Northern Star Resources picked the head of Glencore's nickel and zinc industrial assets to be its next chief executive, opting for an outsider as it faces pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management for change.
Suresh Vadnagra--who, prior to Glencore, oversaw major projects and technical teams at gold company Newcrest Mining--will succeed CEO of 10 years Stuart Tonkin in October, Northern Star said.
The gold miner in May flagged Tonkin's intention to step down. Two weeks later, Elliott said it had built a stake valued at more than 1.0 billion Australian dollars, equivalent to US$689 million, and urged exhaustive operational and strategic reviews.
Northern Star, Australia's biggest gold miner, has been grappling with operational challenges, resulting in repeated downgrades to investor guidance. Its struggles mean it hasn't been able to fully capitalize on strength in the gold price, which reached a record high earlier this year.
Elliott said significant change is needed to earn back the trust of investors. It called for Northern Star to, among other things, prioritize hiring "a world-class external CEO with deep operational and turnaround experience to rectify the issues across the portfolio."
It had wanted the gold miner to add new directors to help with the CEO search.
On Thursday, Northern Star said Deputy Chairman Michael Ashforth would succeed Chairman Michael Chaney later this year. Chaney had previously advised shareholders this would be his last term.
Ashforth's "background in governance, transactions, capital allocation and leadership oversight positions him well to lead the board through Northern Star's next phase of growth," the miner said.
Northern Star said Vadnagra's appointment as CEO was the result of a comprehensive search that spanned internal and external candidates across the gold sector, diversified mining companies, base-metals producers and adjacent mining-related organizations.
"Suresh is an accomplished mining executive with the experience and capabilities to unlock the full potential of our assets and our people," said Chaney, the departing chair.
Northern Star announced the appointments as it reported total gold sales of 433,000 troy ounces for the three months ended June 30. Annual gold sales exceeded 1.5 million ounces, in line with revised guidance, it said.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 01, 2026 19:33 ET (23:33 GMT)
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