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Namakwa Diamonds announces the following changes to its Board of Directors and senior management team at its 62.5% owned Storm Mountain Diamonds subsidiary, the operator of the Kao Mine in Lesotho. The changes take effect immediately.
Namakwa Diamonds Board
Craig Campbell (42), has been appointed Chief Financial Officer and a director of the Company. Craig has held senior positions, and served on the Board of Directors, for resources companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange, the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. He was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of Coal of Africa Limited, a company listed on the ASX, AIM and JSE. Prior to that, he served as Chief Financial Officer and a director for Central African Gold Plc, BRC DiamondCore Ltd. and Diamond Core Resources Limited. Craig is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the South African Institute of Directors.
Revised Board Structure
Following this appointment, the Board of Namakwa Diamonds will be constituted as follows: Melissa Sturgess (Non-executive Chairman), Theo Botoulas (Chief Executive Officer), Craig Campbell (Chief Financial Officer), Martiens Mulder (Senior Independent Non-executive Director), Robert Reid (Independent Non-executive Director), Gerard Holden (Non-executive Director) and Vladimir Kravets (Non-executive Director).
Commenting on Craig’s appointment, Melissa Sturgess, Chairman of Namakwa Diamonds said: “Namakwa Diamonds is currently undergoing a re-organisation of its resources, operations and assets. The addition of Craig to the management team during this important period in the Company’s development should help us to derive maximum shareholder value from the Group’s Operations in Lesotho and South Africa”.
Storm Mountain Diamonds
Theo Botoulas will assume the role of Executive Chairman of Storm Mountain Diamonds from his current position as Non-executive Chairman.
Keith Whitelock has tendered his resignation as CEO of Storm Mountain Diamonds and will be replaced by Jan Venter. Jan, a Lesotho Citizen, has been involved in a number of civil engineering projects throughout Lesotho. He joined Letseng Diamonds in 2000 and was appointed Assistant General Manager – Services in 2006 as a member of a small dedicated team that re-constituted the mining operation. Jan joined Storm Mountain Diamonds in 2010 as General Manager, and working with Keith Whitelock, was responsible for the initiation of the Kao Project. Jan holds a Diploma in construction management from the University of the Free State.
Pieter van Zyl has tendered his resignation as a Director and CFO of Storm Mountain Diamonds and will be replaced by Patrick Durant. Pat has worked in the diamond industry for 21 years during which time he held positions including Financial Manager of: Namaqualand Mines, Finsch Mine, Kimberley Mines, Koffiefontein Mine in South Africa and Namdeb Diamond Corporation (Pty) Ltd in Namibia. He was seconded to Angola by De Beers where he was appointed both General Manager and Financial Manager and was responsible, inter alia, for the sorting offices in that country. Pat also spent four years as Financial Manager for Debtech, whose primary business is research and development and centralised technical services, at its Head Office in Johannesburg.
Pat Durant is an experienced financial professional focused on the mining sector (and associated technical disciplines) with a proven track record in maximising the profitability of diamond mining operations through his understanding of orebodies, the selection of cost-effective mining and diamond extraction technologies, and the control of associated costs.
Revised Board Structure
Following these appointments, the Board of Storm Mountain Diamonds Limited will be constituted as follows: Theo Botoulas (Executive Chairman), Jan Venter (Chief Executive Officer), Patrick Durant (Chief Financial Officer), Ashwin Willemse (Non-executive Director), Andre Bothma (Non-executive Director), Neo Phakaoana-Foulo (Non-executive Director) and Sekamotho Khaketla (Non-executive Director).
Commenting on the appointments, Theo Botoulas, CEO of Namakwa Diamonds said: “The evolution of the Kao Mine from a capital project to an operating mine with sustainable production over time is the immediate focus of the management team.
“I am cognisant of the solid foundation laid by Keith Whitelock under difficult circumstances over the past three years. His contribution to the diamond mining industry, and to the industry in Lesotho in particular, is well documented as is his successful track record in diamond mining and exploration. Keith has been a personal mentor over several years and his contribution to my own development, and that of many other people, is something for which I am immensely grateful.
“I would likewise like to thank Pieter for his contribution. I look forward to working with Jan and Pat to achieve our objectives for Kao for the benefit of all stakeholders in the project”.
