Freyja Resources (CVE:FRA) said Wednesday it has hired director Ron Keenen as VP of development and corporate secretary.
Keenan, who has more than 23 years of experience in senior executive positions at resource management players including Laidlaw, Veolia and Newalta, will continue to serve as director but has resigned as a member of the audit and human resources and governance committees.
“Ron has experience in business development, financial management, resource assessment, costs control, profitability improvement, and new system implementation. We welcome him as part of our management team” said president and CEO, Andre St-Michel, in a release announcing the appointment earlier this afternoon.
Freyja announced late last month that it received a government drilling permit in Mexico for its Las Cristinas property, with the first 1,000 metre drilling phase expected to start in April. The company, which is aiming to bring the asset to production by year-end, is expecting more drilling targets to be identified in the coming weeks, with a total of 3,000 metres planned.
The news came after the Canadian junior explorer announced results from its initial sampling program completed last year at the property, which focused on the southern end, with initial results wowing investors on grades as high as 17.95% copper and 429 g/t of silver.
Aside from beginning a drilling program, the company also recently raised a total of $615,000 in debt, and an additional $1.02 million through a share exchange private placement with Global Resources Investment Ltd. (GRIT) out of the UK.
With all these factors in play, Freyja is sure to attract investors with its business model of acquiring projects that have short-term open pit production potential, like Las Cristinas, where the company can fund further expansion drilling through cash flow and minimize shareholder dilution.
The initial phase of drilling at Las Cristinas is planned to focus on the southern end of the property, where small scale copper production took place in the early 1970s. This region therefore hosts old underground workings and includes several drifts and adits, with all current access roads located at this end of the asset.
The main goal of the 3,000 metre drilling program will be to delineate the initial planned open pit production area, the company has said, and after the drilling is completed, the plan is to build an on-site heap leach pad. In addition, metallurgical tests to determine recovery rates of copper and silver are underway, providing a better indication of costs.
