Major mining company Rio Tinto has announced chairman Jan du Plessis will step down and move to the role of chairman at UK-based communications giant BT Group.
BT announced the appointment of du Plessis on March 9.
Du Plessis will become a non-executive director at BT on June 1, and will take over as chairman from November 1, 2017.
Rio said a successor for du Plessis is expected to be announced before the end of the year.
“When we announced the appointment of J-S Jacques as chief executive a year ago, I committed to the board to serve as chairman for another two years,” du Plessis said in an ASX release.
“Today’s announcement is the next step in that plan.
“I remain committed to leading the board until I stand down, supporting the management team and ensuring an orderly handover to my successor.”
Du Plessis has chaired Rio since 2009.
Prior to that he was group finance director at Richemont and chairman at British American Tobacco.