Oceanic Iron Ore Corp. announced that it has appointed Gerrie van der Westhuizen to corporate secretary of the company, effective January 1, 2023. Mr. Chris Batalha, who has been the CFO and Corporate Secretary since 2014, has provided his notice of resignation from the company effective December 31, 2022, for personal reasons.

Mr. Batalha will continue to work with the company for a period of transition into the new year, after which he will retain an advisory role with the company. Gerrie van der Westhuizen has more than 15 years' experience in the mining industry. During this time, Mr. Van der Westhuizen held progressively senior positions in dual-listed resource companies operating in Africa and North America.

He has played a key role in those organizations' debt and equity financings and M&A activities, while leading initiatives on financial reporting, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, risk management, treasury management, tax planning, as well as commercial negotiations. Most recently, Mr. Van der Westhuizen served as Vice President Finance for Artemis Gold Inc. and will assume the role of CFO and Corporate Secretary of Artemis Gold effective January 1, 2023. Gerrie is a Chartered Accountant (designated in both South Africa and Canada) and began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was a manager in their mining group.

He holds an Honours Bachelor of Accountancy degree.