Srinivasan Venkatakrishna commenced as the CEO of Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources plc today, replacing interim CEO Kuldip Kaura. The mining mogul-led company announced the appointment of Venkatakrishna in April. Venkatakrishnan, 53, worked as the CEO of Johannesburg-based AngloGold for five years and spent much of his career working in Africa. This is a first for a Vedanta CEO and points to the growing importance of the group’s investments on the continent, where its assets include Zambian copper and South African zinc.Between 2005 and 2013, he was AngloGold Ashanti’s Chief Financial Officer and prior to this, he was CFO of London-listed Ashanti Goldfields Ltd. Vedanta had in August last year appointed an interim chief executive, Kaura, to replace Tom Albanese. Albanese, a former chief executive of rival Rio Tinto, returned to the US after his three-year contract, which was extended by five months, expired at the end of August. Kaura was made interim CEO from September 1 but he did not serve as a director on the board.