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<\/a><\/p>\nHerbert Wirth \u2013 a Polish engineer, geologist, manager, professor of technical sciences, since 2009 the President of the Management Board of KGHM Polska Mied\u017a S.A.( KGHM Polish Copper plc.) He is a co-founder of the think tank Poland Go Global. In 2009, he became the General Director of Mining of the 1st Degree, appointed by the Ministry of Economy. He is a member of the EIT Raw Materials Management Committee with its seat in Berlin, of the Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Polish Association of Mining Engineers and Technicians, the Mining Sciences Committee at the Lower Silesia Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroc\u0142aw. He initiated the founding of the Polish Association
\nof Mineral Asset Valuators, of which he is also a member. He was granted the title of doctor honoris causa by the Wroc\u0142aw University of Economics and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krak\u00f3w, as well as many awards and honorary badges. The author and coauthor of more than 13 monographs, 95 research articles, 63 research theses and over 70 expertise papers concerning the evaluation of investment possibilities.<\/p>\n
KGHM Polska Mied\u017a S.A. (formerly: Kombinat G\u00f3rniczo-Hutniczy Miedzi) \u2013 a strategic company, one of the largest Polish State Treasury companies, one of the main producers of copper and refined silver in the world. According to the data of KGHM, it is the sixth largest producer of electrolytic copper (approx. 500-550 thousand tons) and the largest producer of silver in the world (approx. 1260 tons of refined silver in 2011). KGHM produces also gold (903 kg in 2008), palladium and platinum concentrate (93 kg), lead and other metals, although those in
\nsmaller quantities. KGHM also extracts rock salt. KGHM is one of the largest companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, it is a part of the WIG20 and WIG30 indexes. It was a part of the group of 16 companies which had their debut on November 19, 2009 at the Warsaw Stock Exchange creating the RESPECT Index. Those companies obtained the highest ranking class \u2013 they became the leaders in the ranking. KGHM Polska Mied\u017a S.A. employs over 18,000 employees. Another 10,000 (not including KGHM International) work in the KGHM Polska Mied\u017a S.A. Capital Group. Including the employees of the companies co-operating with KGHM, one can say that Polska Mied\u017a employs over 100,000 people. KGHM Polska Mied\u017a S.A. completed the 2009 strategy, giving its shareholders more than the average return rate:<\/p>\n
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- The rising trend of production costs was reversed \u2013 since 2012 a mid-year drop of production costs per ton by 2 percent has been recorded;<\/li>\n
- KGHM expanded its resource base and significantly increased the production of copper \u2013 in 2012 Quadra FNX was acquired for a good price. Thanks to the active expansion completed with the acquisition of Quadra FNX, the company joined the global copper producers \u2013 in 2014 a world class project called \u201cSierra Gorda\u201d was launched \u2013 the total resource base increased by 12 million tons of copper, i.e. by over 40 percent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Development and implementation of new technologies makes KGHM a global leader guiding the industry towards new directions of development;<\/p>\n
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- KGHM\u2019s operations have been diversified due to the increase of the resources base \u2013 KGHM has got extraction projects in Europe, North America and Chile \u2013 production has been broadened to other non-iron metals (molybdenum, gold);<\/li>\n
- KGHM remains an important partner in the region, generating 40% of the local taxes and directly employing nearly 40,000 people;<\/li>\n
- KGHM introduced management by goals for key managers and worked out a number of programmes promoting the transfer of knowledge and development of talents in the company. Following the path of the existing strategic directions, KGHM sets a new goal \u2013 to achieve the level of production of over 1 million tons of copper from own resources by 2020:<\/li>\n
- KGHM\u2019s New Strategy will be based on three pillars: development of the resource base (a wide programme of exploration in Poland and in the world, as well as potential further acquisitions of pre-production assets); development of assets (an investment programme focused on the current projects with the value of PLN 27 billion by 2020); optimization of production (decreasing the Capital Group\u2018s C1 production costs by about 10 percent by 2020);<\/li>\n
- At the same time, KGHM is developing innovative technologies in the area of production and processing of metal ores, which will translate to durable competitive advantage and to a long-term increase of goodwill;<\/li>\n
- KGHM is an attractive investment due to good perspectives on the copper market, rich resource base, diversified portfolio of world class projects, experienced employees and stable shareholding policy (up to 1\/3 of the net profit).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In 2012, Mr. Herbert Wirth was awarded with the \u201dBene Merito\u201d Honorary Badge and, in 2013,with the Golden Cross of Merit.<\/p>\n