Who's in, who's out

Barrick created a new 'rest of world' chief executive post and gave it to former Randgold finance executive Sebastiaan Bock, putting him in charge of the group's mines in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Bock had been Barrick's COO for Africa and the Middle East since 2022 and was part of the team that settled the long-running Loulo-Gounkoto dispute with Mali, and his appointment comes as Barrick prepares a minority listing of its North American business.

TSX-V-listed Lithium Africa appointed Dr Thomas Benson, a board member since April 2026 and head of global exploration at Lithium Argentina, as CEO from 1 July 2026. Co-founder Tyron Breytenbach stepped down as chief executive and director to become capital markets adviser to the explorer, which is hunting for lithium deposits on the continent.

AECI, the JSE-listed chemicals group whose AECI Mining division supplies explosives to mines across Africa, appointed former Reunert chief executive Alan Dickson as group CEO from 1 July 2026 after a formal search. Dean Murray, interim CEO since October 2025, stayed in the role until the end of June.

Africa-focused gold producer Perseus Mining appointed Wade Bickley as chief operating officer from 1 June 2026. Bickley, who will work from the company's Dubai office, brings more than 25 years in gold and base-metal operations in Australia, West Africa and southern Africa.

A presidential decree read on Congolese state television named consultant Baraka Kabemba as chief executive of state miner Gécamines, alongside former justice minister Deogratias Ngele Masudi as chairman. They replace Placide Nkala Basadilua and Guy Robert Lukama at a company that holds minority stakes in copper-cobalt joint ventures run by CMOC, Glencore and ERG.

Barrick's board confirmed Mark Hill as permanent president and CEO, about four months after he stepped in on an interim basis following Mark Bristow's abrupt exit. The decision came alongside confirmation that Barrick would press ahead with a listing of its North American gold assets, a move that leaves its African operations in the rest of the group.

Newmont announced that CEO Tom Palmer would step down on 31 December 2025 and that South African-born Natascha Viljoen, its president and COO, would succeed him from 1 January 2026, making her the first woman to lead the company. Viljoen, a former CEO of Anglo American Platinum, now runs a group whose portfolio includes the Ahafo operations in Ghana.

Sibanye-Stillwater named long-serving executive Richard Stewart as CEO-designate from 1 March 2025, with a view to him taking over as chief executive when founding CEO Neal Froneman retired at the end of September 2025. Stewart, who had previously served as the group's chief operating officer, formally took the top job on 1 October 2025, ending Froneman's 12-year tenure at the gold, PGM and battery-metals producer.

Rio Tinto chose its iron ore chief Simon Trott to replace Jakob Stausholm as group CEO from 25 August 2025. Among the challenges Trott inherits is bringing the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea into production, while Rio's African portfolio also includes Richards Bay Minerals in South Africa and QMM in Madagascar.

A cabinet reshuffle in Kinshasa made Louis Watum Kabamba the DRC's mines minister, replacing Kizito Pakabomba. Watum is a mining engineer who previously ran Kamoa Copper for Ivanhoe Mines and led development of Randgold's Kibali gold project, and he took the portfolio as Congo pursued a minerals partnership with the United States.

Thungela announced that founding CEO July Ndlovu would retire in 2025 on reaching the company's retirement age, and named De Beers mining executive Moses Madondo as CEO-designate from 1 August. Madondo, a mining engineer who began his career at AngloGold Ashanti, inherits the coal producer Ndlovu steered through its 2021 demerger from Anglo American.

Exxaro appointed former Lonmin chief executive Ben Magara as CEO from 1 April 2025, ending a period in which finance director Riaan Koppeschaar had acted in the role after the previous chief executive's departure. Magara, who already sat on Exxaro's board, was given a mandate to steer the coal and iron-ore group towards energy-transition minerals.