Mining star Kerry Harmanis takes the chair at Talisman Mining, shares climb 15pc

Explorer Talisman Mining’s (ASX:TLM) has attracted well-known nickel mogul Kerry Harmanis to the board, sending its shares up nearly than 15 per cent in morning trade.

One of WA’s most successful mining executives, Harmanis founded Jubilee Mines which he built into a successful nickel producer before it was sold to Swiss mining heavyweight Xstrata for $3.1bn in 2007.

Since then, he has made a name for making savvy and successful investments. Harmanis has been a long-time shareholder of Talisman, in which he has a 18 per cent stake.

He also has substantial stakes in Centaurus Metals (ASX:CTM), Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) and Kin Mining (ASX:KIN).

Harmanis has elected not to receive a salary or be issued any additional shares in his new role with the company, a clear sign of his belief that the company has substantial growth ahead of it.

“Talisman is well placed to participate in what is currently a buoyant market for junior exploration companies, especially in the gold sector, and our focus will be both to maximise returns from our existing assets while also looking for new growth opportunities in the gold and base metals sector in Western Australia,” he noted.

“WA remains hugely prospective from a geological perspective and is one of the best places in the world to find, develop and operate high-quality resource assets.

“We will adopt a patient, systematic and judicious approach in our search for new projects to ensure we find the right assets with the potential to create long-term shareholder value for Talisman.”

A change of focus?

Harmanis’ comments appear to flag a shift in Talisman’s focus away from its current assets in New South Wales.

Talisman currently holds a number of tenements in the Cobar/Mineral Hill region in central NSW.

It has identified a number of areas that show evidence of base and precious metals endowment which have had very little modern systematic exploration completed to date.

The company is also farming into the Lucknow gold project that has seen little modern exploration despite having historic production of more than 400,000 ounces of gold at very high grades.