March 18, 2023, Dakar
PRESS RELEASE
GCO announces the appointment of its new Managing Director
Frédéric Zanklan has been appointed Managing Director of GCO. This appointment follows the Board of Directors’ meeting held on March 15, 2024. He succeeds Guillaume Kurek, who held the position for nearly three years.
A graduate of the École Supérieure Polytechnique de Thiès, Frédéric Zanklan has an extensive international career in the field of civil engineering for mines and project management. After several years at AcelorMittal where he held various operational positions, he decided to join Eramet in 2018 to start up the Weda Bay Nickel mine. After 3 years in Indonesia, he accepted a new challenge in New Caledonia at SLN where he first held the position of Director of Mine Development before being promoted to Director of Mines.
Guillaume Kurek will be appointed Deputy Managing Director of SLN as of April 1, 2024.
Since 2014, GCO has been extracting mineral sand along the Atlantic coast within a 106-kilometer concession.
An investment of US$800 million has made it possible to develop a mine and its dredge, two plants, a power plant, a 550-bed life camp, 100 km of railway, and port facilities in Dakar.
The company has become the world’s 4th largest producer of titanium products and zircon.
The 4th largest mining contributor to the Senegalese state budget, GCO employs over 2,000 people. In 2022, it became the first Senegalese mining company to initiate a process of restoring reclaimed and revegetated land.
GCO is also a world reference in terms of occupational safety with its 18 million hours worked without a recorded lost-time accident at the end of February 2024.
Frédéric Zanklan said: “I am very pleased to join GCO to accelerate its development by continuing to combine operational excellence and societal excellence.”
