JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – London-listed iron-ore firm African Minerals Limited (AML) on Wednesday announced the resignations of its CEO and CFO and said that company director Bernard Pryor and Kazakhmys CFO Matthew Hird would take up the positions.

The Tonkolili project owner, which lost 14% on the London bourse on Wednesday morning, also confirmed the appointment of former CEO Alan Watling as a special adviser focusing on rail and port infrastructure.

Pryor, a former CEO of Aim-listed Q Resources and an ex-Anglo American executive, is succeeding Keith Calder, who became CEO in July last year, with immediate effect.

Hird will take over from CFO Miguel Perry, who joined AML in late 2010 from Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, on October 1.

“Bernard shares the same view as the rest of the board; that AML must first focus on consistent production and lowering costs, and thereafter develop further growth, and we are pleased that he has accepted the challenge of the next phase of the company's success,” commented executive chairperson Frank Timis.

Pryor added that his priority would be to ensure that the company’s flagship Tonkolili project, in Sierra Leone, consistently produced iron-ore at target rates, while reducing operating costs and corporate overheads.

“To achieve this, we will leverage the experience of the senior management of the company, and that of our partner Shandong Iron and Steel Group to achieve our stated targets,” he commented.

Pryor joined AML’s board in 2011. Prior to this, he was the CEO of Q Resources. Between 2006 and 2010, Pryor held senior executive positions in Anglo American as head of business development and the CEO of Anglo Ferrous Brazil, where he oversaw the development of the six-million-tonne-a-year Amapa mine.

From 2000 to 2006, Pryor was director and COO of Adastra Minerals, developing the Kolwezi tailings deposit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, before its takeover by First Quantum Minerals.

As CFO of London-listed Kazakhmys, Hird successfully managed the company's initial public offering, achieving a premium listing on the LSE in October 2005.

Prior to joining Kazakhmys, he worked for Vedanta Resources as company secretary and group reporting manager between 2003 and 2005, before which he worked in Deloitte's global mining team for nine years.