Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat) and Ian Cockerill, both former executives of South Africa-based majors, have been appointed to the board of LSE- and TSX-listed Endeavour Mining.

Venkat, who is a former CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, has been appointed independent nonexecutive director and chairperson of the board. He succeeds Michael Beckett, who is retiring from the board after 12 years as chairperson.

Cockerill, who was CEO of Gold Fields before he joined Anglo American as CEO of Anglo Coal, rejoined the Endeavour board as senior independent director, having served as nonexecutive director between September 2013 and March 2019.

Outgoing chairperson Beckett says he is proud of the Endeavour team’s achievements in recent years, which have resulted in the company being transformed into a leading global gold producer and the biggest in West Africa.

“As Endeavour joins the FTSE100 Index, I am pleased that the company has been able to attract such high calibre candidates in Venkat and Ian to support the board and management as the business continues to grow and deliver value for all our stakeholders.”

Venkat comments that it is great honour to take on the role of chairperson of Endeavour, adding that he has admired the company for some time.

“Endeavour has built a resilient business with a high-quality portfolio in one of the most attractive gold-producing regions of the world.”

Venkat has more than 30 years’ experience in the natural resources industry. During this time, his career has spanned across six continents, 15 countries and several metals, notably gold.

Venkat was the CEO of the global gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti from 2013 to 2018, and was the Group CEO of the diversified natural resources group Vedanta Resources from 2018 to 2020. He is an independent nonexecutive director of BlackRock World Mining Trust and Weir Group, as well as a nonexecutive director of Roscan Gold. Venkat, however, will not stand for re-election at the forthcoming Roscan meeting next month.

Cockerill has more than 45 years of experience in the global natural resources industry. He is a nonexecutive director of BHP and I-Pulse, a director of the Leadership for Conservation in Africa and the chair of Conservation 360, a Botswanan conservation NGO dealing with anti-poaching initiatives.

He was the former chairperson of BlackRock World Mining Trust and recently resigned as chairperson of Russian miner Polymetal.