5E Advanced Materials, (ASX: 5EA) has announced the resignation of its chief executive officer, Susan Brennan, who was in the position for 13-months.
The boron and lithium company is shifting focus towards phase 1 of commercial operations in California and said that Paul Weibel, who has served as 5E’s Chief Financial Officer since 2021, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. Mr Weibel joined 5E from the company’s predecessor, American Pacific Borates Limited.
The board expressed its gratitude to Ms. Brennan’s for her dedicated service and said she had inherited a number of significant challenges stepping into the role.
“We thank Ms. Brennan for her leadership and focus that contributed to delivering the company’s approval from the EPA, completing construction of the small-scale boron facility, and leading us into first production.
“As the company’s strategic priorities shift, this change in leadership will focus our next steps on accelerating growth, executing on customer and market catalysts,and further enhancing shareholder value,” said David Salisbury, Chairman of the Board.
“As the company continues to evolve along its natural path, our focus is shifting to supporting the engineering and construction of Commercial Phase 1. With Paul’s exceptional leadership and expertise, we are confident he and his team will successfully advance the next phase of our world-class mining and processing operation.”
The company also announced the appointed of Bryn Jones to the board. Mr. Jones is an industrial chemist with over 20 years of extensive development and operational experience in the minerals industry across various commodities, including in-situ mining of uranium. Mr. Jones is currently the Managing Director for entX Limited, a technology incubator that generates ideas, builds development partnerships, and commercializes breakthrough for clean energy and nuclear medicine technologies. He is also a non-executive director of Australian Rare Earths (ASX: AR3), Technical Director of Boss Energy Ltd (ASX: BOE), and a non-executive director of DevEx Resources Ltd (ASX: DEV) and previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Laramide Resources Ltd (ASX: LAM).
5E Advanced was trading -2% down at 5 cents.