Regis shuffles management amid lower profits

Regis Resources has unveiled a restructure of its management team just weeks after reporting a slump in half-year profit and experiencing major flooding at its Duketon gold operations.

Regis has appointed Paul Thomas to the newly created position of chief operating officer, and Glyn Evans as a non-executive director.

Mr Thomas joins Regis from Australian-listed OM Holdings, where he was part of the senior executive management team, while Mr Evans has more than three decades of experience in geology.

The company has also promoted Michael Evans from projects manager to chief development officer. Tom Hinkley and Myles Ertzen were promoted to general managers of operations.

Mr Hinkley was previously general manager of the company’s Moolart Well operation, while Mr Ertzen was a project manager.

The reshuffle comes after the company earlier this month reported a 32 per cent slump in first-half profit of $45.7 million for the six months ending December 31.

The results were attributed to higher production costs following a fall in head grades at its Garden Well and Moolart mines, as well as a lower realised gold price of $1,488 per ounce for the period.

The announcement of a drop in profits followed news the company’s Duketon operation, which includes the Garden Well, Moolart and Rosemont gold mines, suffered torrential rain in February which flooded operations.

Regis expects to restart mining at its Rosemont and Garden Well mines, which were the worst affected, in May and July respectively, while the Moolart mine was unaffected and is continuing at full production.

Regis produced 71,991oz of gold in the December quarter, which comprised 26,506oz at Moolart, 37,206oz at Garden Well and 8,259oz at Rosemont.