TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - March 9, 2017) - Ascendant Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:ASND) ("Ascendant" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Neil Ringdahl as Chief Operating Officer effective immediately.
Mr. Ringdahl is a senior mining executive with over 23 years of international mining, development, and executive management experience. Mr. Ringdahl has a strong technical and project background in a career that has been primarily focussed in Latin America and Africa. Previously, Mr. Ringdahl held the role of Chief Operating Officer at Orvana Minerals Corp., a multi-mine gold and copper producer where he oversaw operations, exploration initiatives and executive/corporate activities. While at Orvana he was successful in implementing programs to improve safety and profitability as well as increasing the life of mine. At Apogee Silver, he held the position of Chief Executive Officer where he significantly de-risked the rehabilitation project and initiated construction at the Pulacayo mine in Bolivia while fostering proactive community relations improvements and agreements. Mr. Ringdahl has also held senior positions with Volcan Companía Minera in Peru, Golden Star Resources in West Africa and Anglo Platinum in South Africa. Mr. Ringdahl holds a bachelor's degree with Honors in mining engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
President and CEO, Chris Buncic stated, "Our key challenges at the El Mochito Mine are increasing production volumes via daily throughput and reducing operating costs in a sustainable manner while managing the negotiations of the collective bargaining agreement with the union and the mine's workers. Neil's extensive experience with turnaround situations in Latin America will be invaluable to Ascendant. His experience with labour negotiations in Bolivia during his tenure at Apogee Silver will be highly beneficial as Ascendant continues to negotiate with the Union at El Mochito. Neil is Spanish speaking and has a proven track record of operating mines safely and efficiently in challenging political, social and operating environments. I very much look forward to his contributions as we further improve our operations."
Ascendant also announces today that it has changed its financial year-end from July 31 to December 31. This change is being implemented to allow the Corporation to align its financial year-end with the financial year-end of its subsidiary, American Pacific Honduras SA de CV. A Notice of Change in Year-End will be available for review shortly under the Corporation's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
About Ascendant Resources
Ascendant Resources Inc. (formerly known as Morumbi Resources Inc.) is a mining issuer focused on its flagship operating asset, the producing El Mochito zinc, silver and lead mine in west-central Honduras in which the Company has a 100% interest. El Mochito has been in almost continuous production since 1948. More broadly, the Company evaluates producing and advanced development stage mineral resource acquisition opportunities in North, South and Central America, on an ongoing basis. The Company's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "ASND". For more information on Ascendant Resources, please visit our website at www.ascendantresources.com.
