Jiangxi Copper general manager and executives leave roles

BEIJING, July 18 (Reuters) – Three senior executives at Jiangxi Copper Co , one of China’s biggest copper producers, have left their roles, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, in a major managerial shake-up at the state-run firm.

Wu Yuneng, a Jiangxi Copper veteran who was only appointed to the general manager job in January this year, will no longer serve in the role and also ceases to be a director of the company, the statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange said.

Wu, number two at the company after chairman Long Ziping, did not answer calls to his mobile phone seeking comment on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, Wu Jinxing will no longer serve as chief financial officer of the company, while Zeng Qingjian will no longer be deputy general manager, according to the statement, issued after a meeting of Jiangxi Copper’s board of directors.

“The GM position is vacant. Mr. Wu Jinxing is still in the company and there is some other arrangement for him,” a Jiangxi Copper spokeswoman said via text message, later adding that Zeng was being transferred to an education company.

It was not immediately clear what Wu Yuneng’s new job would be.

Liao Xingeng, deputy general manager of Jiangxi Tungsten Holding Group Co, becomes deputy general manager of Jiangxi Copper, according to the statement.

Jiangxi Copper, based in Nanchang in China’s southeastern Jiangxi province, produced 1.37 million tonnes of the metal in 2017 and plans to raise output to 1.42 million tonnes this year.

The company is also one of the most influential members of the China Smelters Purchase Team, which sets quarterly treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) floors for copper concentrate purchased from copper miners.

(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Jan Harvey)