Embattled mining and steel group Arrium has beefed up its board with the appointment of former Rio Tinto strategy man Doug Ritchie as a non-executive director.
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Mr Ritchie spent 27 years with Anglo-Australian mining heavyweight Rio Tinto, including stints as the group's strategy exeuctive and the head of its Australian coal operations.
Mr Ritchie chairs UniQuest Pty Ltd and is a director of Hong Kong listed Jinchuan Group International Resources.
New Arrium chairman Jerry Maycock said the appointment was in line with the company's focus on board renewal.
"Doug brings a wealth of board and corporate experience to Arrium and we look forward to his contribution. The resource industry continues to face increased challenges, and Arrium will benefit from Doug's insight and knowledge of the sector," he said.
Arrium mines and exports iron ore in South Australia, manfacutures and distributes steel long products through its OneSteel business, and supplies miners with steel balls to crush mined ore through its consumables arm.
The company's shares have been under intense pressure as the sharp fall in the iron ore price and sustained weakness in steel prices hit profits.
Arrium has $1.4 billion in debt and only its mining consumables business is generating profits in the current commodity price environment.
Some analysts are concerned the company may breach its interest cover banking covenant of 3 to 3.5 times if earnings don't recover.
In April Arrium said it had reaped cash losses of around $8 per tonne of iron ore mined in the three months to March.
The company's biggest shareholder, fund manager Allan Gray, said that the Arrium board needs to consider shutting its entire iron ore export business.
