Rackla Metals (TSXV: RAK) has appointed Paul Gruner and Claudine Lee to its board of directors, adding two directors with deep experience in northern Canadian resource development as the company advances its Lentung tungsten project.
Both joined Rackla’s advisory committee earlier this year, where they were tasked with helping build the company’s Indigenous engagement framework and broader northern development strategy.
Lee is a professional geoscientist with more than 20 years of experience in northern Canada, covering mineral exploration, mining operations, environmental management, permitting, Indigenous relations and ESG. She previously joined Canadian Zinc in 2021 as vice president of corporate social responsibility, where she led impact benefit agreement negotiations and ESG programs.
Gruner, a CPA and ICD.D, is a senior executive whose career spans Indigenous business leadership, mining, infrastructure, renewable energy and economic development across the North. He has long worked at the intersection of resource companies, governments, development corporations and community stakeholders. He will also sit on Rackla’s audit committee.
The board intends to form dedicated committees covering technical and operational evaluation, Indigenous relations and northern infrastructure, permitting and environmental matters, and the financial and commercial assessment of development opportunities. Both new directors are expected to take on roles within them.
“Rackla has spent the past several years building a strong exploration portfolio and advancing Lentung,” said CEO Simon Ridgway. “As we look ahead, the questions facing the Company are becoming broader and more complex, extending beyond geology into mine development, infrastructure, permitting, environmental responsibility, Indigenous participation, financing and the evaluation of strategic opportunities.”
He added that the appointments strengthen the board “at an important stage in Rackla’s evolution.”
The additions tilt the board toward the permitting, infrastructure and community work that comes with moving a northern project past the exploration stage.
Rackla is focused on tungsten and rare earth minerals in the Tombstone Gold-Tungsten Belt of eastern Yukon and western Northwest Territories. The company last week closed a $3.65 million private placement, which is expected to fund further exploration at the Lentung project.
Rackla Metals last traded at $0.325 on the TSX Venture.
