Keith Hyry, 69, passed away March 1. An outspoken member of the fertilizer industry for over 30 years, he will be missed by many. Hyry began his career in sales for Armor Star in the early 1960’s, and then joined USS Agri Chemicals in Illinois and Kansas through the 1970’s. When USS Ag Chem was purchased by LaRoche Industries Inc., he moved to their headquarters in Atlanta. Hyry retired from LaRoche in 1993 and opened a U.S. office for V.T.I. Fertasco as North American distributor for Nevinomyssk production. When V.T.I. assets were purchased by EuroChem, Hyry helped open their North American office. He retired from the fertilizer industry in 2006, alternating his time between Everglades City, Fla., and Lake of the Woods, Minn.
Mineral exploration company Altius Minerals Corp., St. John’s, Newfoundland, reports that its board of directors has accepted a letter of resignation from Roland Butler, director, vice president, and COO, from all Altius positions so that he can pursue other interests. The company said Butler is a co-founder of Altius and has been integral to its mineral exploration and project generation strategy development and implementation, as well as commercial and community relationships at the company since it was listed in 1997.
Altius said Dr. Lawrence Winter, vice president, exploration, has worked closely with Butler and will be expanding his role as the company moves forward.
Colin Bletsky has been appointed to global business development director for Novozymes Biologicals BioAg Group, Saskatoon, Sask. He has over 13 years of experience in agriculture, and for the last nine years has taken progressively more senior roles in the crop protection industry. He will oversee the identification, prioritization, acquisition, and development of new opportunities for Novozymes’ BioAg Group on a global basis.
MagIndustries Corp., Toronto, reports that it has received a statement of claim filed by Willy Verbrugghe, a former CEO of its MagMinerals Potasse Congo SA, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. It relates to a wrongful dismissal of Verbrugghe by Mag and MagMinerals Potash Corp. The damages requested are C$2 million. Mag said it was unaware of any fact or circumstance that would support the claims being made by Verbrugghe regarding the company’s activities in the Republic of Congo and the company’s dealing with its shareholders and third parties, and believes that the claim is completely without merit.
Verbrugghe joined Mag in 2008, and his employment continued at least into 2009. Mag had not responded to inquiries at press time.