MINING PEOPLE IN THE NEWS: CEMI, Alderon Iron Ore, First Americas Gold, Fortune Minerals, and NovaGold

The Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) in Sudbury, ON, has named its former R&D program director, Damien Duff, its new COO. His lengthy career included employment at Noranda, Falconbridge and Xstrata as well as a secondment to the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. He is also the recipient of the CIM Fellowship Award.

Former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams and Bay Street lawyer John Vettese have been named to the board of Vancouver-based Alderon Iron Ore.

First Americas Gold Corp. has named Robert Thompson to its board of directors. He is the holder of a PhD in geology from Queen’s University.

The technical team at London, ON-based Fortune Minerals is being expanded as the company has two projects in development. Carl Kottmeier is the project Manager for the Mount Klappan mine, and he will be based in Vancouver. Seok (Joon) Kim is the mine planning engineer for both the Mount Klappan and NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper projects, and he will work in the London office.

Vancouver’s NovaGold Resources has appointed Anthony P. Walsh to its board of directors. He replaces James Philip who resigned for personal reasons.