Mining CEOs sent packing planning comebacks: report

As the wind fell out of the sails of economic recovery in 2012, and serious storms rocked the boat of major miners, a few mining CEOs fell overboard.

Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American), Aaron Regent (Barrick Gold), Robert Friedland (Ivanhoe), Tom Albanese (Rio Tinto), Marcelo Awad (Antofagasta Minerals), Diego Hernandez (Codelco) and Mick Davis (Xstrata PLC) were only some of the executives who left their companies, either because they chose to or because of shareholders pressure.

But their names will be mentioned a lot more in the coming months, reports The Wall Street Journal, as it says at least two of them, Regent and Davis, have already established investor funds and are looking for financers.

They seem to have it all: expertise, contacts, and quite a few years before start thinking about retirement. But the timing may not be right, as most mining companies are in the process of stripping billions of dollars in costs, which include cutting executive pay

Read more: India hopes to contain gold imports below last year's level

India hopes to contain gold imports well below 845 tonnes that were shipped last year, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Wednesday, a week after the central bank restricted imports further by tying imports to exports volumes.

"We hope to contain gold imports at a level well below last year's total imports of 845 metric tonnes and save considerable amount of foreign exchange, which will have a positive impact on the current account deficit," Chidambaram said.

Since the beginning of the year, the government has also raised the import duty on gold to rein in a current account deficit that hit an all-time high of 4.8 percent of GDP in 2012/13.

Scarce imports have sent premiums soaring, as traders try to puzzle out new central bank rules announced on July 22. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)