Egyptian miner Centamin appoints Toro Gold co-founder Martin Horgan as CEO

Centamin CEO, Martin Horgan

CENTAMIN has appointed Martin Horgan as its CEO. Horgan, formerly CEO of Toro Gold, will take up the reins of the company on April 6.

Horgan fills the vacancy left by Andrew Pardey who announced his resignation six months ago, a development that partially opened the door to a merger proposal by Endeavour Mining which Centamin rebuffed in January.

Interim CEO, Ross Jerrard, will return to his post as CFO whilst Jeremy Langford has resigned as COO of the company. In future, management of Centamin’s Egyptian mine, Sukari, will report directly to Horgan, thus flattening the company’s structure.

Sukari has delivered some excellent returns in the past but it has struggled with transitional zones both in its open pit and underground sections over the last 18 months to two years.

“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,” said Horgan.

Horgan began working life at one of South Africa’s grand old mining houses – Gold Fields of South Africa (GFSA), which was de-merged in the Nineties, the legacy of which is still present in the mining sector as Gold Fields, Northam Platinum and Vedanta Resources’ zinc mine, Gamsberg.

He co-founded Toro Gold which discovered and developed the Senegal mine Mako Gold, bought by Resolute Mining for $274m last year. Before that, Horgan was executive director of BDI Mining, an AIM listed diamond producer, and from 2000 to 2006 he worked in mining finance at Barclays Capital in London.

It may have been Horgan’s track-record in having developed Mako Gold that featured highly in the minds of Centamin’s board as it sought a replacement for Pardey. Centamin is seeking to diversify its production base in the medium- to long-term.

“Combined with his deep knowledge and understanding of gold mining across Africa, we believe that he will make an invaluable contribution to the company,” said Centamin chairman, Josef El-Raghy who is himself is due to be replaced – by Jim Rutherford, the former asset manager and banker.

Further changes at Centamin are in the offing: “The board will work closely with Martin to ensure a smooth transition and collectively agree a plan to further strengthen the business and deliver on the opportunities for growth that lie ahead,” Centamin said.

Speaking in January at the firm’s fourth quarter presentation, Jerrard said Centamin had growth options in its exploration assets including its West African exploration portfolio which has prospects in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

The company has guided to 2020 production of 510,000 to 540,000 ounces. It produced 480,529 oz of gold in its 2019 financial year, a shade below adjusted guidance of 490,000 oz (520,000 oz had been initially targeted in 2019) at an all-in sustaining cost of $792/oz (FY:$943/oz).