General manager and vice-president of Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb Hans Nolte has resigned and would leave the smelter in December. Nolte has been working at the smelter since 1991 and played an instrumental role in getting investors for the Tsumeb smelter at a time when it was unable to finance its operations. He has been part of the smelter management for 15 years and has lived through the changes in ownership over the years, but he says the past few years have been stressful.
“By the end of this year I will be leaving. The past four years have been stressful, but I achieved what I wanted and I’m very happy. Nobody is irreplaceable. I’m not going to leave Tsumeb,” he said. Nolte said he is proud and very pleased with what he achieved, whilst being part of the management of the smelter and that it is time to give someone else a chance to run the smelter. Nolte said he would still be doing consultancy work for the smelter, as he has a lot of experience in the field. “I feel I can still add value to the company. I will be around and will still help out, although there is no formal contract between myself and Dundee Precious Metals yet,” he said.