By Alistair MacDonald
Barrick Gold Corp. said its chief financial officer, Ammar
Al-Joundi, will leave the company in another personnel move at the
world's largest gold miner following the arrival of Chairman John
Thornton.
Mr. Al-Joundi will be replaced by Shaun Usmar on Feb. 18, the
company said in a statement. Mr. Usmar was a CFO in units of fellow
miner Xtrata PLC. That company was taken over by Glencore
International PLC in 2013. Prior to joining Xstrata, Mr. Usmar
worked in finance and business development roles at BHP
Billiton.
Mr. Al-Joundi was a well-known executive in mining circles who
had been at Barrick, in two different stints, for over a decade. He
spent 11 years at Barrick, before leaving to join Agnico-Eagle
Mines Ltd in 2010 and rejoining Barrick several years later.
Mr. Thornton became sole chairman in April this year with the
retirement of founder Peter Munk. Since then the miner has seen
several changes in its senior personnel. In July Chief Executive
Jamie Sokalsky left the company to be replaced by a dual chief
executive role that, analyst said, effectively left Mr. Thornton in
control of the miner, something the company denied. Other staff,
including its head of mergers and acquisitions, have left or been
replaced.
Like other gold miners, Barrick has been hit hard by a fall in
the price of gold and troubles in some of its major projects in
developing markets. The company shares have lost a third of their
value this year-to-date.
Write to Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald@wsj.com
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