FOUNDER OF REX MINERALS RESIGNS

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YORKE PENINSULA LAND OWNERS GROUP

 

FOUNDER OF REX MINERALS RESIGNS

 

Yesterday was an eventful day for Rex Minerals Ltd.

 

In an ASX/media release the company announced that its Advisory Board set up in August 2014 to explore options for a smaller-scale start-up operation at Hillside has been dissolved and its chair, Mr Steve Olsen, has resigned from that position.  The reason given for the Board’s dissolution was that it had completed “its core objectives and the associated results from the Extended Feasibility Study (EFS”).   However, this decision seems premature, given that

  • no details of the mine plan for this new start up have been released,
  • the Government has not yet assessed or approved these new plans and
  • because of Rex’s refusal to release its full Extended Feasibility Study, the community has had no opportunity to scrutinize or respond to these plans.

 

More significantly, Rex also announced the resignation of it Founding Director, Steven Olsen, as a Director of that Company.

Mr Olsen established Rex Minerals as a mining exploration company some eight years ago.  According to Rex’s statement:   “Mr Olsen was the founding managing director for Rex, which first joined the official list of the ASX in late 2007 ….[and] took the company through the discovery of the Hillside Project and the definition of one of Australia’s largest new copper mineral resources at Hillside”.

In reality, without Steve Olsen there would have been no Rex Minerals and no Hillside project.

His resignation as Director of the company he established is unexpected and surprising, especially given that, some nine months earlier, he had relinquished his position as non-Executive Director of White Rock Minerals Ltd in order, we understand, to focus on his expanding responsibilities with Rex Minerals.

Yesterday’s announcement caps off a difficult period for Rex, starting with the resignation in August 2014 of its then Chief Executive, Mark Parry, and the Company’s admission that it had been unable to obtain financing for its full scale operation at Hillside.  Since then, Rex has spent a long 10 months exploring options for a smaller, less capital intensive operation.

A summary of the results from this Extended Feasibility Study (EFS) was released several weeks ago but failed to provide any details of what the ‘alternative’ mine plan will look like or any information/assessment of potential environmental risks. Rex are now refusing to release that EFS, with the result that the community is still being kept in the dark.  So much for openness and transparency!

Now, on top of all this, we are told the Founding Director has resigned!

Coupled with the company’s continuing lack of success in securing financing, this strengthens existing doubts about the long-term viability of the Company and its ability to successfully develop and operate a complex, heavy metal mine at Hillside that poses major risks to the environment, surrounding farmland and nearby residents.

Rex has had eight years to get its act together.   Since the Government’s approval of its Mining Lease Proposal almost 12 months ago, the company has been given extension after extension, as one deadline after another has come and gone.  Meanwhile, nearby farmers and community residents continue to experience stress and anxiety, not knowing what the future holds for them or their properties. This situation must not continue.

Surely enough is enough!

YPLOG calls on the Government to reconsider its support for Rex and the Hillside operation as a matter of urgency!

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