Atlas Iron Limited - Appoints Jeff Dowling as Independent Non-Executive Director

09:13 AEST Nov 9, 2011 ABN Newswire (C) 2004-2011 Asia Business News PL. All Rights Reserved.

Perth, Australia (ABN Newswire) - Atlas Iron Limited (ASX:AGO) is pleased to announce that it has strengthened its Board with the appointment of former Ernst & Young Perth managing partner, Mr. Jeff Dowling as an independent non-executive Director.

With a career at Ernst & Young spanning over 35 years, Jeff was until recently Managing Partner at Ernst & Young's Perth Office.

'We are delighted to have secured someone of Jeff's experience and calibre to join the Atlas Board,' said Atlas' Chairman David Hannon. 'Jeff has substantial financial expertise and a depth of skills and experience that will greatly assist us in the continued development of the Company.'

Atlas Managing Director, Mr. David Flanagan said: 'The Atlas team is looking forward to working with Jeff, whose financial, transaction and accounting experience will be a great asset as we grow the business in the coming years.'


Background on Jeff Dowling BCom, FCA FACID FFIN

Jeff Dowling is a highly experienced corporate leader with 36 years experience in professional services with Ernst & Young. He has held numerous leadership roles within Ernst & Young which focused on the mining, oil and gas and other industries. Jeff's' professional expertise centres around audit, risk and financial acumenderived from acting as lead partner on large public company audits, capital raisings and corporate transactions.

Jeff's career with Ernst & Young culminated in his appointment as Managing Partner of the Ernst & Young Western Region for a period of 5 years. Jeff also led Ernst & Young's Oceania China Business Group, responsible for building Ernst & Young's Oceania relationships with Chinese Corporations.

Over his career at Ernst & Young, Jeff has developed expertise in Audit, risk management, governance structures and roles, financial advisory in relation to mergers, capital raisings, acquisitions and takeovers, listings and multi-listings on Australian and International stock exchanges, financial investigations, valuations and reviews, acquisition due diligence, global and local strategy development and execution, enterprise-level transformation and change management, including creating account management and marketing functions, and leadership experience during both growth and recessionary cycles.

Jeff has a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Western Australia and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

Jeff is currently a director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and Western Australia Symphony Orchestra.


About Atlas Iron Limited:

Atlas Iron Limited (ASX:AGO) is mining and exporting from its 100%-owned Pardoo and Wodgina Iron Ore projects, located 75 kilometres and 110km by road from Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. In the 2009/10 financial year Atlas shipped over 1.2 million tonnes of Pardoo Direct Shipping Ore (DSO). Atlas is expanding its production from its Wodgina and Pardoo DSO mines following the commissioning of the Utah Point port facility and is targeting exports at an annualised rate of 6 million tonnes by the end of 2010. When combined with additional export tonnages from its Abydos & Mt Webber DSO Projects, the Company is targeting exports at an annualised rate of 12 million tonnes during 2012.



Contact:

Atlas Iron Limited
David Flanagan
Managing Director

Tony Walsh
Company Secretary

Tel' +61-8-9476-7900
www.atlasiron.com.au