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Gunson Resources appoints new managing director

Published: 16:02 02 Aug 2013 AEST

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Gunson Resources (ASX: GUN) has appointed KAL Energy president and former Eureka Energy managing director Bill Bloking as its managing director with immediate effect.

He replaces David Harley who retired today from the board and as managing director as foreshadowed on 3 May 2013.

Harley has been retained by Gunson on a consultancy until April 2014 to ensure his corporate memory and knowledge is available to Bloking and the board.

“David founded Gunson in 1999 and has been the managing director since its ASX listing in May 2000, taking the company from a start-up junior explorer, all the way through to completing feasibility studies on two of the Company’s projects,” chairman David Craig said.

“In achieving all this he has led our exploration and project development teams in the discovery of a major new mineral sand deposit on the Coburn Project, leading to the publication of an ore reserve at Coburn in 2008, along with obtaining receipt of both state and federal government environmental approvals for Coburn, which is quite a feat given the Project’s close proximity to the Shark Bay World Heritage Property.

“After nearly 14 years as Managing Director of the Company, David leaves with the Coburn Zircon Project construction ready and fully permitted for development. We sincerely thank him for his outstanding contribution to Gunson and wish him well in his future endeavours.”

Bloking has more than 39 years of experience in the resources industry, mainly with Exxon and BHP Billiton, with the last 7 years in a range of executive and nonexecutive board roles, specialising in strategic assessments and company turnarounds.

Since 2007, he has been the Executive Chairman and President of NASDAQ-listed KAL Energy Inc, which has thermal coal interests in Indonesia, where he has been responsible for a significant company restructure.

In 2012, Bloking was managing director of Eureka Energy, an ASX listed company with interests in a US shale gas project, and was responsible for implementing a growth strategy, which ultimately led to the takeover of the company by Aurora Oil and Gas (ASX: AUT) at a significant premium to its market capitalisation when Bill was appointed.

Prior to 2008, he worked exclusively in the petroleum industry, including 24 years with Exxon in a variety of senior executive positions, and 9 years with BHP Billiton Petroleum.

At the time of leaving BHP Billiton in 2007, he was President of Australia Asia Gas, with overall responsibility for BHP Billiton’s international LNG business and its domestic gas business in Australia.

Chairman Craig said Bloking’s appointment brought a wealth of business and commercial knowledge and experience and that his appointment was timely given the outcomes of the Azure Strategic Review announced in May 2013.

“We look forward to his contribution as we move to realise the greatest possible value for all shareholders from the Company’s assets and, in particular, the Coburn Zircon Project.”

Quarterly Update

Gunson had in the June quarter started the search for a new strategic partner to maximise the value of the Coburn Zircon Project in Western Australia.

It noted that this has been assisted by evidence of improvement in both the zircon and titanium dioxide markets with Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU) saying in its quarterly production report to 30 June 2013 that it had sold 211,000 tonnes of zircon in the first half of 2013, well above the 118,500 tonnes produced in the same period.

Global aggregate zircon demand has increased significantly above 2012, with the best improvement in China, where Iluka sold more zircon in the first half of 2013 than the whole of 2012.

While global demand for high grade titanium dioxide feedstocks was subdued in the first half of 2013, mainly due to high pigment inventories, DuPont – the world’s largest pigment producer – has indicated that pigment inventories had returned to normal levels and that its titanium dioxide business is rebounding in terms of sequential sales and earnings.

Dupont, which has an offtake agreement with Gunson, had also advised the company on 24 July 2013 that it regarded it as a trusted future supplier of titanium dioxide feedstock and that the partnership is important.

 

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