OCEANAGOLD ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES AND NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWSWIRE SERVICES./
MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 15 /CNW/ - The Board of Directors of OceanaGold Corporation (ASX: OGC, TSX: OGC, NZX: OGC) ("the Company") are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Mick Wilkes as Chief Executive Officer, commencing in mid-January, 2011. In the intervening period, he will finish up his role as Executive General Manager of Operations at OZ Minerals.
Mick Wilkes is a mining engineer with 26 years of broad international experience, predominantly in precious and base metals across Asia and Australia. Most recently, he had responsibility for the evaluation studies and construction of the Prominent Hill copper gold project ($1.2B) in South Australia, which is one of the more significant recent resource developments (100,000 tpa copper and 200,000 ozpa gold) in Australia.
Previously he was General Manager of the Sepon gold copper project for Oxiana in Laos where he was responsible for operations, leading the site team that built and commissioned the first international standard mining operation in the country. His earlier experience was in Papua New Guinea in various senior roles and, at the outset of his career, at Mount Isa Mines in operations and design.
Mr. Wilkes (BE, MBA) is a member of the AusIMM and currently a Board member of Aboriginal Enterprises in Mining, Exploration and Energy, and the South Australia Chamber of Minerals and Energy.
Jim Askew, Executive Chairman commented "Mick joins OceanaGold as we engage in our next phase of growth in the Philippines, underpinned by our solid production platform in New Zealand. He brings a record of recent successes at Prominent Hill and Sepon, together with broad operations experience in both Australia and across Asia. The benchmarks he has set with local communities in Asian environments are also welcomed. Together with other recent additions to the senior executive team at OceanaGold, the Company has strong leadership fully equipped to consolidate us as an intermediate sized, low cost gold producer."
About OceanaGold
OceanaGold Corporation is a significant Pacific Rim gold producer with projects located on the South Island of New Zealand and in the Philippines. The Company's assets encompass New Zealand's largest gold mining operation at the Macraes goldfield in Otago which is made up of the Macraes open pit and the Frasers Underground mines. Additionally on the west coast of the South Island, the Company operates the Reefton open-pit mine. OceanaGold produces between 270,000 - 290,000 ounces of gold per annum from the New Zealand operations. The Company also owns the Didipio Project in northern Luzon, Philippines where construction is scheduled to re-commence in H1 2011.
OceanaGold is listed on the Toronto, Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges under the symbol OGC.
For further information:
Mr Darren Klinck
Vice President, Corporate and Investor Relations
Tel: +61(3) 9656 5300
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