OREANDA-NEWS. August 29, 2011. Kazakhmys PLC ("Kazakhmys") announces the appointment of Charles Watson as an independent non-executive Director, reported the press-centre of KASE.

Mr Watson, an engineer by training, started his career at Bechtel Group, before completing an MBA at Insead. Mr Watson then spent 29 years at Shell, and will retire on 31 August 2011. Latterly, Charles Watson was Executive Vice President covering Russia and the CIS, Chairman of Shell Russia and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company. His overall responsibilities included oversight of Shell's activities in Kazakhstan.

Following Mr Watson's appointment, five of the nine Board members will be independent, which fully meets the requirements of the UK Corporate Governance Code. Mr Watson will become a member of the Audit Committee.

Kazakhmys' Chairman Vladimir Kim said, "We are delighted to have someone of the calibre and highly relevant recent experience of Charles Watson joining our Board. His expertise in major project delivery and knowledge of the region will be of great assistance as we continue to grow our business and deliver our growth projects and strategy."