Petra Adds Ex-De Beers Exec to Board

RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds has appointed former De Beers executive VardaShine as a non-executive director in line with a plan to refresh its leadership,the miner said Monday. Shine was CEO of the Diamond Trading Company - now DeBeers Global Sightholder Sales - between 2006 and 2014, during which sheoversaw the division's move from London to Gaborone. She is currently an independent director of the state-ownedMineral Development Company Botswana, as well as a non-executive director ofminer Lonmin. In March 2017, she became an independent director of SarineTechnologies, which provides equipment and services to the diamond trade. Bernard Pryor, a former executive at De Beers parentcompany Anglo American, will also join Petra's board in the same role. Both willbegin on January 1. The moves are the latest step in Petra's succession plan,through which it aims to ease the comapny's transition from expansion to steadyoperations, it explained. Petra CEO Johan Dippenaar will leave, the miner said last month, and the company will review the structure of its board, committee and senior-management structures. "[Shine and Pryor's] significant experience and expertise inboth the mining sector and the diamond world will be a considerable asset toour board, and we look forward to working with them," said Petra chairmanAdonis Pouroulis. "Today's announcement demonstrates the solid progress the boardhas made in its succession plan, and we expect to be in a position to makefurther announcements with regards to board composition later in [fiscal 2019]."Image: Varda Shine