Newcrest Mining announced two major changes: the appointment of Peter Hay as the new chairman upon the retirement of the current Chairman Don Mercer in December; and the appointment of Sandeep Biswas as COO, effective January 1. He will also join the board as an executive director from that date. He is expected to succeed Greg Robinson as CEO in the second half of 2014. Hay was appointed to the board in August. Biswas was previously CEO of Pacific Aluminium.
Anglo American appointed Ruben Fernandes as CEO of its Nickel, Niobium and Phosphates businesses, effective December 1, following Anglo American’s decision to combine the management of the three commodity businesses. Walter De Simoni, CEO of the Nickel business since 2009, has decided to leave Anglo American to pursue other opportunities.
Cliffs Natural Resources appointed Gary B. Halverson, formerly interim COO of Barrick Gold Corp., to the newly created position of president and COO, effective November 18. In addition, he will serve as director on Cliffs’ Board. They also announced that James Kirsch, non-executive chairman of the board, has been elected executive chairman of the board. In addition, Joseph Carrabba will retire as president and CEO, and will also step down as a director of Cliffs’ Board.
Gindalbie Metals appointed Dale Harris as managing director. Harris succeeds Tim Netscher in line with the company’s previously announced succession plan. Harris most recently held the role of COO for Rio Tinto Iron Ore.
Balamara Resources Ltd. appointed Polish mining executive Andrzej Zibrow as chief executive of its subsidiary company, Coal Holdings Sp z.o.o., to spearhead development of its flagship Nowa Ruda Coking Coal Project in southwest Poland. Zibrow will also oversee the management of Balamara’s other two 100%-owned Polish subsidiaries, Polmetal and Global Minerals.
MMC Norilsk Nickel appointed Markus Meurer as Norilsk Nickel head of global sales and marketing, effective in 2014. Meurer has more than 25 years of commodity trading experience having joined BHP Billiton in 2002, where he lead sales teams across a number of commodities and was responsible for the commercial aspects of BHP Billiton global nickel business.
UC RUSAL announced Alexandra Buriko as CFO. Evgeny Nikitin has been named as director of the Aluminium Division East (ADE). Vladimir Polin has stepped down as director of the Aluminum Division East as his contract expired.
Armistice Resources Corp. appointed David Beilhartz as vice president of exploration. He was most recently vice president of exploration of Trelawney Mining and Exploration Inc., which was acquired by IAMGOLD Corporation in June 2012.
Sunward Resources Ltd. appointed Paul Robertson as its CFO.
Molycorp named Geoff Bedford, current executive vice president and COO and a 14-year rare earth industry veteran, as the company’s next president and CEO, effective December 2. He will replace Constantine Karayannopoulos, who was appointed interim president and CEO in December 2012 and who will continue as a director and vice chairman of the Molycorp Board of Directors.
Nevada Copper Corp. named Timothy Arnold as vice president, operations. Arnold’s past experience includes being the general manager at the Mount Hope and Liberty molybdenum projects for General Moly in Nevada. Prior to that, Arnold was vice president and general manager of Coeur d’Alene Mines. Nevada Copper also appointed Greg French as vice president of exploration and project development. The company also announced the resignation of Foster Wilson as a director.
R. Lee Chapman has resigned as director, president and CEO of Veris Gold. Chapman, who came out of retirement to join the company in April, will continue in his previous role as a business development consultant to the company. François Marland has been appointed president and CEO and Gerald Ruth, director, has been appointed as chairman.
Rio Alto Mining Ltd. appointed Eduardo Loret de Mola de Lavalle as COO. Previously, he worked for Trafigura Group, where he was corporate manager for the Latin American Technical Division, general manager of their two ongoing operations in Peru, general manager of Empresa Minera del Caribe (Cuba) and general manager for the Latin American Mining Division.
Colossus Minerals announced that David Massola has been appointed CFO and executive vice president.
Jonas Wiik has been appointed as the new exploration director at Boliden Mines. He has worked within Boliden for 10 years, including eight within the exploration organization. His most recent position was near mine exploration manager at Boliden Mines. He will succeed Hans Årebäck, who, after four years as exploration director, will now work with business development and strategy within Boliden Mines.
Lockton Companies announced Matthew Gooda has joined its London operations as mining advocate, senior vice president. In this position, Gooda will advise global mining clients on insurance and risk management. Gooda joins Lockton from Anglo American, where his responsibilities included both risk financing programs and the management of complex and high-value insurance claims.
MICROMINE appointed Cole Robillard as business solutions executive.
Alexander Proudfoot welcomed Ken Kirk as executive vice president and Paul Hebert as senior vice president within its Canadian Natural Resources Unit. This newly introduced Natural Resources Unit focuses exclusively on helping Canadian companies elevate performance through higher levels of productivity and efficiency.
