Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX: IXR) has made several appointments in the UK to assist the company and 100% owned subsidiary Ionic Technologies International Limited (IonicTech) deliver corporate strategy.

EU & UK Supply Chain Engagement

IonicRE has appointed of highly experienced UK based executive Lee Constable as Vice President – EU & UK, to drive supply chain stakeholder engagement and interface with government bodies across Europe and the UK.

Mr Constable is a distinguished corporate executive with over 25 years’ experience with senior roles in the manufacturing and process related industries (Chemicals, Plastics, Building) for global organisations. Mr Constable has a Master of Engineering in Material Science & Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

From 2013 to 2017, Mr Constable was Head of UK Operations for MEL Chemicals (now renamed Luxfer MEL Technologies), a subsidiary of the Luxfer group, a materials technology business specialising in the design, manufacture and supply of high-performance technical ceramics, chemical and metallic materials, including rare earth compounds, to customers in diversified markets across aerospace, defence, automotive and medical.

As part of the role, Mr Constable had key interaction with both suppliers and customers, and actively sourced rare earths feedstocks and visited Chinese rare earths separation facilities.

Ionic Technologies

IonicTech has appointed highly experienced operational leader Thomas Kelly to the role of General Manager – Operations, to drive the development of the magnet recycling demonstration plant and technical centre established in Belfast, UK.

Mr Kelly has a proven track record in high purity products, project delivery, operational improvement and process engineering across a 13 year career in operations management and technical roles in process, chemical, power and water industries with global organisations.

Mr Kelly has also demonstrated the ability to build high performing and efficient teams, plus driving a culture of continuous improvement. He has a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Composite Materials from the University of Manchester, as well as an MBA from Ulster University, and he is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Scientist and Chartered Manager.

To support the development of the magnet recycling demonstration plant, IonicTech has appointed Neruja Srikantharajah as Engineering Manager. Ms Srikantharajah has over 10 years’ experience in process engineering design and systems across the nuclear and defence industries with Rolls Royce Civil Nuclear and Sellafield in the UK. Ms Srikantharajah has a Master of Engineering (Honours) in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London and is a Chartered Chemical Engineer.

We are delighted to add strong capability to the IonicRE and IonicTech team to help the company progress our corporate ambitions,” Ionic’s Managing director, Tim Harrison, said.

“The new appointments will help the company to build upon the great foundation established over the past few years for greater engagement with key potential supply chain stakeholder across Europe and the UK, complementing our US downstream focus.

“The magnet recycling demonstration plant, located at our facility in Belfast is on track, and adding more technical expertise and leadership to the overall programme will greatly enhance the existing team as we look towards producing recycled magnet REOs by the middle of 2023.”