Alien Metals Ltd (AIM:UFO, OTC:ASLRF) has announced the appointment of Troy Whittaker as chief executive of its wholly owned subsidiary, Iron Ore Company of Australia Pty Ltd (IOCA).
The company noted that Whittaker has more than 20 years of experience evaluating, developing and operating multi-billion dollar assets globally, across a broad range of commodities, including iron ore. He has a proven track record of leadership specialising in commercial management, project delivery and supply chain planning in dynamic environments.
Whittaker has held senior leadership roles with major global mining companies such as Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:ASX:FMG) Ltd, Sirius Minerals PLC (LSE:SXX) and Anglo American (LON:AAL) UK.
At Anglo American UK he was responsible for ensuring the delivery and execution of the mine site development to the required programme, specification and budget as part of the US$4.8bn investment at the Woodsmith polyhalite project.
At Fortescue Metals Group Ltd in Australia, the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer, he worked for over seven years managing special projects, as well as the commercial and procurement functions for the strategic and operational contracts, which included mining contracts in excess of A$750mln.
Most recently, Whittaker led the Group Commercial and Strategy division for ASX-listed Strandline Resources. As part of the executive team responsible for delivering the Coburn heavy minerals project, he was responsible for all commercial transactions across the group.
"With the Hancock Iron Project moving quickly towards production, having someone of Troy's calibre in place to manage all these moving parts is crucial,” said Roderick McIllree, chairman of Alien Metals in a statement.
“Troy brings important skills that will ensure an efficient and timely start-up of the mine as we finalise the last outstanding permits for production. He will provide additional management of logistics including contractor selection, mining, transport and ultimately first export of our ore out through Utah Point in Port Headland in 2023," he added.