Board Appointment

RNS Number : 5357N

TomCo Energy PLC

05 September 2011

 



5 September 2011

TomCo Energy Plc

("TomCo" or "the Company")

Board Appointment

TomCo Energy plc (AIM: TOM), the AIM listed company with oil shale assets in the State of Utah, USA, is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Rankine (50) to the Board as a non-executive technical director. He will give support and oversight at Board level to the technical work of TomCo in completing key technical and regulatory milestones and delivering first oil production. The company's technical staff and consultants will report to Paul at Board level.

Paul Rankine is a mining finance professional with over 24 years of mining and investment experience. He has practical experience of listing and running AIM quoted mining companies as the CEO of Zambezi Nickel Ltd (May 2005 to February 2007) and as a director of Stellar Diamonds plc. (August 2007 to October 2010). Paul has over 14 years as a mining equities financial analyst and consultant predominantly with JP Morgan Investment Management, Citigroup Asset Management and Altima. This is supported by strong financial and analytical skills from an MBA and an MSc in Mineral Economics. In addition, he has over 10 years international mining experience in both underground and open pit mining as a professional mining engineer. Paul is a fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a member of the Society of Mining Engineers Inc. in the United States. He joined Altima Partners LLP as a Director in June 2007 to work on mining investment opportunities. Certain senior partners of Altima are substantial shareholders of TomCo with a combined holding of approximately 17%.

There are no other matters which are required to be announced as required under paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.

Stephen Komlosy, CEO of TomCo Energy, commented: "We are delighted to have Paul join the Board as he brings significant practical and financial experience in developing resources projects to TomCo. His experience and advice will be critical to the development of our Holliday Block project, where we have an indicated resource of 123 million barrels of oil, and he will be important to the realization of our plans for a 9,500 barrels of oil a day production facility."

Paul Rankine, non-executive of TomCo added: "I am delighted to join the TomCo board and work with the Company to deliver first oil production from our Utah oil shale project. The Eco-shale process technology is now being up-scaled to commercial production levels. This break through technology, in combination with Tomco's extensive shale resources, creates very significant value potential for TomCo's shareholders. Our initial focus will be on completing a bankable feasibility study for the Holiday Block oil shale project."

Contact:
Stephen Komlosy	CEO	TomCo	020 7766 0078
Nomad
Tom Price/Petre Norton		Westhouse Securities	020 7601 6100
Financial PR
Laurence Read/Richard Gotla		Threadneedle Communications	020 7653 9855

Notes to Editors:

TomCo Energy Plc owns oil shale leases covering approximately 3,000 acres in the Green River Shale Formation, Uinta County, Utah. The leases have been independently estimated by SRK Consultants Ltd to hold up to 230 million barrels of potentially recoverable kerogen oil in 4 separate tracts. Around 123 million barrels of this resource lie on the main tract of Holliday Block lease, and have now been classified as an Indicated Resource under the JORC Code.

TomCo has entered into a License with Red Leaf Resources Inc (Red Leaf), which owns the EcoShale^TM In-Capsule Process (EcoShale), to use this unique and environmentally sensitive technology to extract oil from TomCo's leases. Red Leaf is planning a 9,500 bopd commercial operation at their Seep Ridge site, which lies about 15 miles SW of TomCo's Holliday Block lease.

TomCo's strategy is to develop the Holliday Block lease as a similar follow-on project to Seep Ridge using the EcoShale^TM In-Capsule Process, with the same targeted production of 9,500 bopd.

Glossary:

bopd: barrels of oil per day

JORC Code: The mineral resource classification code devised by the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee.

kerogen oil: a synthetic oil derived from the heating of kerogen (a complex mixture of organic chemical compounds, present in sedimentary rocks, and which is insoluble in organic solvents)

 

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