Gem Diamonds announced that Gavin Beevers would not seek re-election as a Non-Executive Director next year after having served on the Board for almost 11 years and that a replacement would be announced shortly. The company is pleased to announced that Mike Brown is to replace Gavin who in turn will resign from the Board with effect from 31 December 2017. Mike Brown will join the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 January 2018. Mr. Brown is currently a Non-Executive Director of Nevada Copper (appointed on 2 December 2013), an Advisor to Pala Investments, a Managing Partner for Palaris in Africa, and has opened his own mining advisory company. He has over 35 years' experience in the resources industry in operational, senior management, and director roles. Mr. Brown spent 6 years in Switzerland as the Managing Director Technical at Pala where he oversaw all technical aspects of the investments, including the risks associated with resource performance, project management, ramp up, operations, and the associated working capital and financial controls.