Paladin Energy forced to get new CFO as Korte moves to push world-class iron project

Uranium company Paladin Energy Ltd (TSX:PDN)(ASX:PDN) announced it named Alan Rule as its new Chief Financial Officer effective July 23, 2012. He would be replacing the current CFO, Garry Korte, who is joining Roy Hill Holdings, owned by billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

Korte’s hire looks like the latest step forward for Roy Hill Holdings’s flagship Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia’s Pilbara, set to open in 2014 and ramp up to 55 million tonnes of iron ore a year.

Last week, Rinehart’s company agreed to an investment in 30% of the Roy Hill mine by a Korean-Japanese consortium, which paid $3.53 billion for its stake.

The Australian said that Rinehart made no apologies for increasing the foreign equity in the project, saying it remained “as the only independent world-class Pilbara iron ore project with West Australian majority ownership”.

Gillian Swaby, Paladium’s secretary and EGM corporate services, will act as interim CFO from May 24 until Alan assumes the position in July.