South Africa’s Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) is waving goodbye to Adonis Pouroulis, the company’s founder and chairman for the last 23 years.
The diamond producer, which dropped the role of chief operating officer in November because of a management restructuring, said Pouroulis is being succeeded by Peter Hill, who was appointed a non-executive director of Petra and chairman-designate in December.
Hill began his career in the gold division of Anglo American, moving later to Rossing Uranium in Namibia, then to London as mining engineer with the then BP Minerals, and finally joining Consolidated Gold Fields.
Adonis Pouroulis, Petra’s founder and chairman for the last 23 years, has been succeeded by Peter Hill.
Petra has been seeking to turn
around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand its iconic Cullinan
mine, in South Africa, where the world’s largest-ever diamond was found in
1905.
In September, it reported a 22% drop in annual profit amid falling
diamond prices and the company’s investment in Cullinan aimed at reviving the
aging operation. The company’s share price collapsed to a record low as it also
revealed it was writing down the value of its mines.
Just when the first signs of
stabilization in the sector are starting to appear, the novel coronavirus
pandemic forced Petra to halt its production outlook for 2020.
The company closed its mines in South Africa last week for a mandatory 21-day lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of covid-19.
Its remote Williamson diamond mine,
in Tanzania, said Petra, continues to be “closely monitored”.