Canada’s first rare earths mining company, Vital Metals, (ASX: VML l OTCQB: VTMXF) announced Monday that John Dorward has resigned as a director of the company immediately and as CEO with three months’ notice.
In December 2022, Vital announced its pivot strategy with a sharper focus on developing the Tardiff Deposit at the Nechalacho Project, and the company will conduct an international search for a new CEO with experience that can help drive this strategy.
Last month, Vital announced a 26% increase in Mineral Resource tonnes and a 20% increase in total rare earth oxides (TREO) tonnes at Tardiff, which is now estimated to contain 1.67 million tonnes of TREO with a total mineral resource of 119.0 million tonnes at 1.4% TREO.
“John has worked with the Board and management team over the past few months to develop a new strategy for the business, which the management team will continue to implement, with a stronger focus on developing the Tardiff deposit at Nechalacho,” interim chairman Richard Crookes said in a release.
“We have recently started drilling at Tardiff, as we work towards upgrading confidence in the Mineral Resource from Inferred to Indicated status with a view to extracting greater value from this world-class mineral resource. I thank John for his leadership during his time in the role and wish him well in his next endeavours.”