Aim-quoted Chaarat has appointed merger and acquisition (M&A) strategist Artem Volynets as CEO with immediate effect, replacing Robert Benbow who is moving to the role of COO.
Volynets, who joined the board of Chaarat in March, has two decades of experience in M&A, capital markets, and senior corporate management roles. He is the founder of ACG Amur Capital Group, as an advisory and investment management firm with a particular focus on driving gold consolidation strategy in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region.
As part of Volynet's CEO appointment, the gold mining team at ACG will join Chaarat, and all ACG projects in the gold sector will be formally transferred to Chaarat and combined with the company's existing M&A pipeline.
“This transfer brings to Chaarat an incremental and tangible set of M&A opportunities, which have been developed by ACG over the past several years, and which Chaarat is now pursuing. It also brings considerable industry expertise; senior relationships in the global mining sector and the CIS region; as well as long-established relationships with investors and finance providers, which are already assisting Chaarat,” the company stated on Monday.
Chaarat is pursuing an M&A strategy to attain midtier gold miner status. The company has made an offer to take over Kyrgyzstan’s largest gold mine, Kumtor, from Canada’s Centerra Gold and has previously said that the deal is only “one of a number of potential deals” that it is considering in former Soviet Union countries.
Benbow will remain with the company and as COO, he will continue to build and develop Chaarat's Tulkubash project, in Kyrgyzstan, and oversee mining operations once in production.
Benbow will also be appointed to the Chaarat board.
Martin Andersson, chairperson of Chaarat, will become executive chairperson.