Shares in Egypt-focused gold miner Centamin (LON:CEY) (TSX:CEE)聽fell on Thursday more than 15% to 105.65 in London after it announced that its chief executive, following a year of operational challenges.
Pardey, who joined the company 12 years ago as general manager, will stay at the post for a year, while Centamin looks for a new boss.
The company also warned that production for the first nine months of 2019 is expected to be between 331,000 and 332,000 ounces. While lower than what originally expected, the company said the lower end of its full-year guidance range of 490,000 ounces of gold remains 鈥渁chievable.鈥�
Pardey helped build the company鈥檚 Sukari mine, Egypt鈥檚 largest gold operation. The asset鈥檚 performance over the last two years, however, has disappointed investors.
Andrew Pardey helped building the company鈥檚 Sukari mine, Egypt鈥檚 largest gold operation
Sukari, which began operations in January 2010,聽comprises a large open pit and an underground mine.聽Last year, the company worked on operational improvements聽on both sections, but they took longer than planned to materialize.
As a result, Sukari churned out 472,418 ounces of gold in 2018, down from 544,658 ounces in 2017, and Centamin has struggled to boost production at its flagship mine this year.
The company聽began the year with some key board changes by announcing Josef El-Raghy had聽moved from executive chairman to chairman, 18 years after becoming managing director.
Like Pardey, El-Raghy will remain linked to the company while the search for a successor continues.
As part of the board reshuffle, Centamin has also appointed three independent non-executive directors, one of whom will become non-executive chair in 2020.
Following those changes, the Centamin board will consist of eight members, with two executive and six-non-executives. Of the non-executives, five are independent.
The miner鈥檚 shares were down 12% by mid-afternoon in London at 110p, leaving it with a market capitalisation of 拢1.28 billion.聽 The price drop is the highest since July, and takes the stock dangerously near to their second worst performance this year.
In February, the stock price hit the lowest in six years聽after Centamin .