Ex-mining chief to forfeit $30m after alleged misconduct

A FTSE 100 mining boss who was fired for alleged serious misconduct is to lose nearly $30m (£24m) as his former employer claws back cash.

Last night, Endeavour Mining said that its former chief executive Sébastien de Montessus would forfeit share options, pay and bonuses.

It is clawing back a $10m one-off award to Mr De Montessus in 2021 and a $1.5m cash portion received for 2022.

The company is blocking an expected $2m bonus for 2023 and $15.6m in shares that had been set aside for him.

It said the total amount forfeited and being clawed back is $29.1m.

Endeavour Mining, the largest gold producer in West Africa, announced on Jan 4 that it had terminated the employment of Mr De Montessus for “serious misconduct” after uncovering an

“irregular payment instruction” of $5.9m. It also noted that it had been handed a report into Mr De Montessus’s “personal conduct with colleagues”.

But Mr De Montessus denied any wrongdoing, saying that he had “instructed a creditor of Endeavour to offset an amount owed to the company to pay for essential security equipment to protect our partners and employees in a conflict zone. The decision had no additional cost to the company and did not benefit me personally in any way”. Mr De Montessus also rejected the suggestion of any personal misconduct with colleagues, saying that “no misconduct of any kind was discovered because none occurred”.

Yesterday, he said that he was “disappointed with the way that this matter has been handled and that I have not been given an opportunity to make proper representations to either the board or the remuneration committee”.