Gemfields announced it has appointed former De Beers CEO and cochair Bruce Cleaver as chair and independent non-executive director.
Cleaver will begin in the new role on 1 July 2024 and will also become chair of the nomination committee, said Gemfields. Cleaver joined De Beers in 2016 and headed the company for more than six years, overseeing the launch of Lightbox and the creation of blockchain platform Tracr among other key initiatives. He left as CEO of De Beers in 2022 and stepped down as cochair in January.
Cleaver’s reputation as a preeminent leader is well documented and he brings considerable experience of mining gemstones in Africa and marketing them internationally, said Gemfields. Cleaver will succeed Martin Tolcher, who has served as a board member since 2008 and as chair since 2019 in Gemfields.
“Gemfields is a unique and extraordinary business, one that has taken a fragmented and fairly informal industry to considerable sophistication as the first consistent supplier of significant quantities of colored gemstones in a responsible and transparent manner. The colored gemstone market has long-transcended the arrival of its lab-grown counterparts, with lab-grown rubies having been around for more than 120 years,” said Cleaver.
He also mentioned that he looks forward to working with Gemfields team to prepare the company for its next stage of growth, which includes the construction of a new processing plant at Montepuez Ruby Mining Limitada, the company’s ruby mine in Mozambique. The new plant, designed to triple throughput capacity, is scheduled to be completed during the first half of 2025, he said. (Photo courtesy: De Beers)
20-06-2024
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