People: Changing the guard

Tim Wilkes has replaced Philip Kenny as chief executive officer of Firestone Diamonds as its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho resumes production. Wilkes, former head of mining resource management at gem giant De Beers, who joined AIM-quoted Firestone six years ago as chief operating officer and helped reorient its efforts, takes the helm at a time when the company hopes to take annual production from Liqhobong to 500,000 carats a year.

Kenny, whose father Jim Kenny stood down as chairman not so long ago along with co-founder Hugh Jenner-Clarke, has become executive chairman of Firestone and argues that the changes reflect its move from development to production, which has started well. He suggests that the company, which acquired Liqhobong when it bought Kopane Diamonds from abrasive entrepreneur Frank Scolaro’s Obtala Resources, could generate revenues of $50 million (£31 million) in this calendar year, helped by the rising trend in rough diamond prices.

Firestone’s other chief project, BK 11 in Botswana, is suffering ‘teething problems’ with its plant, which needs to modify its ore-crushing circuits. Kenny says this will be done by the end of the second quarter. Broker Mirabaud sees the company, which cut losses from £11 million to £2.4 million in the financial year to last June, losing £2 million in 2010-11 before moving into profits to the tune of £10 million in 2011-12.

Kenny, whose 13-year stewardship of Firestone has not won it much stock market glamour, says spotting deals, negotiating licences and fixing finance were his specialities. Running a mining operation is more Wilkes’s province.