Vedanta Resources appoints Deshnee Naidoo as CEO Africa Base Metals

Vedanta Resources today said it has appointed Deshnee Naidoo as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - Africa Base Metals.

The appointment, the company said, is in line with its commitments to enhance African operations.

"Vedanta Resources today announced the appointment of Ms Deshnee Naidoo, as the CEO - Africa Base Metals. Ms Naidoo's appointment signals the Vedanta group's ongoing commitment to enhancing its African operations, and will seek to identify and drive synergies across these operations ... in line with the group's vision of business with purpose," the company said in a statement.

Naidoo will combine the leadership of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia and Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) in South Africa and Namibia, as well as Copper Mines of Tasmania, it said.

In this role she will also assume responsibility of Chief Executive Officer, KCM, it said adding that the appointment coincides with the departure of Steven Din, KCM's current CEO, who will leave Vedanta group this July.

Naidoo joined Vedanta Resources in 2014 with over 20 years' experience in the resources industry, including platinum, thermal coal and manganese.

Prior to joining the Vedanta Group, she was Chief Financial Officer of Anglo American Thermal Coal, South Africa.

As CEO of VZI she has led the development of the USD 400 million Gamsberg Project, which will come into production in mid-2018, as well as the development of the Pit 112 Project at Skorpion Zinc, the statement said.

Chairman of Vedanta Resources, Anil Agarwal commented, "Deshnee has successfully brought on new production at Gamsberg and won the respect and confidence of the teams that she leads. I'm delighted that we have a woman leader from Africa at the helm of our African operations. We have strong ambitions for our business in Africa and Deshnee is committed to deliver on these".