Centamin ropes in Martin Horgan as its new CEO

Centamin announced the appointment of Martin Horgan as its chief executive officer and as a director on Thursday, effective from 6 April.

The FTSE 250 company said Horgan is a qualified mining engineer with 25-years of experience in multiple areas of the mining industry.

It said that, in his career, he had shown a “strong” strategic and operating acumen, as well as a “longstanding commitment” to environmental and social responsibility within mining, which it said was central to the firm’s decision-making and corporate strategy.

From 2009 to 2019, Horgan was the co-founder and CEO of Toro Gold, where he oversaw the discovery, development and operation of the Mako Gold Mine in Senegal.

Toro was acquired by the LSE and ASX-listed Resolute Mining in August last year.

Before founding Toro, he was executive director of BDI Mining - an AIM-traded diamond producer - and from 2000 to 2006 he worked in mining finance at Barclays Capital in London, where his responsibilities included technical appraisal and advisory services across Africa and the Middle East.

Horgan also held consulting engineer roles with SRK, and started his career as a mining engineer with Gold Fields of South Africa.

He would succeed Ross Jerrard as interim CEO, which the board said would allow Jerrard to focus on his role and responsibilities as chief financial officer.

The directors said they would work closely with Horgan to ensure a smooth transition, and collectively agree a plan to further strengthen the business and deliver on the opportunities for growth that lay ahead.

In line with ongoing organisational restructuring, the general manager of Sukari would report directly to the CEO, with Jeremy Langford resigning from his position as chief operating officer to pursue other interests.

Centamin said the changes represented “further steps” in reshaping and strengthening the company's leadership team, with a balance of core skills and experience best suited to deliver sustainable stakeholder returns.

“Appointing someone of Martin's calibre follows an intensive international search process and will enable Centamin to move forward with confidence,” said chairman Josef El-Raghy.

“Martin brings not only excellent technical, commercial and financial experience but also strong operational and leadership skills which he demonstrated as CEO at Toro Gold.

“Combined with his deep knowledge and understanding of gold mining across Africa, we believe that he will make an invaluable contribution to the company.”

El-Raghy said Jerrard had provided “excellent” leadership, keeping Centamin focussed during “challenging” circumstances, as the company navigated an unsolicited corporate approach and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Martin Horgan said he was “excited” to be given the opportunity to lead Centamin at an “important stage” of its development.

“The Sukari mine is a world class operation that will continue to underpin the future prospects of the company, while at the same time pursuing the development of the growth options, as we seek to build a multi-asset gold producer.

“I am very much looking forward to working with the management team and the board to deliver the full potential of the company for all our shareholders, stakeholders and partners.”

At 0816 BST, shares in Centamin were up 0.8% at 119.8p.