LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Acacia Mining’s top two executives have resigned in the midst of talks between its parent company and the Tanzanian government aimed at ending a long-running dispute that has hit Acacia’s operations.
Barrick Gold, the world’s biggest gold miner and 63.9 percent owner of Acacia, struck a deal with Tanzania last month to end the dispute, part of which involved Acacia making a $300 million payment to the east African country.
But Acacia, whose three producing gold mines are in Tanzania and was not directly involved in the talks, appeared to have been taken by surprise by the announcement by Barrick chairman John Thornton and President John Magufuli. It said last week it could not immediately afford the payment.
Acacia said on Thursday that its chief executive Brad Gordon and finance chief Andrew Wray would both leave at the end of the year two weeks after chief operating officer Mark Marcombe also resigned. It said Gordon was returning to Australia for family reason, while Wray was pursuing other opportunities.
“The obvious conclusion would be that those two individuals feel that the situation in Tanzania is not going to get resolved sensibly or quickly,” said Peel Hunt analyst Peter Mallin-Jones
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