor and Doctoral degrees in Geology.

Bernie Siddall, a well known and experienced Metallurgical Consultant of some 20 years is to join the Board. His specialist skills have taken him to global mining centres focusing on a range of minerals including copper, gold, nickel and lead/zinc.

The Board has also appointed Michael Kiernan, who has a track record in management of resource based projects, as a Director and Shannon Caporn (LLB B.Com) of Grange Consulting Group as Company Secretary.

As part of Redbank's future focus it is planned to spin off the Mt Kasi Gold Project in Fiji into a dedicated gold vehicle headed by Gino Vitale. The Mt Kasi Special Prospecting Licence and Special Mining Lease expired on 31st December 2007 and are yet to be renewed. The Company has applied for a 5 year extension on the right to explore on the leases and is awaiting the outcome of an appeals process with the Fijian Government.

Redbank Mines Limited will also seek shareholder approval in due course to change its name to Redbank Copper Limited to fall in line with the Company's focus on copper exploration and development.