Jubilee Metals announces changes to executive leadership

South Africa and Zambia-focussed Jubilee Metals unveiled a significant enhancement to its executive leadership team on Monday, including the appointment of a new finance chief.

The AIM-traded firm announced the forthcoming appointment of Neal Reynolds as its new chief financial officer, effective from 1 October.

At the same time, it said Ricus Grimbeek had been entrusted with spearheading Jubilee's ambitious foray into energy metals, with a specific emphasis on executing its Zambian copper strategy.

Bringing a wealth of expertise to his new role, Jubilee described Reynolds as a distinguished Chartered Accountant from South Africa, armed with a postgraduate qualification in leadership development.

Leveraging more-than-14 years of experience, primarily concentrated on mining and metals operations within the African landscape, Reynolds would bring with him invaluable insights, the board explained.

His most recent position was as the chief operational officer at Chemaf - a well-established producer of copper and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Reynolds' professional journey began at Deloitte & Touche, and subsequently in 2009, he transitioned to Pan African Resources.

Notably, in 2019, he undertook the mantle of CFO at Mopani Copper Mines, and subsequently extended his financial acumen as the CFO of Glencore Copper Africa.

Pedja Kovacevic, who currently holds the title of acting CFO, would segue into the role of chief of strategy and advisory, ensuring continuity and capitalising on his strategic insights once Neal Reynolds officially joins the ranks.

Ricus Grimbeek was meanwhile described by the Jubilee board as a seasoned mining engineer, with a track record spanning more than three decades in the industry.

It said his career had encompassed multifarious executive management roles, both technical and strategic, within prominent global mining entities.

Grimbeek had overseen a multitude of operations, and successfully overseen the execution of projects across diverse mining jurisdictions.

Significantly, he held a pivotal position as a board member of Makor Resources - an entity committed to the formalisation of small-scale and artisanal miners across Africa.

Amid its transformative phase, Jubilee Metals said it had also enacted a comprehensive revamp of its executive and senior leadership echelons, in alignment with its enlarged operations and refined strategic focus.

The cornerstone of the restructure would be the establishment of a strategic executive committee, encompassing five key members including CEO Leon Coetzer, joined by the chief of operations, the chief of strategy and advisory, the chief of energy metals Ricus Grimbeek, and the incoming CFO Neal Reynolds.

Additionally, an operational executive committee was set to augment the company's operational efficiency and effectiveness.

The committee would comprise the heads of various countries, technical departments, projects, human resources, and finance, in a bid to foster a “streamlined and cohesive” approach to the company's multifaceted operations.

“I am pleased to welcome Neal to this important role at Jubilee and look forward to working closely with him as we continue to build capacity and grow our footprint in Zambia and investigate new opportunities in South Africa,” said chief executive officer Leon Coetzer.

“As an accomplished mining executive with over 14 years of experience, we are delighted to have attracted someone of his calibre.

“Additionally, I am delighted to welcome Ricus to the Jubilee Metals team and believe that, with more than 30 years of experience in various management and technical roles, he will make an invaluable contribution to the team and will assist in achieving our goal of rapid growth and expansion specifically in Zambia.”

Coetzer said he was pleased to be announcing the group’s new executive structure as well.

“I am confident [it] provides the organisational capacity to support our ambitious growth strategy, both in South Africa and Zambia.”

At 0826 BST, shares in Jubilee Metals Group were up 4.17% at 7.12p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.