Lycaon Resources (ASX:LYN) has made a major appointment that’s got investor chins wagging, with Tony Rovira taking the helm at the West Arunta miner.

Mr Rovira famously guided Azure Minerals to a $1.7 billion acquisition – mining billionaire Gina Rinehart was on the other end of the deal, having looked to pick up the since-unlisted company to expand her portfolio’s lithium exposure.

Lycaon’s new director played a major role alongside kingmaker Mark Creasy.

Rovira then departed Azure soon after, bringing down the curtain on a 21-year spell.

Western Australian-based Lycaon must have been very interested because just six months later the $6.6M market cap miner has added the award-winner to its board and declared its pushing forward with company growth.

As part of the joining process, Rovira will also be investing $360,000 into the company through a placement of 4,000,000 shares at market price.

“We are delighted to announce the appointment of Tony to the Lycaon board,” the company’s chairman, Adrian Di Menna, said. “He brings extensive technical and leadership experience in the mining industry that will be invaluable to the company… and [his] proven success in leading Azure Minerals demonstrates his ability to deliver outstanding outcomes for stakeholders.”

Mr Di Menna added Rovira’s appointment means Lycaon can rapidly progress expansion plans and assess “potential project acquisition opportunities.”

Rovira joins other directors like Mr Di Menna and James Robinson on the board.

The new managing director comes into the fold as Lycaon now awaits a suite of niobium assay results from its recent drill campaign at its Stansmore niobium-rare earths project in the West Arunta region.

Of most importance in the soon-to-return tests would be any demonstrated potential for its targeted 500m diameter magnetic intrusive feature to host mineralisation.

LYN traded up on the appointment news, with shares leaping 50% through Thursday’s early trade – the WA miner was among the day’s big winners.

Price-wise, Lycaon shares were selling at 13.5 cents each at time of writing.

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