• Craig Jones will take over as CEO of Perseus Mining on October 1, 2025.
• Jeff Quartermaine led Perseus for 12 years and expanded its operations across West Africa.
• Perseus expects annual gold output of 515,000–535,000 ounces from 2026 to 2030.

Jeff Quartermaine, who joined Perseus Mining as chief financial officer in 2010 before rising to managing director, has been a pivotal force behind the company’s expansion across West Africa. Under his leadership, Perseus grew to operate three gold mines—in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana—and developed two additional projects in Sudan and Tanzania.

After steering the Australian-based gold producer for 12 years, Quartermaine is set to step down. A company announcement on August 1, 2025, confirmed that Craig Jones will succeed him as CEO on October 1. Although Jones lacks direct experience in West Africa, he brings a wealth of expertise from his more than a decade at Newcrest Mining, one of Australia’s leading gold firms. Notably, he served as interim operations director during Newcrest’s 2023 acquisition by Newmont, the world’s largest gold producer. Jones is scheduled to join Perseus on August 18 before officially stepping into his new role in early October.

The appointment of Craig Jones signals Perseus Mining’s continued ambition to solidify its footprint across Africa’s gold mining landscape. Following last year’s acquisition of OreCorp, which brought the Nyanzaga gold project in Tanzania under its control, Perseus has expanded aggressively—adding to its portfolio with the 2022 takeover of Orca Gold and its assets in Sudan. While conflict in Sudan has hampered development there, Nyanzaga is slated to begin production in 2027. The company projects annual output between 515,000 and 535,000 ounces from 2026 through 2030.

Rick Menell, Perseus’s chairman, expressed confidence in the new appointment: "We are delighted to welcome Craig to the Perseus team as Managing Director and CEO. Perseus is going through a significant phase of growth, in an environment that is getting increasingly complex, so we need a leader of Craig’s calibre to build on Jeff’s incredible legacy and confirm – and further grow – our position as one of the world’s better performing mid-tier gold producers. Craig brings a wealth of strategic, operational and technical expertise, a deep understanding of complex operating jurisdictions and stakeholder management and a clear commitment to sustainable practices."

The true impact of this leadership change at Perseus Mining remains to be seen, particularly in a West African region where resource nationalism is gaining momentum. While Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire have so far largely avoided such pressures, the Ivorian government is currently revising its mining code, the details of which remain confidential. Notably, more than half of Perseus’s gold production—496,551 ounces in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025—came from its Côte d'Ivoire operations, underscoring the country’s significance within the company’s portfolio.

This article was initially published in French by Emiliano Tossou

Edited in English by Ange Jason Quenum