Bob Foster back at helm of Stratex as interim CEO

Gold exploration and development company Stratex announced on Monday that its founder, Dr Bob Foster, has been appointed to its board as interim CEO, with immediate effect.

The AIM-traded firm said Foster has more than 40 years of experience as a professional economic geologist in exploration, mining, and applied academic posts, with particular expertise in the genesis of and exploration for gold deposits, having worked in Europe, Central Asia, North and South America, and throughout Africa.

“Following 10 years in the mining industry in Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe - he joined Southampton University in 1984, where he subsequently devoted more than 15 years to lecturing and managing a large applied research group investigating ore-forming processes and mineral exploration strategies on regional and area scales and within operating mines,” the Stratex board explained in his statement.

“He has published numerous scientific and technical papers and has been an invited keynote speaker at many international scientific and technical conferences around the world.”

During his time at Southampton University, Dr Foster also undertook “numerous” consultancy projects with major and junior mining companies, and was a founding member of the management team of Pan-African Mining, which developed the open pit Ayrshire gold mine in Zimbabwe between 1991 and 1996.

Stratex confirmed he also directed a “major” gold exploration programme for associated company Pan-Reef Mining in Zimbabwe between 1994 and 1996.

From 1998 until 2004, he was minerals manager for consultancy group Exploration Consultants.

Dr Foster co-founded Stratex in 2004, and was formerly CEO until September 2016.