Keep up with the latest executive movements across the mining sector, featuring BHP, Newmont, Chalice and more.
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BHP has tweaked its executive leadership team, with changes to take effect from October 1.
Edgar Basto will be appointed chief operating officer and Geraldine Slattery will assume the role of president Australia.
In his new position, Basto will enable acceleration in safety and productivity improvement across the company, and will have accountability for the continued transformation of the company through the BHP operating system (BOS).
Basto has been BHP’s president minerals Australia since May 2020 and has more than 30 years of operating experience across BHP’s minerals footprint, including time overseeing the company’s two largest assets, Western Australia Iron Ore and the Escondida copper mine in Chile.
Slattery will be responsible for BHP’s Australian operations. She had been president petroleum from March 2019 until the completion of the Woodside merger in June this year, leading the company’s oil and gas interests and development and exploration programs across the world.
Jad Vodopija has also been appointed as BHP’s chief people officer.
BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry said the appointments would enable the miner to build on the strong performance delivered in recent years to drive even better safety and productivity outcomes.
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Newmont Corporation has appointed Peter Toth as chief strategy and sustainability officer following the retirement of chief sustainability and external affairs officer Stephen Gottesfeld.
Appointed as Newmont’s executive vice president – strategic development in October 2021, Toth has extensive experience integrating sustainability practices into broader corporate strategies, having led the development of Rio Tinto’s 10-year climate strategy.
He will prove critical in assisting Newmont’s ongoing environmental, social and governance (ESG) journey.
“I am pleased that we are able to turn to a deep bench of sustainability and external relations leaders to support Peter Toth, who will continue to embed ESG and sustainability into our approach to strategic development,” Newmont president and chief executive officer Tom Palmer said.
“ESG and sustainability performance remains critical to our future strategy and success.”
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Chalice Mining has appointed Jo Gaines as an independent non-executive director.
A highly regarded leader and strategic policy director, Gaines brings extensive experience in intergovernmental negotiations and stakeholder engagement and is currently chair of the Government Employees Superannuation Board (GESB) and a director of Development WA.
Chalice chair Derek La Ferla said Gaines brought a broad strategic skillset to the company as it advances its Julimar copper-nickel-platinum group elements project.
“Jo’s extensive leadership experience and expertise in the development and negotiation of public policy at the highest levels of government in Australia will provide additional capability and valuable insight to the board,” he said.
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After announcing his resignation from Ten Sixty Four in late June, Ryan Welker has joined the board of Macarthur Minerals, effective September 1.
This coincides with the announcement that Alan Joseph Phillips will step down as Macarthur’s chief executive officer, with executive chair Cameron McCall to assume the role in his place.
Chair and co-founder of Vitrinite – a hard coking coal producer in the Bowen Basin – Welker brings a vast array of skills and experience to the Macarthur board, having supported mining and exploration companies all across the world in nearly every stage of development.