Eramet names Paulo Castellari as next CEO

French mining group Eramet on Thursday said it had nominated Paulo Castellari to be its next chief executive following Christel Bories’ decision to step down.

Eramet said that Castellari will assume the CEO position on May 27, following a vote at the group’s annual shareholder meeting. Bories will remain chairwoman of the group.

Castellari – born in 1970 and a dual Brazilian and Italian citizen – has over 30 years’ experience in mining and metals as well as in the fertilizers and energy industries in South and North America, Europe and Africa, Eramet said in a statement.

From 2003 to 2015 he worked at Anglo American, and in 2016, he was appointed deputy CEO and CFO of CEMIG, a Brazilian electrical power company, before joining aluminum producer EGA as CEO of Guinea Alumina Corporation.

Since 2019, Castellari has been CEO of the Brazilian branch of Appian Capital Advisory, a mining-focused private equity group.

Eramet said last month that Bories would give up the chief executive role in May while remaining chairwoman.

Bories, CEO since 2017, has overseen a shift in Eramet’s strategy towards minerals used for electric vehicle batteries, notably by developing a lithium mine in Argentina that began production at the end of last year.

(By Gus Trompiz; Editing by GV De Clercq and Nick Zieminski)