Black Iron bulks up presence in Ukraine with appointment of Nikolay Bairak

Iron ore explorer Black Iron (TSE:BIN) reported Wednesday that Nikolay Bairak was appointed as vice president of Government Community Relations at the company, to be based in the Ukraine, boosting its presence in the country.
Bairak, who holds a Ph.D in Political Science, founded the Members of Parliament Club, a non-partisan Ukranian organization made up of over 300 Ukrainian parliamentarians across all political parties, including the President of Ukraine.
Prior to this, Bairak served as first deputy head for Zaporizhzhya Regional State Administration from 2001 to 2003, and was also head of department for the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Ukraine from 2000 to 2001.
Black Iron’s president and CEO, Matt Simpson, said in a statement: "We are excited to have Nikolay Bairak join the Black Iron team as lead of our government and community relations initiatives in Ukraine."
"Nikolay brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and relationships within various levels of Ukrainian government including government and community leaders in the Dnepropetrovsk region, where both our Shymanivske and Zelenivske projects are located.”
Further, as a qualified metallurgical engineer with experience in heavy industry, Bairak is expected to play a big role in helping the company communicate safety, environmentally friendly and technical advantages of the company’s projects, Simpson continued.
Bairak is well known in the Ukraine, having been honoured with the Order of Merit, honourable diploma of Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine as well as the order of Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Black Iron, which is advancing its wholly-owned Shymanivske project in Krivoy Rog, Ukraine, has a measured and indicated resource of 345 million tonnes grading 32% iron and 469 million tons of inferred resources grading 31% iron.
The project is surrounded by five other operating mines, including ArcelorMittal's (NYSE:MT) iron ore complex.
Black Iron also holds an exploration permit for the adjacent Zelenivske project, which it intends to further explore.
The Toronto-based company’s stock rose 30 cents, or 4.05%, to 77 cents Wednesday afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange.