AAP

Gold miner OceanaGold Corporation has appointed Paul Bibby as its new chief executive officer, effective immediately.

The former Rio Tinto employee was most recently the chief development officer at London-based metals business Nyrstar.

He has also worked at Capral and Zinifex, and worked in a range of roles at Rio Tinto.

"The appointment of Paul comes as OceanaGold continues to deliver into sustainable operating performance and positions the company to address the challenges of growing the business from a production base of some 300,000 oz of gold per year," non-executive chairman Jim Askew said.

"The immediate objective of substantially increasing mine reserves to underpin the long term future of the business is already well in hand and will provide the platform for future growth."

The company operates mines in New Zealand the Philippines.

OceanaGold's interim chief executive Marcus Engelbrecht will return to his role as chief financial officer.