Mr. Alvidrez, 47 years old, previously served at Fresnillo and is currently general manager of the Madero mine, one of Mexico’s largest zinc mines and an important operation for Industrias Penoles (PE&OLES.MX), the majority owner of Fresnillo.

Mr. Alvidrez joined Penoles in August 1998 and has since then held a number of senior operational and financial positions across Penoles and Fresnillo, including that of treasurer at Penoles and head of investor relations of Fresnillo in London and head of procurement.

Fresnillo’s board unanimously elected Mr. Alvidrez to succeed Mr. Lomelin from Aug. 15 following a handover period.

Mr Lomelin, 77, will retire following a 41-year career with Penoles and Fresnillo. He served as chief executive officer of Penoles for 26 years until the London listing of Fresnillo in 2008, when he took on the role of chief executive officer. Fresnillo is the world’s largest primary silver producer and Mexico’s second largest gold producer.

Mr. Lomelin will remain on Fresnillo’s board as a non-executive director and has been given an advisory role as corporate director of the Bal Group, a holding company that owns a majority stake in Penoles and which counts Alberto Ballieres as its chairman.

Ballieres, who is also chairman of Fresnillo, thanked Lomelin for his service.

“Fresnillo’s success in the four years since its listing in London is in no small part due to his unwavering commitment to achieving operational excellence. The Board is unanimous in its deep gratitude for his contribution over many years and we wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.”

“It has been a great privilege to lead Fresnillo through this exciting period of growth,” Mr. Lomelin said. “Octavio has an outstanding track record of performance over many years and believe he will be a strong leader of Fresnillo in the future,” he said.

At 1040 GMT, Fresnillo’s shares were up 0.2%, or 2 pence, at 1377 pence a share, resulting in a market capitalization of GBP9.88 billion.