East African gold producer Caracal Gold has appointed Riaan Lombard as GM of its Kenya-based Kilimapesa gold operations and Paul Reeves as group CFO. Both appointments are effective as of February 1.

Caracal CE Robbie McCrae says these two key appointments will help bolster the Caracal team not only on the ground at the producing Kilimapesa gold mine, as the company advances it to the next phase of its expansion, but also at the company’s corporate headquarters in the UK.

Namibian resident Lombard is a qualified mining engineer with 25 years of experience across a multitude of senior management and technical roles and a diverse range of commodity projects in West Africa, East Africa and South America.

His recent roles include COO of Namibia-based Kahl Group; mining industry head at Louis-Dreyfus Group; and operations manager at Iamgold’s South America-based Rosebel gold mine.

Lombard has also worked as GM of Kenmare Resources’ Mozambique-based Moma titanium mine and mining manager at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mali-based Semos openpit gold mine.

His extensive operational and technical background across project management, large openpit mining, and various underground operations, coupled with solid commercial experience, makes him an “ideal fit” to take the producing Kilimapesa gold mining and processing to the next phase of its development and planned major expansion programmes aimed at increasing gold production, Caracal says.

Lombard’s primary focus will include managing the planned expansion to both the underground and openpit operations, and the carbon-in-leach processing plant and proposed new heap leach operations.

In terms of exploration, he will oversee the diamond drilling and reverse circulation drilling programmes, aimed at building out the initial gold resource base to between two-million and three-million ounces and supporting a gold mining operation capable of producing 50 000 oz/y.

Lombard will also take on the role of project director for Tanzania and play a crucial role in Caracal’s expansion into developing its gold mining projects there following the recent acquisitions of Nyakafuru and Simba gold projects.

“[Lombard’s] impressive array of management experience across a variety of mining projects across Africa . . . means he is ideally placed to spearhead advancement of gold mining operations at Kilimapesa and our expansion into East Africa – two core pillars of Caracal’s expansion strategy,” says McCrae.

PAUL REEVES
Reeves is a qualified associate chartered accountant with a litany of financial controller experience across the mining world, particularly across Africa, serving most recently for tier-one gold producer Endeavour Mining at their London-based office.

Prior to that, he was Thor Exploration’s Segilola gold project financial controller, worked as a financial consultant for various companies, including Ausdrill at its Burkina Faso-based African Mining Services and Nigeria-based Macmahon Contractors as well as also having helped set up the finance division at AngloGold Ashanti’s Guinea-based Siguiri mine.

“[Reeves’] wealth of experience in financial management across large and small cap miners . . . means he is more than qualified to lead Caracal’s financial division amid its exciting expansion,” says McCrae.