That announced limited him to June 2007 and hence it did affect the sp.
Check this link http://www.thewest.com.au/20060209/business/tw-business-home-sto133411.html
Comment at end of article should be changed if Kiernan is staying on as Chairman and Baxter was in charge of Strategy amongst other things.
Anglo is big on strategy and a clear direction.
Baxter tops ConsMin list
MICHAEL WEIR
Sharemarket-hammered Consolidated Minerals is poised to tap an internal candidate, technical services manager Rodney Baxter, to replace outgoing boss Michael Kiernan.
It is understood Mr Baxter, a former long-serving Anglo American executive, is one of two final candidates who will be considered for the job by the ConsMin board at a meeting on Wednesday.
The company declined to comment yesterday, but Mr Baxter is seen as an obvious choice because of his intimate knowledge of the chrome and manganese miner and his experience in international marketing and exploration.
Mr Kiernan's replacement faces the tough task of reversing ConsMin's dramatic share price slide, which has wiped 35 per cent, or more than $300 million, from the company's market value since WestBusiness revealed in October Mr Kiernan's plans to leave.
The losses grew yesterday with the stock falling a further 9¢ to a 13-month low of $2.59 on continued uncertainty about ConsMin's direction post-Kiernan and concerns about a weaker manganese market.
Mr Kiernan would only confirm yesterday that ConsMin had narrowed its short-list to two after a global search and interviews.
He and chairman Colin Smith, who have been running the search, had made a choice that they would take to the board next week.
Mr Baxter joined ConsMin about 12 months ago as group services general manager with responsibility for exploration, tenements and business development activities. Before that, he spent nine years with global miner Anglo American, most recently as projects director.
It is understood that following the appointment of a new managing director Mr Kiernan will replace the retiring Mr Smith as chairman of the group. Mr Kiernan, who is seen as the driving force behind ConsMin's stellar growth, shocked the market in October when he scrapped a new long-term management contract and said he would quit after a backlash from institutional investors over a lucrative share scheme.
When the five-year management contract was negotiated in 2004 it included incentive shares worth $1 million a year for meeting certain performance targets.
But the company decided not to put the contract to shareholders until the 2005 annual meeting in October, by which time the value of the incentive component of the contract had blown out with ConsMin's share price, which leapt from around $1.30 to a peak of almost $4.40.
Euroz Securities analyst Greg Chessell said there was still a lot of uncertainty surrounding ConsMin.
"The quarterly production figures were OK but the manganese market does not appear to be as buoyant as what some people think," he said.
"There is also uncertainty over the direction of the company and the issue of a new managing director, and those things don't prompt people to buy the stock."
CSM Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
