Mr Michelmore, who will be CEO of the Chinese company's Australian unit, declined to comment on the role or Minmetals' future strategy in Australia. Mr Michelmore last month agreed to sell almost all OZ Minerals' assets to Minmetals to repay $1.1 billion debt after a rout in commodity prices. OZ Minerals is seeking to complete the sale by June 18, leaving Prominent Hill as its main asset. State-owned Minmetals was blocked from buying Prominent Hill by Treasurer Wayne Swan in March on security grounds because of its proximity to the Woomera Protected Area (WPA) — a 20 per cent chunk of SA controlled by the Defence Department. Woomera is the largest landlocked missile-testing range in the world.