Horizonte Minerals Plc (TSX: HZM) has announced the appointment of John MacKenzie as a Non-Executive Director and Simon Retter as an Executive Director effective immediately.
MacKenzieis a senior mining executive with more than 30 years of operational and investment experience in the metals and mining sector, currently Chief Executive Officer and Director of TSX-listed Capstone Copper Corp. Previously, MacKenzie was Executive Chair and Founder of Mantos Copper before its merger with Capstone Mining in 2022.
He brings extensive operating and construction experience to the Board, in particular in South America through his time as part of the Anglo American group where he was a member of the Executive Committee and CEO of Copper at Anglo American plc, CEO Zinc at Anglo Base Metals and General Manager at their Minera Loma de Niquel mine and smelter in Venezuela, an RKEF ferronickel operation similar in design capacity to Araguaia. He was also previously a Non-Executive Director of KAZ Minerals plc.
MacKenzie has a Master of Science in Mining Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Master of Business Leadership from the University of South Africa and has completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School.
Retter has served as the group CFO of Horizonte Minerals since 2016. He is a commercially focused business leader with almost 15 years of experience as an Executive and Non-Executive Director focussed in the natural resources sector, driving strategic growth and leading high-performance teams across various financial roles.
Retter started his career at Deloitte in assurance and advisory, qualifying as a chartered accountant before gaining extensive experience in the public markets and the mining sector, specifically, reverse takeovers, IPOs and secondary fundraising.
Change in company secretary
Leonardo Neves, Horizonte’s General Counsel, has been appointed as company secretary, taking over from Retter effective immediately. Neves is an experienced legal professional, having developed his career at law firms Pinheiro Neto Advogados (Brazil), McMillan LLP (Canada) and Fasken Martineau LLP (UK).
He has also acted in-house for various mining companies, including Ferrous Resources where he spent 9 years as Head of Legal and Company Secretary. Neves holds an LL.B. degree from University of Brasília and an LL.M. degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is qualified to practice as a solicitor in England and Wales, as well as in Brazil and Portugal.
“We are delighted to welcome John MacKenzie and Simon Retter to the Board at this important time for Horizonte,” CEO Jeremy Martin said in a press release.
“These appointments emphasise the Board’s continued evolution enhancing the skillsets required to successfully deliver two Tier 1 nickel projects.
“I am confident that John’s in-depth experience in the base metals sector will prove invaluable as we transition from a developer to a producer, and I look forward to continuing the great work that Simon is doing, maximising the potential of the assets for all our stakeholders.”