Shanta Gold appoints Luke Leslie as CFO

AIM-listed gold producer, developer and explorer Shanta Gold said on Monday that it has appointed Luke Leslie as its chief financial officer with effect from 1 January.

Leslie had already been serving as interim CFO since 11 September, having been a non-executive director of the company since 2012. He has been a member of the group's audit committee since 2013 and was previously chairman of the Audit Committee of Canadian listed exploration company Kincora Copper, where he still serves as a non-executive director.

He was also co-head of Trafigura-Origo, a member of UBS Investment Bank's Corporate Finance team and a management consultant with Accenture, where he specialised in post-acquisition integration and cost reduction strategies.

Chief executive officer Eric Zurrin said: "On behalf of the board, I am extremely pleased that Luke has agreed to become Shanta's CFO on a permanent basis. Luke's background in operational turnaround, strategy and M&A has already improved the company's capital investment decision making process and lowered the company's cost base delivering annualised savings of $8.7m (inclusive of $3.6m from a change in mining method at New Luika). I look forward to working with Luke as we continue to prioritise shareholder returns."

At 1020 GMT, the shares were down 0.5% to 5.95p.