EMBATTLED miner, RioZim Limited’s (RioZim) has appointed Diedre Niehaus, as the head of its Legal, Human Resources and Administration with effect from July 1, 2024.
The appointment comes amid RioZim’s liquidity having shrunk by nearly 8% in its half-year performance for the period ended June 30, 2024, after losses widened by nearly 50% over the same period.
For the half-year period, RioZim recorded a loss of ZiG165,71 million, from a 2023 comparative of ZiG110,48 million.
The loss was attributed to a 27% decline in gold production for the period under review.
“The board of directors of RioZim Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Diedre Niehaus, as the Head of Legal, Human Resources and Administration with effect from the 1st July 2024,” RioZim said, in a statement on Monday.
“Ms Niehaus is a seasoned Legal Counsel who holds BComm (Law) and B-Proc LLB degrees (R.A.U) and is studying towards completing her LLM in International Trade and Investment Law. She has been engaged in the African mining/resources and oil & gas/energy sectors for the past 22 years, specialising in mining law, energy law, oil & gas law, general commercial law, mergers & acquisitions, and cross-border transactions.”
The last appointment by the board came last month when Srilatha Cherukuri was appointed as a non-executive director with effect from August 1, 2024.
Cherukuri is a registered chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a Master of Commerce from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Cherukuri has over 28 years of post-qualification experience specialising in audit, retail, airport, PPP, commercial real estate, and infrastructure with reputed companies.
RioZim said Niehaus has also worked as a transaction advisor in various jurisdictions throughout Africa, involving virtually all precious and base metals, heavy minerals, industrial minerals and the oil and gas sectors.
“She has held senior legal counsel and executive positions for resources companies listed on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange and advised various international companies (NYSE, LSE, ASX, TSX and AIM listed) on the structuring of M&A transactions, tax issues, corporate, structured and project finance and cross-border transactions in the mining and oil & gas industry in Africa and the Middle East,” RioZim said.
“Diedre has served on the EXCO team of several mining houses such as Namakwa Diamonds, AREVA Resources (now Orano), AREVA Exploration Central Africa and Uranium One.”
