Appointment Bolsters Miner's Ore Experience

The Age

Thursday August 14, 2008

Barry Fitzgerald

GOLDEN West Resources has bolstered its iron ore experience by snaring the services of David Rose, formerly Rio Tinto's iron ore chief operating officer with responsibility for projects in India, Brazil and Guinea.

He is to become GWR's chief executive. His appointment comes before the August 29 meeting at which GWR's 19.9% shareholder, Portman, is seeking to have two of its nominees appointed to the GWR board. Portman has said that its board push has only one purpose - to boost GWR's iron ore experience.

Mr Rose's appointment does that, but Portman can be expected to battle on.

The reason for Mr Rose's exit from Rio is a familiar one for executives managing far-flung projects for the leading diversified resources groups: he got tired of the travel.

One of his responsibilities was Rio's $US6 billion ($A6.8 billion) Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, where there is uncertainty about Rio's tenure because of the Guinean Government's review of mining concessions.

Mr Rose, a mining engineer, has held senior positions with WMC Resources, CRA (now Rio), Pasminco and Rio's Argyle diamond mine, where he was managing director.

Earlier this week, GWR struck a deal under which China's Hunan Valin Steel will acquire an 11.4% stake in the company, as well as take 4.5 million tonnes a year of iron ore from GWR's Wiluna West project.

© 2008 The Age

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