(Alliance News) - Empire Metals Ltd on Wednesday said it hired former Rio Tinto PLC geologist Andrew Faragher as its new exploration manager with immediate effect.

The AIM-quoted resource exploration and development firm said Faragher will be responsible for exploration strategy and targeting, project evaluation, supervising exploration fieldwork and providing technical guidance to a team of geologists and field assistants.

As part of his wider 25 years of experience working across multiple commodities - including copper, gold, base metals, uranium, iron ore, bauxite and diamonds - Faragher spent seven years working for Rio Tinto, where he served as exploration manager for Canada and chief geologist for iron ore and bauxite.

Empire Metals cited highlights of Faragher's Rio Tinto career as including leading a team which discovered a significant iron ore deposit in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, along with building and developing successful exploration teams in both Australia and Canada.

"Investing in the right talent on the ground is key as we look to further develop our existing portfolio of exploration projects and advance the company's flagship copper project at Pitfield, located near the town of Three Springs in Western Australia," said Empire Metals Managing Director Shaun Bunn.

"Faragher's appointment bolsters our exploration team and provides the company, along with our senior technical advisory group, the expertise required to successfully develop and execute our exploration plans, having established drill-ready targets for copper mineralisation at Pitfield as well as discovering a kaolin-rich zone at the Eclipse-Gindalbie project, located just north-east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia."

Shares in Empire Metals were up 1.8% to 2.80 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter

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