Largo (TSX:LGO) has appointed James Bannantine as co-CEO as Daniel Tellechea retires from the role, amid efforts to improve the vanadium producer’s operating performance.
Bannantine will lead the company alongside Executive Chairman and co-CEO Alberto Arias. Tellechea will remain on Largo’s board and serve as an adviser for a transitional period.
Arias says Bannantine’s experience in Latin American mining and corporate turnarounds is relevant to Largo’s operations in Brazil.
“We are confident that Jim’s experience will help to further enhance operational efficiency, support capital discipline to advance strategic growth and value creation projects, and foster a culture of accountability,” Arias says.
Bannantine most recently led the development and sale of the Los Calatos Copper-Molybdenum Project in southern Peru.
He previously served as CEO of Aura Minerals (TSX:ORA) and Great Panther Mining (OTCMKTS:GPLDQ), overseeing open pit mining operations in Brazil. His earlier roles include leading South American gas and power operations for an energy and commodities company and working as a contracting officer for the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Bannantine says his priorities include completing Largo’s turnaround and pursuing opportunities across its high-purity vanadium, by-product metals, and energy-storage businesses.
Largo supplies vanadium from its Maracás Menchen Mine in Brazil and holds a 37.4% interest in Storion Energy, a US joint venture with Stryten Energy focused on producing electrolyte for vanadium flow batteries.
Arias says Tellechea helped guide the company through a cyclical decline in vanadium prices, during which Largo introduced operational efficiency and cost-reduction measures.
Largo also owns the Northern Dancer Tungsten-Molybdenum Project in Canada’s Yukon Territory and the Currais Novos Tungsten Tailings Project in Brazil.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
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