The company behind the £150 million reopening of the Hemerdon tungsten mine near Plymouth has appointed an alumni of the Camborne School of Mines to its board.

Nicholas Clarke has joined Wolf Minerals as an independent non-executive director. He replaces Jim Williams, who is stepping down from the Board to pursue other interests in his retirement.

Mr Clarke is a resource sector executive with more than 40 years experience in senior corporate and technical positions. He is currently CEO of AIM-listed Central Asia Metals plc, a copper producing company with assets in Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

A graduate of the Camborne School of Mines, he was managing director of international mineral consultancy Wardell Armstrong International between 1992 and 2004.

During his career, has been involved in major mining projects of major mining projects including the construction of the US$200 million Voskhod Chrome Mine and the US$40 million Kounrad Copper Plant, both in Kazakhstan.

He has also been involved in a number of equity raisings for AIM and TSX listed companies and was named CEO of The Year at the 2013 Mining Journal Outstanding Achievement Awards.

Wolf’s chairman, John Hopkins, said: “Nick Clarke is a vastly experienced and successful resources industry professional, and his background and expertise will be invaluable to the company as we embark on the construction phase at Hemerdon.”

Last month, Wolf achieved another major milestone towards its reopening of the Westcountry mine, which is schedule to begin extracting tungsten and tin in 2015.

The Environment Agency issued it with an environmental permit which will enable Wolf to operate a mining waste facility at the site, described as “crucial” to the massive project.