The mining sector is feeling the loss of Sundance Resources Ltd
(ASX:SDL) execs who have died after boarding an ill-fated flight on Saturday from West Africa.
The wreckage of the plane was found in thick jungle inside the Congolese border with Cameroon.
According to The Australian, Fortescue Metals Group CEO Andrew Forrest, has expressed his sympathy for the families of those who have died and says the Sundance execs were in West Africa in the hopes of getting a new mine up and running.
Of those lost were chairman Geoff Wedlock, CEO Don Lewis, company secretary John Carr-Gregg, and non-executive directors Ken Talbot, John Jones and Craig Oliver.
Many of the execs held positions on other junior mining board, Geoff Wedlock was also chairman of Gindalbie Metals, Gladiator Resources and Jupiter Mines who has placed its shares into a trading halt.
Authorities are hoping the plane’s black box will reveal clues as to what caused the flight to crash.
Questions are being asked as to why the entire board of Sundance was on the same flight which is a breach of company protocol.
The company’s policy is not to have more than two executives on any one flight at any one time.
The crash echoes that of a recent incident in Russia, where a polish plane crashed killing nearly all the key figures in the country’s government and military.
CFO Peter Canterbury has been appointed acting CEO with former Sundance Chairman George Jones, appointed as one of the strategic advisers, brought on board to help the company navigate its way through this unimaginable crisis.
Recovery of the bodies is expected to take days.
