20th Jan 2021 10:22
(Alliance News) - Petropavlovsk PLC on Wednesday reported its mines have continued to operate as normal despite the "significant" challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Russia-focused gold miner noted in its interim results in October that it had experienced "a lack of co-operation from a small group of senior employees and ongoing related legal hearings in Russia."
At the time, Russian police were investigating interim head Maksim Meshcheryakov over an incident in August of forced entry into the company's Moscow office. He was attempting, with the full support of the Petropavlovsk board, to safeguard the company's assets and information, which some employees and ex-employees were preventing him from accessing, Petropavlovsk said.
Following this, Petropavlovsk said the situation has improved markedly in recent weeks, and it has seen co-operation fully restored.
Additionally, Petropavlovsk said that on December 24, former chief executive Pavel Maslovskiy, was reportedly arrested in Russia on a charge of embezzlement related to a real estate transaction in 2018. The proceedings will be monitored and, to the extent that they impact on or involve the company, Petropavlovsk said it will update the market.
Shareholders including Everest Alliance and JSC Uzhuralzoloto group of companies orchestrated the removal of seven Petropavlovsk directors, including co-founder Maslovskiy, back in June.
Petropavlovsk said it plans to publish its fourth quarter and full-year sales and production report on January 26. It will announce its production and capex outlook for 2021 and its 2020 results separately.
Shares in Petropavlovsk were up 2.5% at 32.12 pence in London on Wednesday.
By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com
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