Leeuwin Metals Hires CDO to Drive Marda Gold Project Toward Production
Key Takeaways
- Leeuwin Metals has appointed Rubei Ma as Chief Development Officer, a role specifically mandated to advance the Marda Gold Project from resource stage toward production.
- Ma brings more than 20 years of Western Australian hard-rock mining experience, including General Manager of Open Pit Mining at Norton Goldfields where he led a 350-person workforce across two mining hubs.
- The Marda Gold Project hosts a JORC 2012 Mineral Resource of 378,600oz at 11.4Mt @ 1.03g/t Au, with all ounces sitting on granted Mining Leases — removing the tenure approval barrier that delays many junior developers.
- Ma's mandate spans three pillars: progressing Marda toward production, converting exploration success into project advancement, and evaluating gold acquisition opportunities across target jurisdictions.
- The appointment signals Leeuwin is actively transitioning from explorer to developer, with feasibility work, mine planning, and regulatory approvals now under dedicated executive ownership.
Leeuwin strengthens its path to gold production with CDO appointment
Leeuwin Metals Ltd (ASX: LM1) has appointed Mr Rubei Ma as Chief Development Officer (CDO), a move the company describes as central to advancing the Marda Gold Project along a clear pathway to production. The hire is a deliberate capability-building step, signalling that Leeuwin is actively transitioning from explorer to developer rather than simply adding headcount.
Marda already hosts a JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate of 378,600oz (11.4Mt @ 1.03g/t Au), with all reported ounces located on granted Mining Leases. That tenure status removes one of the most common early-stage barriers to project advancement, and Ma’s mandate is to build on that foundation.
Christopher Piggott, Executive Chairman
“Rubei brings a rare combination of large-scale operational leadership and genuine project development capability, built over more than 20 years across some of Western Australia’s most demanding gold and iron ore operations. Our strategy is a two-pronged approach: we remain focused on exploration-led growth, and we are simultaneously building the technical and commercial capability to take Marda towards production. Rubei’s appointment is central to that vision.”
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Who is Rubei Ma?
Ma is a mining engineer and resource industry executive with more than 20 years of experience across Western Australian hard-rock mining operations and project development. His background spans feasibility studies, mine planning, owner and contractor operating models, cost modelling, project delivery, and statutory management across gold, iron ore, lithium, nickel, and copper.
His career highlights include:
- General Manager, Open Pit Mining at Norton Goldfields — led a workforce of more than 350 people across two open-pit mining hubs supplying two processing plants under both owner-operated and contractor models
- Mining Superintendent at Atlas Iron
- Technical Services Superintendent at Mineral Resources — spanning lithium and iron ore operations
- Operational and technical planning roles at Rio Tinto Australia
- Advisory work through RM Consulting — independent mining engineering, operational, and project development services
Ma holds a Bachelor of Mining Engineering (Honours) from Curtin University’s Western Australian School of Mines (WASM) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). He also holds Western Australian statutory qualifications including Site Senior Executive, Quarry Manager, and Statutory Supervisor.
Rubei Ma, Chief Development Officer
“Leeuwin has built a genuinely compelling portfolio anchored by a high-quality gold asset at Marda, and the Company is at exactly the right point in its development to be advancing exploration and production pathways in parallel. I look forward to bringing my operational and project development experience to bear on turning the growing Marda Resource into a credible pathway to production, and to supporting the Board in assessing the best pathways for the Company’s broader portfolio…”
What does a Chief Development Officer actually do?
For retail investors who follow junior gold companies, the CDO title can seem like executive window-dressing. It is not. The role fills a specific and critical gap that sits between exploration and production.
A Chief Development Officer bridges resource definition and project delivery. In practice, that means owning the feasibility work, coordinating mine planning, evaluating processing options, managing regulatory approvals, and ensuring the technical and commercial work streams move in lockstep. Without someone accountable for this function, exploration results can pile up without ever converting into a mine plan.
Appointing a CDO at this stage tells you the company has decided that Marda is worth building, not just drilling. For Marda specifically, the fact that all resources sit on granted Mining Leases removes one of the most common delays at this stage, which is waiting on tenure approvals before feasibility work can begin in earnest. That combination of a granted tenure position and a dedicated development executive meaningfully de-risks the timeline and adds institutional credibility to Leeuwin’s production narrative. It does not, however, constitute a production target, and any development of the project remains subject to the completion of feasibility studies, funding, and regulatory approvals.
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Three-pillar mandate driving Marda’s development
Ma’s appointment as CDO is structured around three strategic pillars:
- Pathway to gold production — Progress resource development, feasibility work, and project approvals at Marda, evaluating all development and processing options with the objective of establishing a clear and credible production timeline
- Exploration growth — Ensure that discovery success across Leeuwin’s gold and critical minerals tenements is efficiently converted into project advancement and shareholder value, working in concert with the company’s exploration leadership
- Portfolio growth — Evaluate gold project acquisition opportunities across target jurisdictions, with Ma’s operational and commercial experience applied to assessing and progressing new assets
High-grade mineralisation at Evanston has continued to expand with successive drilling campaigns, reinforcing that Leeuwin’s broader tenement portfolio carries meaningful exploration upside beyond the Marda resource that Ma is tasked with advancing toward production.
Exploration growth is not an abstract ambition for Leeuwin: the 1.6km mineralised strike at Evanston, identified through recent drilling, illustrates the kind of discovery-stage upside that Ma’s role is designed to fast-track into the project advancement pipeline.
Together, the three pillars reflect a company trying to advance on multiple fronts simultaneously: grow the resource, convert it to a mine plan, and keep the acquisition pipeline active. Ma’s background across Norton Goldfields, Atlas Iron, Mineral Resources, and Rio Tinto gives him direct experience across all three.
The Marda resource underpinning this mandate is summarised below.
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total Resource | 378,600oz |
| Total Tonnes & Grade | 11.4Mt @ 1.03g/t Au |
| Indicated | 104,000oz (3.1Mt @ 1.04g/t Au) |
| Inferred | 274,600oz (8.3Mt @ 1.03g/t Au) |
| Tenure status | All on granted Mining Leases |
The Indicated component, at 104,000oz, is the highest classification present in this specific resource estimate, meaning it is supported by sufficient drilling and sampling data to allow reasonable assumptions about grade continuity. The larger Inferred portion represents further upside that additional drilling could potentially upgrade. The figures are generally reported above a 0.30g/t Au cut-off grade, with some exceptions for underground material, and in accordance with the JORC Code (2012 Edition). Totals may not sum due to rounding.
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