Proactiveinvestors Australia

Cummins Range

The Cummins Range Rare Earth Project is located 130km southwest of Halls Creek in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. The Project is on the northern margin of the Great Sandy Desert and comprises one granted Exploration Licence with an area of 48.5km2.

The Cummins Range carbonatite was discovered in 1978 by CRA Exploration Pty Ltd (CRAE) who conducted mainly shallow geochemical drilling with limited deeper diamond drilling up to 1984.

In 2007 Navigator completed a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program in the central part of the Cummins Range diatreme leading to an independent JORC compliant Inferred Resource of 71,700 tonnes of rare earth oxides (REO) at a 1.0% REO cut-off grade, as well as uranium oxide and phosphate. Significant niobium and tantalum are also present.

Only a portion of the Cummins Range diatreme has so far been drilled to any depth, and as such there is exploration upside which could significantly increase resources at the Project.

Following the publication of an updated independent resource at Cummins Range and against a global backdrop of increasing rare earth metal importance to the global economy, Navigator sought to have the Project independently valued in late 2009.  As a result, Green Leader Equities Research, through a peer comparison process, independently valued the Project in the range A$10-20 million.

Two sectors of the rare earth market, magnets and phosphors, accounted for 70% of rare earth element use in 2008.  The most important category by volume and growth is the magnet sector which depends mainly on the rare earth metal neodymium with minor dysprosium and possibly praseodymium.

Rare earth metals are key components in many modern technologies such as TVs, DVDs, MP3 players, x-ray machines, MRI machines and missile guidance.  They are also a key part of the earth’s green future, used heavily in both hybrid cars and wind turbines.

Currently 95% of the world’s rare earth oxides are mined in China, and with that country's rapid development, it is consuming more of its own rare earth oxides and exporting less to the rest of the world.  The Chinese government has already indicated it may restrict the export of some rare earth metals.  It is therefore of growing importance that rare earth mines are developed outside of China. Australia will be one of the key countries in this trend, with a strong mining history and a number of rare earth deposits.  It is also the nearest potential major producing country to the big rare earth consuming markets of China and Japan.

To learn more about the rare earth metals market, click here.

IAN MACPHERSON, BComm, CA
Chairman and Non-Executive Director

Mr Ian Macpherson graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1977. He commenced his career in commerce in 1978 prior to entering the Chartered Accounting profession. Mr Macpherson was admitted as a partner of the firm that became known as KMG Hungerfords in 1986, having built up a specialist practice in the provision of corporate and financial advice to the mining and mineral exploration industry. In 1987 the firm merged with Arthur Andersen & Co.

In 1990 Mr Macpherson left Arthur Andersen & Co to establish Ord Partners, Chartered Accountants. Mr Macpherson has since specialised in the area of corporate advice with a particular emphasis on capital structuring, equity and debt raising, corporate affairs and Stock Exchange compliance procedures for public companies, both mining and industrial. He has acted in the role of director and company secretary for a number of his clients and has been involved in numerous asset acquisition and disposal engagements involving the preparation of detailed Information Memoranda, pre-acquisition reviews and Independent Reports.

Mr Macpherson is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and past member, Executive Councilof the Association of Mining Exploration Companies (WA) Inc.

 
TIM DOBSON, BAppSc, MAusIMM, GAICD
Managing Director

Mr Tim Dobson has 23 years of continuous, broad‐based experience in a range of ASX‐listed and international mining companies. Tim’s early career was focused on process/technical roles at largescale gold operations including the original Boddington Gold Mine, the complex Porgera mine in PNG, and the Granny Smith mine north of Kalgoorlie. Four years with Placer Dome’s project development team followed, including roles in Canada and Chile, before moving into a lead management role commissioning the first nickel laterite operation in Australia ‐ Centaur Mining’s Cawse operation.

Tim then undertook an equally challenging management role at PNG’s giant Lihir Gold Mine before relocating back to Cawse as Operations Director where he oversaw the ownership change from USbased OMG to Russian‐based Norilsk Nickel. Tim joined Polymetals Group in November 2008 in the role of Chief Operating Officer / EGM‐Operations where he oversaw the implementation of the successful White Dam Gold mine in South Australia, and took part in the Company’s recent successful ASX listing.

Much of Tim’s career has focused on the management and technical challenges of operating complex mineral processing facilities in both PNG and Australia. With ten years management experience, Tim’s technical and project management abilities are supported by strong operational leadership, organisational development and strategic planning skills.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Extractive Metallurgy) degree from the WA School of Mines, is a member of the AusIMM, and is a graduate of the AICD company director program.

ALLAN TRENCH, B.Sc (Hons. Geology), Ph.D (Geophysics),M.Sc (Mineral Economics), MBA (Oxon) , GAICD and MAusIMM
Non-Executive Director
Dr Allan Trench is a geologist/geophysicist and business management consultant with over 20 years experience within the Australian resources sector across a number of commodity groups including gold, copper, nickel, oil & gas and LNG.

Dr Trench commenced his career as an academic at Oxford University before moving to Australia on a Royal Society Research Fellowship. After a period at the University of Western Australia, he joined WMC at their Kambalda nickel and gold operations applying geophysical methods to both exploration and underground mining opportunities. Dr Trench spent five years with WMC including as Exploration Manager in the Leinster-Mt Keith region. He then managed a number of exploration companies before joining McKinsey & Company as a management consultant. In his role at McKinsey, he advised a number of large international resource companies on strategy, organisation and operations issues.

Dr Trench has direct hands-on experience in managing gold assets, including spending 18 months at Australia’s largest gold mine, the Golden Mile of Kalgoorlie.

JON PARKER, B.Sc (Hons), Grad. Dip. Bus. Admin.
Non-Executive Director

Jon Parker has strong corporate experience and a reputation for accomplishment in the resource and energy sectors. He has had 30 years in commercial, development and strategy roles, preceded by 10 years in technical roles.

Jon held executive roles within Rio Tinto for 26 years in management and executive roles in iron ore, energy, kaolin and aluminium. This was followed by 4.5 years as Managing Director with Felix Resources Limited and, more recently, as Managing Director of Norton Gold Fields Limited for 2 years until January 2010.

Jon has a history of creating strong and sustainable value through robust strategic thinking, innovative and inclusive leadership practices and sound decision making. He has a focus on strategy development, negotiations, project management, teambuilding and running/developing public companies.

Jon has a degree in Physical Chemistry (Hons) (Sydney) and a Graduate Diploma Business Administration (Curtin) complemented by management programs in Australia (Mt Eliza) and the US (Columbia).

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