LONDON – Iron-ore miner London Mining has hired Michael Miles to be its chairman, appointing the former chairman of fund manager Schroders to its board with immediate effect.

The miner, which produces iron-ore in Sierra Leone, said it current chairman, Colin Knight, would step down from the role at the start of 2013, after almost eight years.

“This is the right time for a new chairman to steer the company as it takes its projects in Sierra Leone and Greenland through to their next phases,” Knight said.

Miles, who has also been chairman of speciality chemicals company Johnson Matthey, has experience in China, the world’s largest consumer of iron ore, through an early career in Cathay Pacific.

He stepped down as chairman of Schroders in May after nine years.

London Mining is pleased to announce the appointment of John Wonnacott, as the Project Director for the Isua Project in Greenland and Rinaldo Nardi as Senior Specialist in Mineral Processing and Plant Design.

John Wonnacott is a civil and geotechnical engineer with 30 years experience with particular expertise in the development of projects in cold weather climates. Most notably between 1997 and 2003 John was the Deputy Project manager and Chief Engineer of the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada where he hired, led and directed a team of engineers responsible for the design and construction of a $1.3 billion new mine installation 100 Km south of Arctic Circle.

Rinaldo Nardi is a mining engineer and is also a doctor in mineral engineering. He has 35 years experience including 25 years with Vale. Rinaldo has significant expertise of managing both iron ore and coal projects at the design, construction and start-up stages.

John and Rinaldo augment the project and technical services teams led by COO Luciano Ramos. Luciano's team has recently been expanded to provide support for the continued fast track development of projects in China, Sierra Leone, Saudi Arabia and Greenland.

In the last quarterly report London Mining announced the hiring of Phillip Sterling, a metallurgical engineer with over 25 years experience with Samarco Mineração Rio do Norte, Savage River Mines and BHP Billiton, as General Manager for Mineral Processing, Engineering & Mining Operations, and Sergio Guedes, a geologist with over 20 years experience and formerly with CVRD and Rio Tinto, as General Manager for Mineral Resources.  Separately, David Keili, a Sierra Leone national with extensive western training in the US including an MBA, and 28 years experience in civil engineering and mining, was appointed as Project Director for the Marampa Project in Sierra Leone.

Luciano Ramos said "The success of any company is directly linked with the competency and capability of its team. London Mining's investment in the right people has been the cornerstone of its success so far and we continue to build on our core of industry professionals with experience of some of the world's best mining projects. Our aim is to have a technical services and project management capability that will enable us to execute our ambition to become a leading mining company."

Newcrest Mining have told shareholders a period of strong dividend growth can be expected as capital spending on projects peak and higher rates of gold are produced.

Newcrest chairman Don Mercer told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting that the completion of two major projects would see capital expenditure reduce at the same time as the price of gold was rising, WA Today reported.

‘Other things being equal, this should allow for greater dividend distribution to shareholders in the future, if gold prices remain strong,” he said.

Earlier this year, Newcrest posted a 50 per cent jump in net profit, with $659 million coming in for the six months to December, a rise on the previous $438 million.

The company also recorded a five per cent rise in gold production, six per cent rise in copper, and massive 22 per cent jump in silver production.

Newcrest operates mines in four countries, and has a global workforce exceeding 19,000.