Suvo Strategic Minerals Limited (ASX: SUV) has appointed Hanno Van Der Merwe as Chief Operating Officer and Julian Anthony as Marketing and Logistics Manager, effective immediately.
Mr van der Merwe has more than 25 years of experience in Estimating; Project Management; and Production Management, holding qualifications in Production Engineering and a Master of Business Management.
He has been involved in the delivery of a number of highly successful projects in Australia and Africa, holding senior management roles in the mining, oil and gas, renewable energy, engineering, construction, maintenance and telecommunications industries.
Mr van der Merwe was previously the Lead Estimator for the business arm of telecommunications giant Vodafone Australia and the Lead Project Estimator of ASX-listed mining services company Mineral Resources Ltd (MRL).
He has also held senior roles at BGC Contracting, Lycopodium Minerals, and Kiewit Australia.
Mr Anthony brings more than 27 years’ experience covering the full product life cycle of technical products, equipment and services to his role as Marketing and Logistics Manager.
Mr Anthony’s key responsibilities will be managing both National, International & Asia Pacific sales, marketing and logistics.
Over the last 20 years, he has held senior positions within the mining and oil and gas sectors, in Sales & Business Development, Engineering, Operations, Maintenance and Production Management.
Mr Anthony was most recently the Sales & Business Development Manager for GMA Garnet Pty Ltd.
Mr Anthony holds a Master of Engineering Science from Queensland University of Technology, along with qualifications in Industrial Engineering & Chemical Process Technology from Singapore Polytechnic.
The appointment of Mr van der Merwe and Mr Anthony comes at a time of significant growth for Suvo, including the upgrade and optimisation of the Pittong Plant, which remains on schedule for completion Q1 2023.
As announced on 26 August 2022, an independent review confirmed the Pittong plant capacity expansion will be capable of delivering a name plate kaolin processing capacity of ~60,000 tonnes per annum under certain operating conditions.
At completion, Pittong is expected to produce ~50,000 tonnes per annum of hydrous kaolin, which represents an 83 per cent utilisation, based on the Company’s proposed operating hours.
The company also continues to progress its Silica Sands projects, with drilling now complete at Eneabba in Western Australia.
Hanno and Julian bring valuable expertise and operational experience to the Suvo team as the Company continues to lay the foundations for future growth,” Executive Chairman Henk Ludik said.
“Our Pittong upgrade and optimisation program remains on track to more than double production early next year and we are making further progress towards potential development of our Silica Sands asset.
“The company also continues to target new markets to deliver value to shareholders, such as the emerging green cement industry and our investment in Dingo HPA, an Australian proprietary company aiming to produce high purity alumina from recycled feedstock.”