Argex Titanium (TSE:RGX) has appointed Glen Kayll as its new chief financial officer, the company announced Thursday, replacing Mark Billings, who will take the role of senior VP of corporate development.
 
Kayll, who has 20 years of corporate finance experience, including as CFO and in senior finance and operating roles with Canadian and U.S. public companies, one of which became an S&P 500 company.

"Mr. Kayll brings significant operating and capital markets experience in high-growth multinational businesses and has strong relationships in the global financial and investment communities," said Argex CEO Roy Bonnell in a statement Thursday.
 
"He has lead large teams during times of significant transition, and has completed over $4 billion in financings and other transactions during his career."
 
Bonnell said that the appointment marks an important step in the evolution of the company, which is quickly transitioning to a producer of titanium dioxide pigment. The Canadian junior earlier this week said it had begun preliminary engineering work with equipment vendors for the items with the longest lead time for its industrial-sized titanium dioxide plant in Valleyfield, Quebec.
 
The move marks the first step in the equipment ordering process for the plant, which is expected to be commissioned in 2015. Last month, Argex sold off nearly the entire available production from the first module of its proposed plant, after it said it signed a letter of intent with one of the worlds largest chemical distribution companies.
 
"[Kaylls] experience and skill set as a CFO of highly successful operating companies and in structuring and closing on large financings is a huge value-added for Argex and its shareholders at this point in our development," said Bonnell.
 
"We will continue to grow the depth and experience of our team as we move rapidly towards production."
 
The Quebec-based company has a proprietary mineral extraction process that allows it to produce high purity, or 99.8 per cent pure, pigment-grade titanium dioxide directly from run-of-mine material at its deposits. Titanium dioxide is an inorganic substance characterized by brightness and very high refractive index, making it an ideal pigment in paints, plastics and paper.
 
Argex is expecting to commission the plant in 2015, with the company boasting a net present value of almost $1 billion on a pre-tax basis from the project, according to a feasibility study released in October. Each one of the company’s modules is expected to have a maximum capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year of titanium dioxide pigment production.