St Barbara’s new board almost finalised

Melbourne-based gold miner St Barbara has announced plans to appoint former Gindalbie Metals managing director Tim Netscher as chairman, as part of its ongoing board renewal.

Mr Netscher was appointed as a non-executive director of St Barbara in February, and is set to replace long-serving chairman Colin Wise before the end of the financial year.

St Barbara’s board has been subject to a restructure since mid-2013, under which three of its five non-executive directors have retired and former Rio Tinto executive Bob Vassie was appointed to succeed Tim Lehany as managing director.

For now, the company said long-serving board members chairman Colin Wise and non-executive director Doug Bailey will remain on the board “until the board is satisfied that the recent appointees are in a position to allow these two senior directors to retire”.

“Continuity in board performance is an important part if this renewal process,” the company said in a statement.

The company said it would begin the search for Mr Bailey’s replacement in early 2015.

Mr Netscher also sits on the board of Deep Yellow as non-executive chairman, and is a non-executive director of Western Areas and Gold Road Resources.

He is also a non-executive director of unlisted company Aquila Resources.

St Barbara operates the Gwalia underground and King of the Hills mines at Leonora in WA’s Mid West.

It also owns the Simberi gold mine in Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland province and the Gold Ridge mine in the Solomon Islands.

It sold its Southern Cross mining operation in WA to a Chinese company for $22.5 million in cash.

St Barbara shares closed today at 12.5 cents, down almost 4 per cent.