Petropavolvsk interim CEO under investigation by Moscow authorities

Petropavlovsk said it had been made aware that the Investigative Committee of Russia for the City of Moscow was looking into the events of 26-27 August, when Meshcheryakov was denied access to the company's office in Moscow, which he then entered in the presence of Moscow police.

The FTSE 250-listed firm stated the investigation into Meshcheryakov's actions allegedly related to a crime under article 330 of the Russian criminal code called Arbitrariness.

Petropavlovsk added that Meshcheryakov had encountered "a lack of co-operation" from both employees and ex-employees in certain Russian subsidiaries as he worked to implement a "robust and transparent controls framework" across the group

"That lack of co-operation included preventing Mr Meshcheryakov obtaining access to the group's office in Moscow while he was attempting, with the full support of the Petropavlovsk board, to safeguard the group's assets and information.

Peel Hunt said: "The new CEO has had an eventful start to his tenure.

"This update does confirm that stabilising the operations at Petropavlovsk may well take some time, suggesting that the period of lower than expected production may well extend well into 2021, limiting the company's ability to fully benefit from the present gold price strength."

As of 0835 BST, Petropavlovsk shares were down 3.29% at 27.95p.