LONDON: Tungsten West (LON:TUN) announced the appointment of Mr Jeffery Court as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the Company.

The appointment is intended to be effective no later than 1 November 2024.

David Cather, Chairman of Tungsten West, said: “On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to welcome Jeff as the CEO of Tungsten West. I’m pleased that, following a competitive process, we have been able to attract someone of Jeff’s calibre, and I look forward to working with him on progressing the strategically important Hemerdon mine towards production.

I am confident that Jeff’s prior experience will prove invaluable to the Company, with his work across project feasibility, mining operations, and his responsibility for key corporate divisions, complementing our goal of securing further financing for the Project and recommencing mining and processing operations at Hemerdon in 2026.”

Jeff is an experienced international mining executive, having worked in the mineral resource sector for over 30 years, covering numerous roles from project feasibility and start-up, major EPC/EPCM and product mineral processing plant projects, mining operations and contract mining services, operational and business management.

Having started his career at Rio Tinto, during which time he was heavily involved in mine feasibility and long-term planning, Jeff spent 15 years at Orica, where he held multiple senior business executive roles and led a structural and strategic review to improve business performance.

Jeff subsequently worked at FLSmidth, where he oversaw the industrial capital equipment division of over US$500 million annually, and Perenti Limited (formerly Ausdrill Ltd), where he was responsible for the operational and business management of the African Mining Service division, which reported US$350 million annual turn-over across seven major mining sites in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

More recently, as the Chief Executive Officer – Mining & Chief Development Officer – Mining of Capital’s drilling and mining services business, Jeff has managed the provision of its services to the industry, ranging from exploration, grade control and production drilling to load and haul contract mining.

Collectively, these roles have spanned across Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America.

Jeff Court, incoming CEO of Tungsten West, said: “I look forward to advancing the historic Hemerdon mine towards production and contributing to the development of this key supply project of UK critical minerals, in addition to contributing to the continued reinvigoration of the UK minerals industry. I believe my prior experience will support the team at Tungsten West in delivering the Company’s goals in a sustainable manner to maximise value to Tungsten West’s stakeholders.”