Acacia Mining chairman departs for South African rival AngloGold Ashanti
The chairman of a Tanzania-focused miner that is involved in a bitter dispute over gold exports with the country's government will step down at the end of this month to a join a South African rival.
Kelvin Dushnisky will leave Acacia Mining on 31 August to join South African miner AngloGold Ashanti as chief executive and an executive director. Rachel English, one of Acacia Mining's independent non-executive directors, will become interim chair on 1 September.
Dushnisky's departure, announced yesterday, was expected after his decision to leave his senior executive role at Acacia's majority shareholder, Barrick Gold, was announced last month.
English began her career at PwC, later working for the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and has held senior positions in BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell.
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Michael Kenyon, Senior Independent Director, said:
On behalf of the board and the company, I would like to thank Kelvin for his contribution to Acacia over the years and wish him the very best for his new role at AngloGold Ashanti. We also welcome and support Rachel in her new role as interim chair.
Barrick is still in the process of negotiating an agreement with the Tanzanian government after it stopped Acacia from exporting gold in March 2017 and demanded pay of $190bn (£147bn) in back taxes. Acacia's CEO and finance boss have both resigned since the ban.
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In February Acacia reported a $700m loss as a result of the export ban.
Its share price has tanked since the government dispute broke out, with its stock falling from more than 500p per share in February 2017 to 113.9p at the close of trading yesterday.
Acacia Mining's interim chief executive, Peter Geleta, previously worked at AngloGold Ashanti.
Toronto-listed Barrick Gold owns more than 60 per cent of Acacia's shares. Acacia was floated in London off Barrick Gold in 2010 and changed its name from African Barrick Gold to Acacia Mining in late 2014.