Manda Resources has appointed Tara French as chief executive officer as it completes its acquisition of a raft of Queensland gold projects and gears up for an initial public offering (IPO).

The projects include Broken Hill Gold’s Alice River project and the St George gold-antimony project (held in joint venture with Hard Rock Minerals Exploration).

Manda has also secured ownership of the Tregoora and Northcote goldfields projects in North Queensland through the acquisition of 100 per cent of the issued capital of public unlisted company Territory Minerals.

Related: Manda on the march to become new northern gold force

Its newly appointed chief executive officer was most recently managing director at Cazaly Resources.

Along with her management expertise, Ms French brings more than 25 years’ experience as an exploration geologist, including as general manager exploration at Regis Resources.

Manda stakeholder Emerald Resources (ASX: EMR) said Manda had applied the funds raised under the pre-IPO capital raising to launch a drilling program at Tregoora and Northcote.

Manda raised $9 million before costs in the capital raising, of which Emerald contributed $6.4 million.

Emerald intends to take a cornerstone stake in the Manda IPO and maintain an interest of about 19.9 per cent of its issued capital.

Manda is proposing to list on the ASX late this year.

‘Under Ms French’s leadership, along with a successful IPO, in Emerald’s view, the market will see the consolidation of the North Queensland exploration assets into a well-funded vehicle with the potential to grow significantly in scale and deliver a premier gold mining hub,’ Emerald said in an update to the ASX.