THE Board of PanAust Limited has appointed Dr Fred Hess as managing director of the company. He has held several executive management positions in his nine years with PanAust, most recently the position of EGM Project Development and Operational Improvement, and succeeds Gary Stafford who served in the position for more than 18 years.

PanAust chairman Garry Hounsell said, “The Board is delighted to make this announcement. At the time we made the announcement that we had commenced an orderly succession process, we said that the company would consider both internal and external candidates.

“After considering a number of highly qualified candidates, the Board considers that Fred Hess has the requisite skills and experience from more than 30 years working in the mining industry both in Australia and overseas to lead the company as it advances and develops its next generation of mining projects.

“Fred was a major driving force behind the development and construction of both the existing operations at Phu Kham and Ban Houayxai in Laos. He is the ideal candidate to take the company forward and the Board is unanimous in this view. It is a credit to our outgoing managing director Gary Stafford that the company has such a quality internal candidate and I wish to thank him on behalf of the Board for all his many achievements at PanAust.”

Fred Hess said, “It is an honour for me to become managing director of PanAust Limited. The whole executive management team and all other employees should be proud of what we have developed at PanAust under Gary Stafford’s leadership. Our vision and values will remain unchanged. We will continue to strive to achieve the high standards established under Gary through both our existing operations and future growth opportunities, in particular the Frieda River project.”