African Barrick chief Greg Hawkins resigns amid gold decline African Barrick Gold's chief executive has resigned as the gold miner confronts uncertain times following this year's sharp fall in the precious metal price. Greg Hawkins was replaced with immediate effect by Brad Gordon, African Barrick said on Wednesday. Mr Hawkins had left to pursue other interests, the UK-listed miner said, giving no further details of reasons for his departure. Mr Gordon was chief executive of Intrepid Mines, a Canada and Australia-listed precious metals explorer with its main operations in Indonesia. Analysts at Citi said Mr Hawkins had been "a decent CEO dealt a tough hand with some difficult assets." "Mr Gordon may turn out to be as good or better than Mr Hawkins, but we feel that this is coming at a very inopportune time in African Barrick's development," they said in a note. The new chief executive faces an uphill battle to turn around its operations in Tanzania, where most of African Barrick's mines are located, due to a combination of illegal mining, strikes and electricity shortages. African Barrick warned earlier this year its production could fall for a fifth consecutive year, and promised to reduce costs. But the company is under pressure from the Tanzanian government to keep investment and jobs in spite of falling production and lower gold prices. Ally Samaje, acting commissioner for minerals, told local media recently the government was "very concerned" with the drop in gold prices and warnings from African Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti about job losses in the rural northwest of the country. This [potential of job losses] will have a very negative impact to the country's economy and the wellbeing of employees working in the two mines. The African Development Bank earlier this year warned that gold accounts now for well over 40 per cent of the east African country's exports, putting its economy at risk if mining companies cut jobs or reduce investment. "A drop in world gold prices could significantly reduce Tanzania's total merchandise export earnings," it said. African Barrick is one of the worst-performing mid-cap stocks in the UK this year. It was spun out of Barrick Gold, which remains its largest shareholder having shelved plans to sell it. The company announced a $701m first-half loss after writing down the value of some assets, in common with many gold miners confronting lower metals prices. Mr Gordon suggested further action to address lower prices and falling output was likely at African Barrick, saying in a statement that it was "imperative that we implement and further expand upon the initiatives identified" in the group's recent operational review.