Petropavlovsk gets new Chief Exec

Petropavlovsk, the Russia-focused mining company, is saying goodbye to its Chief Executive Dr. Pavel Maslovskiy, who has been elected to membership of the Amur region Duma. That election has also seen him nominated to become a member of the Federation Council of Russia, which is the upper house in the Russian Parliament.

His replacement as Chief Executive will be 58-year old Sergey Ermolenko who has held management positions with the firm since its founding in 1994.

Ermolenko has limited English so will rely on the newly appointed deputy Chief Executive, Martin Smith, for communications with investors. Smith has been with Petropavlovsk for 16 years.

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The firm operates four gold mines in the Russian far eastern province of Amur. In 2011 Petropavlovsk is aiming for production of 600,000 oz of gold.

Pavel Maslovskiy said that he would retain a "substantial interest" in Petropavlovsk through a discretionary trust.

The Chairman of the firm, mining magnate Peter Hambro, commented: "It is a great honour for the Company that Pavel's achievements have been publicly recognised and we are all delighted for him personally....In Sergey Ermolenko, we have a very capable new CEO who knows the business inside out and who is already fully up to speed with the Company's strategy and operations."

Shares in Petropavlovsk opened down 0.31% in London on today's news. Over the year to date the stock is down 42% although someone buying shares in Petropavlovsk five years ago would still be 32% up.

BS