ASX ANNOUNCEMENT ASX Code: MMX 30 June 2009 SENIOR EXECUTIVES APPOINTED TO OPR MANAGEMENT TEAM Murchison Metals Limited (“Murchison”) welcomes the appointment of two senior industry executives to the management team of its 50% owned infrastructure business Oakajee Port & Rail (OPR). Jim Netterfield and Alwyn Vorster have been appointed by OPR as Operations Director and Director – Supply Chain respectively. Murchison Executive Chairman Paul Kopejtka said the appointments represented a major boost for the mid-west iron ore industry and would drive the delivery of an efficient bulk commodity supply chain for miners in the region. “Both new OPR executives have direct experience working with major iron ore companies such as BHP Billiton Iron Ore and Rio Tinto,” said Mr Kopejtka. “Their combined experience includes direct responsibility for ensuring optimal throughput across large scale infrastructure services, managing port and rail operations, negotiating favourable commercial outcomes for miners and marketing iron ore in the Asian region. “Murchison believes the appointments will add great strength to OPR’s management team as this highly strategic and nationally significant infrastructure project moves towards development.” A full media statement issued by OPR is attached. --- ends --- For further information, please contact: Paul Kopejtka John McGlue Executive Chairman Director Murchison Metals Ltd FD Third Person +61 8 9492 2600 + 61 8 9386 1233 00809300 Tuesday 30 June 2009 OPR Strengthens Capacity of Iron Ore Supply Chain Oakajee Port and Rail (OPR) is pleased to announce the appointment of two senior iron ore industry executives to work with regional miners to develop and operate the new bulk commodity supply chain in Western Australia’s mid-west. Jim Netterfield and Alwyn Vorster have been appointed Operations Director and Director – Supply Chain respectively. Chief Executive Christopher Eves said Mr Netterfield and Mr Vorster brought a wealth of iron ore industry and logistics experience to OPR. “Jim and Alywn will play a vital role in bringing the mines into the development process, completing OPR’s Bankable Feasibility Study and ultimately ensuring the efficient operation of one of the largest greenfields port and rail projects in the State’s history,” he said. “This is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the State and we need the strongest possible team to deliver and manage it. We now have two additional key members of that team. “The Oakajee port and rail project is about the mines as much as the infrastructure, and Jim and Alwyn will provide critical support to mine and logistics planning to bring these two key elements together and move the project forward.” Mr Netterfield has extensive experience in port and rail operations gained in his previous roles as Manager Port Operations and Vice President Rail and Ports with BHP Billiton, and Manager Operations, Dampier at Rio Tinto. In both roles, he oversaw increases in throughput and efficiencies across complex logistics chains, through a cooperative and robust approach to mine and infrastructure integration. Mr Vorster has a proven track record in the development and implementation of strategic plans in revenue, volume optimisation and yield management across both port and rail, underpinned by the coordination of mines, operators, infrastructure owners and the steel mills. His previous roles included Regional Marketing Manager at Rio Tinto Iron Ore and Manager of Marketing and Sales at Kumba Coal in South Africa. “The logistics task of the Oakajee deepwater port and associated rail network is a highly complex one involving a number of producers and large scale operations,” said Mr Eves. Page 1 of 2 “The technical skill of both Jim and Alwyn, combined with their commercial experience, stand OPR in good stead to work with regional miners to deliver those mines optimal operational efficiencies. “Coordinated supply chain management is a key principle of the Oakajee infrastructure project and I believe that these appointments will deliver that.” Mr Vorster joins OPR on 13 July and Mr Netterfield on 3 August 2009. Profiles and photographs of Mr Netterfield and Mr Vorster are attached. Ends Page 2 of 2 June 2009 DAVID (JIM) NETTERFIELD OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Mr David (Jim) Netterfield has been appointed Operations Director, Oakajee Port and Rail. Mr Netterfield has relevant experience working with key stakeholders to affect reliability, availability, maintainability and operability of projects and operations. He has an extensive knowledge of rail and port infrastructure and has led technical teams to drive efficiencies to improve utilisation and throughput. He received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Queensland in 1977 and has since gone on to complete an Associate Diploma of Occupational Health & Safety Management in 1989. He received a Mine Manager’s Certificate (NT) in 1991 and served as a reserve board member for the Port Hedland Port Authority between 1992 and 2001. Mr Netterfield has extensive experience in port and rail operations gained throughout his career with BHP and more recently with Rio Tinto. His relevant roles have included Manager Port Operations and Vice President Railways & Ports with BHP Billiton Iron Ore, and more recently with Rio Tinto Iron Ore as Manager Operations, Dampier. As Vice President Railways & Ports for BHP Billiton Iron Ore, Mr Netterfield was responsible for all operational and support activity including operations maintenance, accounting, human resources, environmental occupational health and safety, site engineering and public affairs. The BHP Billiton Western Australian port operations included two ship loading berths at Nelson Point and one at Finucane Island; an eight million tonne stockyard, four reclaimers, eight stackers and two stacker reclaimers. He was responsible for rail activity which included 48 locomotives, 2,500 ore cars and 650 kilometers of mainline track. In his time with BHP, Mr Netterfield led a number of achievements across operations which included achieving record throughput from port and reducing yearly cost by 15%. He was able to achieve this by driving a range of leadership and operational best practice initiatives. More recently as Manager Operations for Dampier, Mr Netterfield has ramped up throughput following an upgrade project introducing a number of best practice initiatives. During his time in Dampier, throughput has increased from 105mtpa to 140mtpa. By engaging key stakeholders, and creating an effective team, he has managed to significantly impact reliability and considerably reduce major breakdowns. Mr Netterfield has consistently driven initiatives to increase throughput, and optimise utilisation of both port and rail facilities. His roles have required him to manage significant OPEX and CAPEX. Mr Netterfield has maintained a high level of focus on safety performance in all his roles. He was the OH&S Superintendent at Groote Eylandt for a period of nine months and achieved excellent safety performance in all operations including an independent 5 Star Safety performance award. (Ends) June 2009 ALWYN VORSTER DIRECTOR – SUPPLY CHAIN Mr Alwyn Vorster has been appointed Director – Supply Chain, Oakajee Port and Rail (OPR), responsible for all revenue elements of the future supply chain, and for aligning the supply chain capacity with projected future iron ore demand. Mr Vorster’s solid practical experience in virtually all components of the mining supply chain, his well demonstrated record of managing value adding initiatives in the supply chain, and his sales and joint venture related negotiation experience will make him a valuable addition to the OPR team. His academic credentials include a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology, a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Mineral Economics and an Asian Executive Management Program, with the highly rated Insead University. Mr Vorster’s career commenced in the technical field. He was employed as a mining geologist by Kumba Resources at the Sishen and the Thabazimbi Iron Ore Mines, where he gained valuable experience in iron ore mining processes, ore evaluation techniques and quality control practices. He was transferred to Perth in the mid 1990’s as business development analyst responsible for economic evaluation of various mining projects in Australia. At that time, he became the key coordinator of the Kumba team that successfully negotiated and secured a 50 per cent participation interest in the Hope Downs project. In 2000, he was promoted to Head of Marketing and Sales for Kumba Coal based in South Africa. In this position he was responsible for the marketing and sales and associated road, rail and port logistics of 16mtpa coal product from various mines to domestic and international markets. His responsibilities also included the negotiation of sales contracts with customers, rail tariffs with Spoornet rail authority, and port handling arrangements with port authorities in the region. Kumba Resources seconded Mr Vorster back to Australia in the role of Marketing Manager for the Hope Downs project. In that role, he successfully negotiated and secured formal support for the first five years of Hope Downs mine production from leading steel companies in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Europe. His extensive travel schedule in particularly China led to a well-credentialed network with many steel companies, government officials and other industry participants. Mr Vorster joined Rio Tinto