Georgian Mining Corp (LON:GEO) has today announced the appointment of Mr Michael Struthers as Chief Operating Officer, a non-main board role, effective immediately. Mr Struthers is a Chartered Engineer with over 37 years of international mining experience.
Over the course of his career, Mr Struthers has held senior management positions with leading global mining companies and consultancies. He has a proven track record both at an operating and advisory level as a project manager, covering all stages of a mine’s life from feasibility and engineering studies including technical reviews, project and financial evaluations to strategic planning, construction, mine expansion, risk assessments and due diligence. He has extensive experience in base‐metals and gold in Africa, Australia, North America, South America, Europe and Russia / CIS.
From January 2011 to 2017, Mr Struthers held Project Director and Senior Project Manager positions for Lundin Mining Corporation (‘Lundin’), overseeing strategic growth initiatives at Lundin’s operations in Chile. In addition, he led studies for a number of expansion opportunities at the Neves Corvo copper zinc mine in Portugal including a feasibility study into a US$300 million expansion of the zinc operations. The project was subsequently approved with the execution phase commencing in April 2017. From 2007 to June 2009 he was Technical Director and Chief Operating Officer for MBC Resources where he was responsible for the technical development of two major zinc deposits in Russia including Ozernoe, a Joint Venture with Lundin, as well as the polymetallic Kholodninskoye project, where he led a prefeasibility study. He has also previously been a partner in a private equity fund focused on Russian gold mining, carrying out extensive technical reviews, evaluations and development planning for a variety of prospective gold projects in Russia.
Between 1994 and 2007, Mr Struthers was Director and Principal Geotechnical Engineer for AMC Consultants (UK) Limited, a leading mining consultancy, during which he led teams on a range of projects on behalf of major global mining companies including Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and WMC Resources Ltd, and a large number of junior and mid-tier companies. Mr Struthers graduated from the University of Hull, UK with a BSc in Geology (1980) and the Camborne School of Mines (1984), where he graduated with a MSc in Mining Geology with distinction. Mr Struthers is a Chartered Engineer with the UK Engineering Council.
Georgian Mining Corp Managing Director Greg Kuenzel said, “Attracting a professional of the calibre and experience of Mr Struthers to the key role of COO in our view is testament to the quality of the Company’s project. He has a proven track record of maximising the potential and value of projects operated by leading mining groups, and I am confident his addition to the team will prove to be invaluable as we look to establish KB and the other targets identified across the wider licence area in Georgia as another world class copper-gold asset on the prolific Tethyan Belt.”
