Atlantic Strategic Minerals (ASM), a subsidiary of Appian Capital Advisory, announced Tuesday it has appointed John Elder as the new Chief Executive Officer of its mining and mineral processing facilities in Virginia. 

Elder, who brings almost 40 years of experience working in the critical minerals sector, will be focused on delivering a resilient US supply chain for ilmenite, zircon and rare earth feedstocks in Virginia. 

Prior to joining ASM, Elder was the Head of US Mining and Metals at Hatch, where he was responsible for growing the company’s engineering and consultancy services, with a focus on critical minerals. 

Before joining Hatch, he was the Vice President of Outotec, leading their physical separation and titanium feedstock business units. Elder was also previously the Director, Global Exploration and Development, at RGC (now Iluka Resources) for over ten years. 

ASM said its project comprises high-grade mining assets and processing facilities, including a concentrator plant and the largest mineral separation plant in North America.  The company also said it is exploring adding a monazite circuit to the minerals separation plant to enable the company to separate monazite-rich heavy mineral concentrates into rare-earth oxides.  

“I’m excited to join ASM at such a pivotal time for the US critical minerals sector, Elder said in a news release. “

The project has an exciting opportunity to strengthen resilient, domestic critical supply chains. I look forward to working with the team to advance operations across our mining assets and processing facilities to meet US industrial and strategic needs.”