Canada-focused Vital Metals has appointed rare earth systems specialist and professional geologist Dr Natalie Pietrzak-Renaud as its VP of exploration.
Announcing her appointment, the ASX-listed company said on Monday that Pietrzak-Renaud had extensive experience in developing and managing exploration programmes, including gold and rare earth element (REE) deposits.
Her appointment comes after the success of recent drilling at Tardiff, part of Vital’s Nechalacho rare earths project in Northwest Territories, which returned shallow high grades and remains open in several directions.
Pietrzak-Renaud has acted in the VP exploration role in publicly traded and private junior exploration companies focused on gold and REEs. She has led and managed the development and execution of geological and testing programmes for Quest Rare Minerals and later Torngat Metals at the Strange Lake REE deposit in Quebec.
She brings her expertise of REE mineralogy, processing and ore deposit modelling to the Nechalacho deposit. Pietrzak-Renaud holds a PhD in geology from Western University, Ontario with specialisation in ore deposit modelling and geometallurgy.
She also completed her post-doctoral research in REE mineralogy at Western University, Ontario.