ACACIA Mining Chief Executive Officer, Brad Gordon and Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Wray have resigned and will leave the company by the end of the year, the gold mining giant said yesterday.
It said it has appointed Peter Geleta,
the Head of Organisational Effectiveness, as Interim Chief Executive
Officer and Jaco Maritz, currently Acacia’s General Manager, Finance, to
be Chief Financial Officer effective from January 1, 2018.
“Acacia would like to advise the market
that Brad Gordon, Chief Executive Officer, and Andrew Wray, Chief
Financial Officer, have separately notified the company of their
intention to resign from their positions,” Both Brad and Andrew will
remain with the company until the end of the year to ensure a smooth
transition.
According to the statement, Brad will be
returning to Australia for family reasons, while Andrew is pursuing an
opportunity elsewhere.
The resignations of Mr Gordon and Mr
Wray came two weeks after Barrick Gold Corp, majority shareholders of
Acacia Mining reached an agreement with the government to resolve tax
and revenue sharing disputes over its three gold mines in the country.
Under the agreement which provides a
framework for a new partnership between Acacia Mining and the
government, Barrick agreed to cede 16 per cent of Acacia’s three mines
in Tanzania and make a 300 million US dollars payment to the government
as a gesture of good faith.
The partnership agreed that Barrick Gold
would see economic benefits generated by Acacia Mining’s operations
shared with Tanzania on a 50/50 basis going forward.
The framework outlining the necessary
steps for achieving this outcome was signed in Dar es Salaam last month
following a meeting between President John Magufuli and Barrick Gold
Executive Chairman, John L. Thornton.
President Magufuli of Tanzania had
refused to negotiate with Acacia or Mr Gordon, and was dealing
exclusively with John Thornton, Barrick’s ExecutiveChairman.
Under the new partnership, a new
Tanzanian operating company will be created to manage Bulyanhulu,
Buzwagi and North Mara, and all future operations in the country.
The principle of total transparency
between partners will define how this company operates. For instance,
the Government of Tanzania will participate in decisions related to
operations, investment, planning, procurement, and marketing.
This company will maximise employment of
Tanzanians, building local capacity at all levels of the business, from
board membership to operations. It will also increase procurement of
goods and services within Tanzania.
Barrick Gold has also committed to work
with the Government of Tanzania to advance concepts for increasing
in-country beneficiation of gold.
It increased Acacia Mining’s tax
provision to accommodate the 300 million US dollars payment but Acacia
said it did not intend to make any changes to its own provision of 128m
US dollars as a result of Barrick’s announcement of an agreement of a
proposed framework.
“Once Acacia has received and had the
opportunity to assess a detailed proposal, Acacia will also be able to
assess the potential impact on Acacia’s historical uncertain tax
positions.”
Barrick Gold holds a 63.9 per cent
equity interest in Acacia Mining, a publicly traded company listed on
the London Stock Exchange and Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange
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