Miner names industry titan as CEO
Titan Mining Corp. [TI-TSX] shares rallied Monday September 17 after naming Don Taylor as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer.
Taylor most recently served as Chief Operating Officer at Arizona Mining, where he discovered, permitted, and expanded the world-class Taylor deposit in Arizona. That was before the company was sold for $1.8 billion to Australian company South32 Ltd. [S32-ASX, JSE, LSE, SOUHY-ADR].
When Arizona Mining Inc. [AZ-TSX] outlined 100 million tonnes of 10.4% zinc equivalent in a measured and indicated resource at its Taylor Zone discovery, it raised some eyebrows in a state that has traditionally been known for copper deposits.
Taylor is taking over from Richard Warke, who will continue to serve as Executive Chairman.
His new employer is clearly hoping that Taylor can repeat his Arizona success in his new role as CEO of Titan.
Investors reacted to the news by sending Titan shares up 6.45% or $0.08 to $1.32 in early afternoon trading on Monday. The 52-week range is $1.65 and 92 cents.
Prior to joining Arizona Mining, Taylor worked for a number of large and small cap companies, including BHP Billiton Ltd. [BHP-NYSE, BHPLF-OTCPK], Bear Creek Mining Corp. [BCM-TSXV, BCEKF-OTC], American Copper and Nickel, Doe Run Resources, and Westmont Mining Co. Taylor was the recipient of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s 2018 Thayer Lindsey Award for the Taylor deposit.
Titan Mining is producing zinc concentrates at its 100%-owned Empire State Mine in New York State. The company is focused on near-mine and district exploration as well as innovation aimed at discovering and developing additional resources to fill existing spare capacity at the shaft and mill.
The company has also announced a series of new senior management appointments. Purni Parikh has been named President. Kevin Torpy is the new Vice-President, Operations. Jack Mueller has been named Exploration Manager. Parikh was recently Senior Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and Corporate Secretary at Arizona Mining. Torpy was most recently the General Manager at Pretium Resources Inc.‘s [PVG-TSX] Brucejack Mine in BC. Mueller also joins from Arizona Mining, where he was involved in the company’s exploration success.
In October 2017, Titan announced that it has completed an IPO of 35.7 million common shares at a price of $1.40 a share, raising gross proceeds of $50 million. Part of the proceeds were used to fund the restart of commercial production at the Empire State Mine by the third quarter of 2018.
The company said it recently identified two new zones, including the #3 Deep Zone, which is located immediately below the historic #2 Mine, and the NE Streeter Zone, which is situated less than a mile to the east of the #4 shaft.
As part of a previously announced plan to expand throughput to 3,000 tons per day in 2020 from the current 1,800 tpd, engineering work has begun on several fronts to support the economic analysis of the updated mineral resource.
In a press release in April 2018, Titan said the inferred mineral resources had increased by 3.1 million tons, or 138%, to 5.4 million tons at an undiluted grade of 12.50% zinc. That’s up from the previous estimate of 2.3 million tons at an undiluted grade of 13.37% zinc.
The expanded resource is based on an initial review of existing data on remnants at the Empire States’ #4 mine only.