Summary
The Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index counts 366 changes at 203 listed mining companies between 1 January 2025 and 27 October 2026, each confirmed in a company announcement, filing or report. Boards at those companies handled chief executive changes in an orderly way: of the forty-five CEO departures with a named successor, thirty-one named that successor on the same day, and thirty-three of the fifty-one new chief executives whose background was stated came from inside the company.
Finance was less settled. Only twenty-five of fifty-nine new chief financial officers were internal, and six of the eleven interim appointments still in place on 27 October 2026 were in finance. A board that has a named successor for its chief executive should ask whether it has one for its chief financial officer.
CEO
- One listed mining company in seven changed its chief executive in 2025: the 203 companies announced twenty-nine CEO departures, a rate of 14.3 per cent.
- The pace has not eased: twenty-five CEO departures in the first nine months of 2026, against twenty-two in the same months of 2025.
CFO
- Chief financial officers turned over fastest of the three main roles: thirty-nine CFO departures at the 203 companies in 2025, a rate of 19.2 per cent.
COO
- Of the 110 index companies with a group-wide COO, nineteen announced a COO departure in 2025, a rate of 17.3 per cent.
- Twenty-five of the forty-eight new COOs whose background was stated were internal promotions.
Technical and exploration chiefs
- Twenty-four index companies had a technical chief. Two announced a departure in 2025, a rate of 8.3 per cent; between January 2025 and 27 October 2026 they recorded six departures and nine appointments.
- Nine index companies had an exploration chief. Two announced a departure in 2025, a rate of 22.2 per cent; between January 2025 and 27 October 2026 they recorded two departures and four appointments.
By exchange
- Sixteen of the forty-four Australian-listed companies and eighteen of the sixty-eight Canadian-listed companies announced a CEO departure between January 2025 and 27 October 2026, against one of the sixteen UK-listed companies.
Coverage
The Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index covers 203 listed mining producers and royalty and streaming companies with a market capitalisation of US$500 million or more. Sixty-eight are listed in Canada, forty-four in Australia, twenty-seven in the United States and sixteen in the United Kingdom; the rest are listed in continental Europe, Africa, Latin America, India, Japan, South-East Asia and the Middle East. The index does not yet include companies listed in China and Indonesia, and it publishes totals only, naming no company.
Quarter by quarter
Between January 2025 and 27 October 2026 the 203 companies in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index announced fifty-four CEO departures, fifty-eight CFO departures, thirty-five COO departures, six technical chief departures and two exploration chief departures.
CEO, CFO, COO, technical chief and exploration chief departures announced each quarter at companies in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index, January 2025 to 27 October 2026. Segments of a single departure are not numbered. Download the data (totals by quarter and role, as CSV). The last bar covers 1 to 27 October 2026 only.
The first quarter of 2026 was the busiest for chief executives: the 203 companies announced fourteen CEO departures, 6.9 per cent of the companies in the index.
Internal or external
Of the fifty-one CEO appointments at index companies between January 2025 and 27 October 2026 where the announcement stated the appointee's background, thirty-three were internal promotions. Finance roles went more often to outsiders: twenty-five of the fifty-nine CFO appointments at index companies in the same period, 42.4 per cent, were internal promotions, against 64.7 per cent of CEO appointments.
Planned succession
Of the forty-five CEO departures at companies in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index between January 2025 and 27 October 2026 that had a named successor, thirty-one named the successor on the same day. The figure counts announcements: a successor named on the day may take up the role months later.
Chief operating officers
The 110 companies in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index that have a group-wide chief operating officer announced nineteen COO departures in 2025, a COO turnover rate of 17.3 per cent, against 19.2 per cent for chief financial officers. Eleven of the thirty-five COO departures between January 2025 and 27 October 2026 came in a single quarter, April to June 2025. Twenty-five of the forty-eight COO appointments whose background was stated went to internal candidates, and four companies filled the role with an interim appointment.
Technical and exploration chiefs
Few of the 203 companies in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index have a group-wide technical or exploration chief. The method note lists the titles counted. Twenty-four index companies had a technical chief between January 2025 and 27 October 2026; they recorded six departures, nine appointments and two interim appointments in that period, and their 2025 turnover rate was 8.3 per cent. Five of the nine new technical chiefs were internal appointments. Nine index companies had an exploration chief, and they recorded two departures and four appointments; both departures fell in 2025, a turnover rate of 22.2 per cent for that year, and one of the four new exploration chiefs was internal.
Tenure
Of the fifty-four CEOs who left companies in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index between January 2025 and 27 October 2026, the forty-two whose start date is known had served six years and three months on average. Seven of the twenty-three CEOs who left in 2025, and whose start date is known, had served less than three years. On 27 October 2026, eleven interim appointments were still in place at the 203 index companies: five chief executives and six chief financial officers.
By exchange and by size
Chief executives changed far more often on the Australian and Canadian exchanges. Between January 2025 and 27 October 2026, sixteen of the forty-four Australian-listed companies and eighteen of the sixty-eight Canadian-listed companies in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index announced a CEO departure, against three of the twenty-seven US-listed companies and one of the sixteen UK-listed companies: 36.4 per cent in Australia, 26.5 per cent in Canada, 11.1 per cent in the United States and 6.3 per cent in the United Kingdom. With sixteen UK-listed and twenty-seven US-listed companies, these regional figures rest on small groups. Company size made little difference: over the same period, CEO departures were announced at twenty-one of the eighty-four index companies with a market capitalisation of US$5 billion or more, 25.0 per cent, and at twenty-nine of the 119 below it, 24.4 per cent.
Method
Templeton Global Search counts each CEO, CFO, COO, technical chief and exploration chief departure, appointment and interim appointment on the date of its first public announcement, or, where a company never announced the change, on the start or leaving date its own reports give. It counts a change only once a company announcement or press release, an exchange filing or a company report confirms it, and uses news reports only to find those sources. All but two of the 366 changes counted in the Templeton Global Search Mining Leadership Turnover Index were also confirmed on the company's own website. The first edition rests on 366 counted changes, drawn from 228 company announcements, filings and reports; seven further changes could not be dated or confirmed and are left out. CEO and CFO turnover rates divide departures by the 203 companies. Not every mining company has a chief operating officer, a chief technical officer or a chief exploration officer, so the index measures turnover in those roles only at the companies that have them. Because these groups are smaller, a single appointment or departure moves the figure more than it would for the CEO or CFO, and the technical and exploration rates, which rest on twenty-four and nine companies, should be read with that in mind. Templeton Global Search publishes the index three times a year; the next edition follows in March 2027. The full definitions are in the method note. To receive each edition, request a copy or write to paul@templetonglobalsearch.com.
Related: leadership-continuity and board succession are the core of our mining executive search practice.
Further reading: Below the Surface; The Resident Diplomat; Hired to Hand Over; market map of mining executive search firms; guide to choosing a mining executive search firm.