Russian miner Petropavlovsk has appointed Denis Alexandrov CEO, the London-listed gold company announced on Monday.

Alexandrov joins Petropavlovsk from Russian gold producer and developer Highland Gold Mining, where he was CEO since January 2016.

He takes over from Maxim Meshcheryakov, who was appointed interim CEO in August, after an activist investor succeeded in blocking the reappointment of former CEO and cofounder Pavel Mavlovskiy.

Meshcheryakov will remain with the company in a senior position to work with Alexandrov.

Recently appointed chairperson James Cameron said the board was looking forward to working with Alexandrov as the company continued to strengthen with an enhanced leadership team to deliver “operational excellence, greater transparency and full compliance to best practice corporate governance".  

Corporate governance has been a sticking point at Petropavlovsk, which has been besieged by a long-running boardroom battle. In August PwC resigned as auditor, citing concerns over the firm’s corporate governance.

Last week, Petropavlovsk hired KPMG as forensic investigator to scrutinise related-party transactions over the past three years, when Maslovskiy was CEO. The investigators will also look into transactions by Hong Kong mining business IRC, in which Petropavlovsk has a 31% stake. IRC is linked to former chairperson and cofounder Peter Hambro’s son.

“My first priorities as CEO will be to ensure a smooth transition to the new leadership team and to formulate a clear operating strategy that delivers growth and improved returns. In the current gold price environment, better management of the group's strong asset base should benefit all of our stakeholders - shareholders, local communities, partners and contractors, and the group's employees and their families,” commented Alexandrov.

Highland Gold chairperson Vladislav Sviblov is currently serving as acting CEO at that company.