[miningmx.com] — DIAMOND producer De Beers named industry outsider Philippe Mellier, an executive from French engineering group Alstom, as its new boss, ending a leadership search that has lasted almost a year.
De Beers surprised the market last July with news that veteran Gareth Penny was stepping down as chief executive, a move that dampened speculation of a stock market flotation.
Mellier, a mechanical engineer by training, is currently president of Alstom Transport and executive vice president of the parent company. His experience has largely been in the auto industry, working for Ford, Renault and Volvo.
Analysts said the appointment of a mining outsider to the top job at the world’s largest diamond producer was the latest indicator of the dire lack of top executives in the industry.
“It tells you more about the state of the mining industry and the number of high profile managers that there are,’ analyst Andy Davidson at Numis Securities said.
“It is quite revealing about the industry as a whole that they have struggled for a long time to find someone to fit that CEO role, and then they have come up with someone from completely outside the industry.’
Mining experts have long fretted over the so-called “lost generation’ and talent shortages in the industry, where the average age of engineers is well into the 50s, particularly in niche areas like diamonds.
Mellier will take the helm on July 1.
“De Beers is fortunate to have the world’s premier diamond experts… which enabled us to focus on finding the best leader for De Beers’ future,’ chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer said, referring to Mellier’s track record outside the gem industry.
Oppenheimer said De Beers had focused on finding an executive with a track record of delivering large projects, as the diamond producer looks ahead to the Cut-8 expansion project at Jwaneng – the largest ever investment in Botswana – and the emergence of major new markets in Asia, where demand is racing ahead of traditional jewellery consumers like the United States.
Chief financial officer Stuart Brown and chief commercial officer Bruce Cleaver have acted as joint CEOs since last year, as Penny lessened his involvement with the company.
De Beers is 45% owned by mining group Anglo American, 40% by South Africa’s Oppenheimer family and 15% by the Botswana government.
Mellier, who is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, said he would stick to De Beers’ “diamond dream’.
