Johannesburg - Darryll Castle has been appointed an independent non-executive director at PPC, effective from Friday, the company said.
“Darryll holds B.Sc (Civil) and B Com degrees, a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification,” PPC said in a statement.
“Through his extensive career he has accumulated a broad range of experience and skills spanning the fields of corporate management, fund management, financial analysis, mining and engineering.”
Castle had extensive experience in the mining industry, having served as chief executive of Trafigura Mining Group and Anvil Mining Limited.
“He has also occupied the position of chief operations officer at Metorex Group Limited,” the company said.
“He will also serve as a member of the audit committee and the deal committee.”
Castle also had first-hand operations and project experience on the African continent, having worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Angola and Tanzania.
Bheki Sibiya, executive chairman of PPC, said Castle's extensive experience and knowledge of various African countries and emerging markets would add great value to PPC.
This included the deep relationships that Castle had built over the years.
“We welcome him to the board and look forward to his insight and contribution.”
On September 29, former PPC chief executive Ketso Gordhan said he resigned from the company because of a disagreement over decision making, but was willing to return to the position.
“The board and I disagreed about their appropriate delegation of authority and the limits of my decision making on personnel matters,” the former PPC executive said in a statement.
“Specifically, they opposed my desire to exit a senior executive from the business whom I believed was putting the strategy of the company at risk.”
He said as chief executive he was authorised to make that decision.
“The ensuing interference by the board led to my loss of confidence in their ability to manage the business in a manner that is consistent with shareholder interests.”
PPC said on the same day it had nothing further to say about Gordhan's resignation.
Gordhan said he remained a material shareholder, and would go back as chief executive “in a heartbeat” if shareholders agreed it was in the company's best interests. - Sapa