Sudburian Jim Gallagher is passing the president-CEO’s torch at Clean Air Metals over to Mike Garbutt.
A news release from the Thunder Bay palladium company said this is a planned succession. The move takes effect July 1.
Gallagher remains with the company in an advisory role, in the position of non-executive chair of the board of directors, replacing Dean Chambers.
Garbutt, a mining engineer and a graduate of Laurentian University, joined Clean Air as its chief operating office in May 2022. Previously, he was deputy general manager for IAMGOLD’s Côté Gold Project, served as Stantec Consulting’s senior principal and mining sector leader, and was general manager of KGHM’s Sudbury Operations.
Clean Air’s primary asset is its Thunder Bay North Critical Metals Project, 50 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, where its two deposits contain 14 million tonnes of platinum and palladium, 56,800 tonnes of copper and 33,800 tonnes of nickel.
In the release, Garbutt is being credited for his contribution to Clean Air’s strategic vision and development in the COO's role. The company said he has the skill set to lead Clean Air through potential acquisitions, expansion, and eventually mine construction.
In a statement, Gallagher said this move has been in the works for the past two years.
"Mike's leadership and involvement, particularly in the due diligence review of other PGE (platinum group element) assets in northwestern Ontario, have been invaluable. He has demonstrated that he is uniquely qualified to carry forward our strategic initiatives.”
These days, Clean Air has indicated it's on the lookout for the acquisition of distressed PGEs and copper projects.
The company suffered a severe setback last year after discovering an error in the resource calculation of its Current deposit that resulted in a withdrawal of a resource calculation and a preliminary economic assessment. Meanwhile, palladium prices have crashed more than 70 per cent since March 2022.
Gallagher became executive chair at Clean Air in 2020 and became CEO in June 2023.
A respected mining engineer and executive, Gallagher was CEO of North American Palladium from 2015 to 2019 and played a huge role in the financial and operational turnaround of that once-troubled mine before its sale to Impala Platinum.
"I started my mining career as a labourer at INCO's Levack mine 47 years ago. It is time for me to step back from Clean Air’s day-to-day activities, but I’ll remain on the board of directors supporting Mike and the rest of the team as they execute the strategy moving forward.
"In my long career, I have lived through several metal price supercycles and truly believe that with the low investment environment over the last few years, combined with the green energy revolution and the desperate need for critical metals, we are on the cusp of one of the greatest metal cycles of recent times. I believe Clean Air Metals is well poised to take full advantage of the upcoming supercycle.”
