On October 19, 2020 John Smelt was appointed as the Head of Petropavlovsk's Corporate Affairs Department with 20 years of experience as a manager in the mining sector. Previously he was Head of Corporate Communications at KAZ Minerals and Head of Investor Relations at Rio Tinto. In addition, Alya Samokhvalova has left the company and Dorcas Murray has been appointed corporate secretary. He will take up his duties on November 2, 2020 and will report to the Chairman and work closely with John and the Board of Directors.