By: OrePulse

AngloGold Ashanti, one of Africa's largest gold producers with major operations in Ghana, Tanzania and Guinea, said on September 25 that it has appointed Paul Graves, the former chief executive of Rio Tinto Lithium, as an independent non-executive director. The appointment takes effect October 1.

Graves will join the board's Audit and Risk Committee, as well as its Social, Ethics and Sustainability Committee, bringing more than three decades of experience across natural resources, corporate finance and public-company leadership.

His most recent executive post came at Rio Tinto Lithium, a unit formed after Rio Tinto's takeover of Arcadium Lithium, where Graves had been president and chief executive. Before that, he led battery-materials producer Livent Corporation in the same roles. Earlier, he spent six years as executive vice president and chief financial officer at FMC Corporation, from 2012 to 2018.

Graves began his career in finance, spending 12 years at Goldman Sachs, where he rose to partner and oversaw the bank's natural-resources business in Asia before leading its global chemical investment-banking division. He currently holds a board seat at Charles River Laboratories International, where he chairs its strategic planning and capital allocation committee and serves on its audit committee.

AngloGold Ashanti chairperson Jochen Tilk said Graves would add international executive experience and financial rigor to the board. "Graves brings to the board a rare combination of international executive leadership, deep financial discipline and decades of experience across commodities and natural resources," Tilk said, adding that his track record "will bring exceptional value to AngloGold Ashanti as we continue to execute on our long-term strategy."

The appointment coincides with a separate company event: AngloGold Ashanti is hosting institutional investors and analysts on a site visit to its consolidated Beatty Mining District landholding in southern Nevada. The tour is intended to showcase progress toward turning the district into a major new US gold-producing region, built initially around the North Bullfrog project before the larger, Tier 1-ranked Arthur gold project becomes its long-term anchor.

Graves' arrival gives the miner a director with direct experience in lithium and other battery metals, an area of natural-resources dealmaking distinct from AngloGold Ashanti's core gold business, alongside his banking background in resource-sector finance.