Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

RNS Number : 2285Q

Petra Diamonds Limited

18 February 2019

 

18 February 2019

LSE: PDL

Petra Diamonds Limited

("Petra," the "Company" or the "Group")

Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

The Board of Petra Diamonds Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Duffy as Chief Executive ("CEO") of the Company with effect from 1 April 2019.

Richard brings 27 years' experience in mining in a variety of operational and functional leadership roles at Anglo American and AngloGold Ashanti Limited. His roles at AngloGold Ashanti included heading up their African operations as well as that of CFO. After his departure from AngloGold Ashanti in early 2015, he was co-founder of a company that develops, finances, builds and operates renewable and hybrid energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

Richard has extensive experience in both open pit and underground mining and a proven focus on safety, productivity and community relations, having led multiple large-scale mining operations across Africa. Coupled with this, through his roles in finance Richard has considerable experience in taking a strategic view and accountability for all corporate finance, business development and capital expenditure related matters. He has worked alongside renowned industry leaders and has served on a number of Boards in Africa. He is well-respected, with high-level networks within the industry and on the continent.

Petra's Chairman, Adonis Pouroulis, commented:

 "We are extremely pleased that Richard will be joining Petra Diamonds. He brings with him an impressive depth of global mining experience which we believe will be critical to drive Petra's transition from a phase of intensive capital expenditure and expansion to a focus on steady-state, cash-generative operations. We are deeply grateful to Johan Dippenaar for all of the work he has done over the past 14 years to lead Petra through a long period of significant growth and establishing the Company as a leading independent diamond producer."

Richard Duffy commented:

"I am delighted to have been appointed CEO of Petra Diamonds. I look forward to working with a very capable team that has grown the business and laid the foundations for delivering on the recent capital investment programme."

Johan Dippenaar will be working closely with Richard to ensure an efficient handover in the period leading up to his appointment and Jacques Breytenbach (CFO), Luctor Roode (COO) and the rest of the team have expressed their commitment to supporting Richard as he takes up his role at Petra. The Board welcomes Richard to his new role and looks forward to his contribution. 

Richard Duffy (aged 55) holds or has held the following directorships and partnerships in the past five years:

Africa Energy Management Platform (AEMP), Director

Aren Energy (Pty) Limited, Director

AngloGold Ashanti Limited, Director, Chief Financial Officer

AngloGold Ashanti Holdings Plc, Director

Biography:

Mr Duffy is a co-founder and director of Africa Energy Management Platform (AEMP), a private energy company formed in 2015 targeting industrial and mining clients in sub-Saharan Africa. AEMP has successfully developed and co-invested in a 15MW Solar PV Project for Iamgold Essakane SA in Burkina Faso. Prior to this he was Chief Financial Officer for AngloGold Ashanti Limited with direct responsibility for all financial matters including the formulation and execution of financial business strategy, debt and equity financing.  Simultaneously, he was a member of the AngloGold Ashanti Limited and AngloGold Ashanti Holdings Plc Boards and the AngloGold Ashanti Investment Committee and Convenor of the Audit and Risk Committee. Richard was appointed as Executive Vice President, Africa Region in June 2008 and continued in this role until January 2010 when he took charge of the Continental Africa Region, with operations in Namibia, Tanzania, Guinea, Ghana and Mali and a Joint Venture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He has 27 years of global mining industry experience, initially with Anglo American plc, from 1987 and then AngloGold Ashanti Limited, from its inception in 1998. At AngloGold Ashanti, he has worked across a number of key areas; he was appointed Executive Officer: Business Planning in 2004 during which time he also deputised for the CFO, and from 2004 to 2008, Richard was Executive Vice President: Business Development, accountable for mergers and acquisitions as well as greenfields exploration.

Mr Duffy holds a B. Com degree from the University of Witwatersrand and an MBA from Henley Management College in the UK.

There is no other information which requires to be disclosed pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.13 in respect of Mr Duffy.

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For further information, please contact:

Petra Diamonds, London                                         Telephone: [phone]

Marianna Bowes                                                         [e-mail] 

Salisha Ilyas

Buchanan                                                                  Telephone: [phone]

(PR Adviser)

Bobby Morse                                                               [e-mail]

About Petra Diamonds Limited

Petra Diamonds is a leading independent diamond mining group and a consistent supplier of gem quality rough diamonds to the international market. The Company has a diversified portfolio incorporating interests in three underground producing mines in South Africa (Finsch, Cullinan and Koffiefontein) and one open pit producing mine in Tanzania (Williamson). It also maintains an exploration programme in Botswana and South Africa, which is currently under review.

Petra's strategy is to focus on value rather than volume production by optimising recoveries from its high quality asset base in order to maximise their efficiency and profitability. The Group has a significant resource base of ca. 290 million carats, which supports the potential for long-life operations.

Petra conducts all operations according to the highest ethical standards and will only operate in countries which are members of the Kimberley Process. The Company aims to generate tangible value for each of its stakeholders, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of its host countries and supporting long-term sustainable operations to the benefit of its employees, partners and communities. Petra is quoted with a premium listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker 'PDL' and is a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index. For more information, visit www.petradiamonds.com.

 

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