EXECUTIVE CHANGES: All change at Aura Energy amid ASX spin-out plan

Mon, 22nd Nov 2021 15:57

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of London-listed company director and manager changes announced on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Aura Energy Ltd - gold and uranium explorer in Sweden and Mauritania - Revamps board and management as part of push to become a uranium producer. Phil Mitchell, a former Rio Tinto PLC and Anglo American PLC executive, will be named non-executive chair at Aura's annual general meeting on December 21. Peter Reeve will leave the board, as he moves from chief executive officer of Aura to CEO of wholly owned gold subsidiary Archaean Greenstone Gold Pty Ltd. Reeve will lead the spin-out of Archaean as a separate listing on the ASX in Sydney in 2022. Aura shareholders will received shares in Archaean as part of the process. Aura will look for a new CEO within six months to focus on taking the Tiris uranium project in Mauritania into production. Warren Mundine and Bryan Dixon, both accountants experienced in junior mining companies, will become independent non-executive directors, while Martin Rogers and Peter Ward will depart the board at the AGM.

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Jersey Oil & Gas PLC - explorer in UK North Sea - Installs former leadership team of Ithaca Energy, a North Sea oil and gas producer that had been listed on AIM, in senior positions. Promotes Non-Executive Director Les Thomas to chair, replacing Marcus Stanton, who will remain as a non-executive director. Thomas was CEO of Ithaca until 2020. Hires Graham Forbes as chief financial officer. Forbes had been CFO of Ithaca. Richard Smith, who was corporate development director at Ithaca, joins Jersey Oil as chief commercial officer. All effective immediately. Company says it remains in active discussions with "multiple counterparties" regarding the farm-out of the Greater Buchan Area in the central North Sea.

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Xpediator PLC - Braintree, England-based freight management services provider in UK and central and eastern Europe - Rob Ross steps down as CEO immediately, with Non-Executive Director Wim Pauwels made interim CEO while a search for a successor is conducted. Ross had joined Xpediator as CFO at the start of 2020. Pauwels formerly was chief regional officer for Yusen Logistics Europe. Xpediator says trading remains positive and in line with market expectations for the full year.

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e-Therapeutics PLC - Oxford, England-based computational drug discovery - Karl Keegan will step down as CFO on December 31 "to focus in the near term on extremely difficult family circumstances in Ireland". Non-Executive Director Michael Bretherton will become interim CFO while the company looks for a new CFO. Bretherton, a former PriceWaterhouse accountant, has been a director of seven other AIM-listed companies, e-Therapeutics notes.

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Grainger PLC - Newcastle-based residential landlord - Promotes Eliza Pattinson to director of investments for asset management, managing Grainger's portfolio of 9,727 rental homes, effective immediately. Rehires Steven Clark as director of investments for acquisitions. Clark joins in mid-February next year from Lendlease Europe, where he is residential investment director. He had left Grainger as commercial finance director in April 2020.

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Hiscox Ltd - Hamilton, Bermuda-based insurer - Hires Donna DeMaio as independent non-executive director, replacing Caroline Foulger, who will retire at the 2022 annual general meeting after nine years. Hiscox holds its AGM in May. DeMaio was chief operating officer for American International Group Inc's General Insurance division.

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Syncona Ltd - investment trust focused on healthcare - Hires Julie Cherrington and Cristina Csimma as non-executive directors, starting February 1 next year. Cherrington was CEO of biotechnology companies in the US, Canada and Australia, including Arch Oncology and Que Oncology. Csimma is executive chair of drug developer Forendo Pharma Ltd.

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Great Western Mining Corp PLC - gold, silver and copper explorer and developer in US state of Nevada - Hires James Blight as exploration manager, joining next Monday. Blight is a qualified person for mineral reporting purposes and has worked on projects in West Africa, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Mongolia and Sweden.

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Utilico Emerging Markets Trust PLC - invests in infrastructure, utilities and related sectors in emerging markets - Hires Isabel Liu as independent non-executive director, starting immediately. Liu is an experienced infrastructure investor, Utilico says. She was managing director of the Asia-Pacific investment business of recently acquired infrastructure investor John Laing Group PLC and currently is a non-executive director of Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd.

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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com