Great Western hires director of international exploration for rare earths

Mineral explorer Great Western Minerals (CVE: GWG) reported Thursday it has appointed Brent Jellicoe as director of international exploration.
Under his new role, Jellicoe will primarily manage Great Western’s exploration program at the Steenkampskraal rare earth project situated in South Africa. In addition, he has been assigned to locate and evaluate new rare earth projects on a global basis.
Jellicoe, who brings 19 years worth of experience, has worked for companies like Takara Resources (CVE: TKK), Mammoth Minerals and Great Western Diamonds, among others. His background includes exploration in the gold, diamond, uranium and industrial metals sectors.
Jellicoe is also a member of many organizations like the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan.
"The addition of Brent Jellicoe enables us to continue to execute our Steenkampskraal exploration project on schedule and bring our historical Steenkampskraal data into National Instrument 43-101 compliance as quickly as possible,” CEO Jim Engdahl said in a statement.
"He will also assess opportunities for additional long term rare earth feedstock supply to satisfy the growing demand for our alloys."
Great Western Minerals is an integrated rare earths processor. Its specialty alloys are used in the battery, magnet and aerospace industries.
In addition to its stake in Steenkampskraal, which Great Western holds via its 100% interest in Rare Earth Extraction Co., the company also holds stakes in six rare earth exploration and development properties in North America.
The Saskatoon-based company’s shares went up 40 cents to $0.750 Thursday afternoon in Toronto.