Scotgold PLC’s (LON:SGZ) chief executive Richard Gray is to retire at the end of March following the group’s move from an explorer to producer. Philip Day, a 25-year mining veteran is his replacement.
Chairman Nat La Roux paid tribute to Gray’s work in turning the Cononish mine in the Trossachs from an idea into a Scottish gold producer.
“Richard has overseen a transformation at Scotgold from explorer to developer and ultimately the current ramp-up to a production company, following first gold pour at Cononish on 30 November 2020.
“Thanks to his stewardship and service, Cononish will be Scotland's first commercial gold mine.”
Philip Day was most recently Head of Technical and Operations at Pala Investments in a career that has seen spells at BHP Billiton, WMC Resources, Minara Resources and Wiluna Gold. He will take over as CEO on 1 April.
Chris Sangster, a founder of Scotgold and former CEO, is also stepping down as non-executive director.
Scotgold added that it is trimming its production targets for the current year due to Covid-19 restrictions affecting staff training and also optimisation work on the primary crusher.
Production guidance is now for between 28,500t and 25,700t of ore to be processed and between 7,900oz and 7,000oz of gold to be produced as the crusher is now expected to reach nameplate capacity in April rather than March.