Former Kazakhmys CFO joins African Minerals

FORMER KAZAKHMYS chief financial officer Matthew Hird is to join African Minerals in the same role, the company said in a statement at the same time as announcing its chief executive officer had quit the business.

Hird will replace outgoing CFO Miguel Perry from 1 October, while chief executive Keith Calder was immediately replaced by Bernard Pryor, a company director.

The Sierra Leone-based iron ore producer has seen its stock slump by as much as 16% over the last 12 months, while analysts believe plans to diversify into commodities such as copper through acquisition are at least one to two years away.

Hird spent seven years as the CFO of copper producer Kazakhmys, where he managed the company’s IPO to achieve a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange in October 2005. He also, created a multi-location finance function and led the structuring of the Kazakhmys’ long term debt facilities.

Prior to joining Kazakhmys, Hird worked for Vedanta Resources between 2003 and 2005 as company secretary and group reporting manager, before that he worked for nine years in Deloitte’s global mining team.

African Mining chairman Frank Timis said Hird has the “requisite skills needed to ensure continued fiscal stability for the company.”