LONDON (ShareCast) - Pathfinder Minerals has appointed former UK government Africa minister Henry Bellingham as Chairman as it seeks to recover assets in a dispute with a local partner in Mozambique.

The Conservative member of parliament will start with the AIM-listed miner immediately. His major task is to oversee the resolution of a long-running row with the company’s former local partner General Jacinto Veloso over ownership of mining licences which are now the subject of a court case.

"As the former Minister for Africa, I am acutely aware of Mozambique's will to work with international companies to develop responsibly the vast natural resource capacity of the country,” Bellingham said in a statement.

“I share my fellow directors' aim to restore control to Pathfinder of the heavy mineral sand deposits in Zambezia Province acquired by Pathfinder in 2011; and to develop them for the benefit of Mozambique and of Pathfinder's shareholders."

Bellingham was a junior minister in the UK coalition government for two years until September 2012.

Pathfinder shares were up 0.02p to 0.5p at 11.37.

FP

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