The 41-year-old head of the precious metals miner was interviewed for the "Mining Journal Global Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation" which is being published next month.

Nesis said he rated the company very highly in one particular area of introducing transformation but said there were several challenges in terms of exploration.

He said there were "too few juniors" in the former Soviet Union for various reasons, including the operational and climatic conditions, but the company was taking a novel approach.

"This is the area where we still feel we are behind the curve but we are trying hard to introduce unconventional methods of partnering with exploration geologists," he said.

In another innovative move, Polymetal recently converted its US$80 million credit facility with ING to a sustainability performance-linked loan, saying the collaboration was one of the first of its kind across the mining industry.

This is based on an interview with Polymetal International CEO Vitaly Nesis as part of the ‘Mining Journal Global Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation', which will be published in late June. The report features around 20 in-depth interviews with the industry's leading mining executives and the results of our industry-wide survey focused on transformational influences (technology, stakeholder engagement etc) and the readiness of mining leaders to meet these challenges.