GHANA – Newmont Goldcorp, one of the leading gold mining companies in the world, has announced the appointment of Francois Hardy to head its Africa operations.
Hardy is coming to Newmont Goldcorp Africa as a replacement for Alwyn Pretorius, who has transitioned to the company’s South America Operations.
A statement from the gold mining corporation stated that Mr Hardy will focus on enhancing safe, efficient and responsible production to ensure the company maintains a sustainable, long-term business.
Mr. Hardy is an illustrious corporate executive with more than 17 years’ experience in mining and project development within the Newmont Goldcorp portfolio.
Until his appointment to head the corporation’s Africa division, Mr. Hardy was serving as the Regional Project Director for Australia.
Prior to that, he had served Newmont Goldcorp as the General Manager for Tanami gold mine in Australia.
He is credited for the reforms that improved the mines efficiency, turning it around into becoming one of the Company’s best performing assets.
Mr. Hardy noted that the African region had been able to maintain a steady performance and for that, he congratulated them for their skill and commitment towards delivering the corporation’s business strategy.
“The Africa Region has maintained strong performance and I congratulate the team for their skill and commitment to delivering our business strategy,” said Mr. Hardy.
“I am honoured to join the region’s success story and believe that, together with the government and all stakeholders, we will continue to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining,” said Mr. Hardy.
Mr. Hardy joined Newmont in 2002 and has since held a number of leadership roles in Global Programme Management, Business Excellence and Technical Services, along with leading operations in Australia.
Before joining Newmont, Mr. Hardy had also worked at Avmin Ltd and De Beers Consolidated Mines.
His varied roles and rich experience in the gold mining sector and driving step change in operational performance will be valuable in taking forward Newmont Goldcorp Ghana’s project portfolio.
“We continue to focus on achieving exceptional performance while fulfilling our values and commitments to our stakeholders”, concluded Mr. Hardy.
Newmont Gold was founded in 1921 and currently has about 19,0000 employees and 18,0000 contractors working in its mines located in Australia, Ghana, Peru, Suriname, Mexico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and the United States.
Its African Operations are located in Ghana where it started operations in 2006. It currently operates two mines in the country located in Akyem and Ahafo.
