egolinews.com

Lihir Gold limited (LGL) announced the resignation of chief executive Arthur Hood today. The company said Mr Hood would step down immediately and chief financial officer Phil Baker has been appointed as interim CEO pending a global search for a new chief executive.

Mr Hood said that after more than four years as CEO, he had achieved his primary goal of overseeing the transformation of the company from a single mine operation to a multi-mine company producing in excess of one million ounces of gold per year.

“LGL is now one of the world’s leading gold producers and is consistently performing very well, with excellent growth options for the future,” Mr Hood said.

“It is therefore the right time for me to step aside to enable an orderly transition to a new CEO.”

Chairman Ross Garnaut said MR Hood had successfully led Lihir Gold through a major growth phase which has seen production increase from around 600,000 ounces per year in 2005 to more than 1.1 million ounces in 2009.

”He built a strong management team to take the company forward into its next phase of growth, and under his stewardship the group’s financial position has been significantly enhanced,” Dr Garnaut said.

”LGL’s share price has increased from $1.63 at the announcement of Arthur’s appointment in September, 2005, to $3.29 on Friday, and the company is now ranked among the world’s largest gold producers.”

Lihir said Mr Hood’s termination package includes a cash payment of $2.3million and 3.5 million share rights previously awarded.

In addition, the company said Mr Hood would receive a cash payment of $1.3 million in lieu of share rights that he would have been entitled to in the current year.

Lihir said it would present its production report for the fourth quarter of 2009 on January 22.

As at 1107 AEDT, Lihir Gold shares were up 4c to $3.33.