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.
Paladin Energy managing director John Borshoff thanked Mr Korte for his contribution to the company over the past three years while welcoming Mr Rule.
“Alan brings a broad range of finance skills, experience in international financing of mining projects and well-credentialed commercial experience in the mining sector across a range of commodities to Paladin that we believe will add much value as the company continues to grow its global uranium business and establish itself as a major uranium producer,” Mr Borshoff said.
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.
Their departures follow controversy over corporate governance practices, which current chairman Geoff Hill is seeking to address through new apointments to the board. 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.
