"The extraordinary capacity this appointment adds to our team and supports our intention to develop a first-tier mining company in West Africa," recently appointed CEO Dave Anthony said. 

"His proven leadership capacity, skill set and ability to engage key stakeholders will be critical to the further development and growth of Asante," he said. 

Attakumah - with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and a master of business administration degree from the Henley Business School in the UK - has 30 years' experience in the mining industry. 

Prior to joining Asante, he was the executive vice president and managing director of Asanko Gold Ghana. He's also held several senior executive roles including managing director of AngloGold Ashanti (Ghana) and vice president of sustainability for AngloGold Ashanti's operations in Ghana, Asante said. 

"At the industry level, he held the position of first vice president of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and concurrently served as a member of the Governing Council of the Private Enterprise Federation of Ghana," the company said. 

"He has also served as President of the Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce, which is focused on building bilateral private sector relationships between Ghana and Canada," it added. 

Asante has granted Attakumah 1 million incentive stock options to purchase common shares exercisable at C$1.75 (US$1.4) per share for a term of five years. 

Asante's share price was quoted at C$1.89 on April 1, having risen 3% day-on-day. It had a 52-week high/low of C$1.95/C$0.125. 

This year, along with Attakumah and Anthony, Asante has appointed Jon Grygorcewicz as chief financial officer and made several board appointments. 

Asante had a market capitalisation of C$593.51 million.