Endeavour Mining ousts CEO over ‘serious misconduct’

Endeavour Mining’s Board of Directors announced that it had terminated its president and chief executive officer, Sébastien de Montessus, for serious misconduct with immediate effect.

The announcement follows an investigation by the board into an irregular payment instruction issued by him in relation to an asset disposal undertaken by the company. The amount of this irregular payment instruction is US$5.9 million.

“The board recently became aware of this in the course of a review of acquisitions and disposals, which is ongoing. Sébastien de Montessus has been removed from the company’s Board of Directors with immediate effect,” the company wrote in a press release.

Reuters reported that Sebastien de Montessus, who was also removed as president and from the board, said in an e-mailed statement that in 2021 he had instructed a creditor of Endeavour to offset an amount owed to the company to pay for essential security equipment to "protect our partners and employees in a conflict zone."

"The decision had no additional cost to the company and did not benefit me personally in any way. I omitted to inform the board that I had arranged for this offset, which I have freely accepted was a lapse in judgement."

He said this week he was given 48 hours’ notice of the concerns and "no proper opportunity to answer them".

Separately, in October 2023 allegations were made against Sébastien de Montessus through the company’s confidential whistleblowing channel relating to his personal conduct with colleagues. Following a recent external investigation, the board had received the findings and, at the point of termination, was considering the appropriate course of action.

The board has appointed Ian Cockerill (currently Deputy Chair of the Board) as chief executive officer and executive director with immediate effect.

Cockerill has more than four decades of experience in the global natural resources industry. During his career he has held senior roles covering operational, project and executive positions around the world, having held executive roles at major international mining companies, including chief executive officer of Gold Fields and Anglo Coal, a subsidiary of Anglo American, as well as non-executive positions. Cockerill will be reviewing his other, current directorships in light of his appointment as chief executive officer and executive director of Endeavour.

Photo: A gold pour at Endeavour Mining’s Houndé Mine.