ASX AND
MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
27 March 2008
ELS 66 2008
TONY IANNELLO APPOINTED CHAIRMAN
Aviva
Corporation Limited (ASX / BSE: AVA) is pleased to announce
the appointment of Mr Tony Iannello as Chairman of the Board.
Mr Iannello
will bring to Aviva considerable experience in the energy and finance sectors,
and replaces Mr Peter French who has
retired from the Board after six years as Chairman. The appointment is
effective immediately.
Until April
2006, Mr Iannello was Managing Director and CEO of Western Power, the
state-owned power utility in Western
Australia. In this role Mr Iannello oversaw the
disaggregation of the utility into separate generation, retail and network
entities. Prior to this he held senior management positions with Bankwest,
including General Manager of Corporate Service and Finance, and Head of
Strategic Planning.
Mr Iannello
said Aviva was strategically positioned to supply power and fuel to very tight
electricity markets through projects in WA and southern Africa.
Aviva is
currently developing Coolimba Power, a 400MW integrated energy project at
Eneabba in WA. In Botswana,
Aviva is studying a 1,500MW integrated energy project at Mmamantswe and
considering the potential for direct coal sales to export markets.
In WA the
state-owned generator, Verve has flagged the need for a significant tariff
increase in 2009.
“Energy
reform in WA means that the market is now open to new players such as Aviva,
which allows the benefits of healthy competition in the state energy
market,” Mr Iannello said.
In South Africa,
the incumbent state-owned generator, Eskom, is experiencing coal shortages and
is calling for a 53% tariff increase.
In the
short term, Aviva is focused on finalizing the preferred equipment supplier for
the Coolimba project, and commencing a reserve upgrade drilling and test work
program at Mmamantswe.
The Board
would like to extend its gratitude to Mr French and wish him well in his
retirement. Mr French assumed the chairmanship at a difficult time in the
Company’s history and participated in a recapitalisation of the company
in 2002. Since that time Aviva has established a platform for growth as an
integrated energy company and increased its market capitalisation from $A1
million to $100 million.
For further
information contact:
Lindsay Reed
Robert Kirtlan
Aviva
Aviva
Chief Executive
Officer
Director
Tel: +61 (0) 8 9367
2344
Tel: +61 (0) 8 9367 2344
Issued by:
Warrick Hazeldine
Purple Communications
Tel: +61 (0) 8 9485 1254 Mob: 0417 944 616
ABOUT
AVIVA
Aviva is an integrated energy company listed on both the Australian
Stock Exchange and Botswana Stock Exchange with its head office in Perth. The company is
growing a portfolio of integrated energy assets. Aviva’s most advanced
asset is the Coolimba Power project in Western
Australia.
The Coolimba Power Project will be on the Central West Coal project and
is ideally located in the northern half of the SWIS power grid to take advantage
of demand growth both in the SWIS and from new resource projects in the Mid
West Region. The location has the advantage of low cost fuel, available water,
adjacent infrastructure, existing mining lease and freehold land. Coolimba will
be a 400MW base load generator employing leading emissions technology for
water, sulphur and carbon dioxide.
Aviva is earning a 90% interest in the Mmamantswe project in Botswana
where it has outlined a 1.3 billion tonne coal resource. The project is well
positioned, being on the South African border and adjacent to key
infrastructure including, highway, railway, and high voltage transmission
lines.
Please
visit: www.avivacorp.com.au
***
Issued
by
Purple
Communications
Level
3, 28 Kings Park Road, WEST
PERTH WA 6005
Ph:
08 9485 1254 Fax: 08 6263 0455
purple@purplecom.com.au
