Twiggy's ally takes over at Poseidon Standing down: Andrew Forrest. Photo: Nic Walker One of Andrew Forrest's close allies has replaced him as chairman of Poseidon Nickel, on the same day the mining billionaire gave the company an extra 12 months to repay an $8 million loan. Poseidon confirmed on Monday evening that Herbert "Bud" Scruggs would take over as chairman of company, which is seeking to revive the Windarra nickel mine in Western Australia. Completion of both the board shake-up, and the loan extension will allow Poseidon shares to return to trading on Tuesday morning, after going into a trading halt on Friday morning. Repayment of the $8 million loan had already been delayed once, and Poseidon's recent failure to raise debt in the US had made repayment by the revised deadline of today appear unlikely. Extending the loan by an extra year to October 1, 2014 is not cheap for Poseidon, given the loan carries an interest rate of 13 per cent. According to Poseidon's annual report, Mr Forrest has requested the loan be repaid through the "proceeds of an equity raising as soon as reasonably practical." Entities controlled by Mr Forrest rank as both the largest and third-largest shareholders in Poseidon, and in total he controls almost 33 per cent of the company. After six years as chairman of Poseidon, Mr Forrest stood down on Friday, declaring his desire to focus on his charity work and his role as chairman of Fortescue Metals Group. Mr Scruggs' appointment means Mr Forrest has a strong ally in charge of the nickel aspirant: the American lawyer has sat on the board of both Fortescue and Mr Forrest's childrens charity, and was part of the Leucadia National team that made crucial early investments in Fortescue. "He has deep and current experience in the US capital markets which Poseidon views as a key component in the final funding into production of the Windarra Nickel Project," the company said in a statement. Poseidon has engaged Credit Suisse to help it raise money to fund the nickel project, but with both debt and nickel markets in poor shape, the company acknowledged in its annual report that "delays are likely." An earlier attempt to raise $200 million in debt to develop the Windarra project was unsuccessful. The Windarra project was at the centre of the nickel boom that swept Australia in the 1970's. The commodity has enduring less prosperous times of late, with many companies - including big ones like BHP Billiton - struggling to make a profit out of their nickel operations. The board changes at Poseidon were rounded off by the departure of non-executive director Richard Monti.