$2.3 billion Newcrest Mining, Australia's largest gold miner, has appointed Stephen Creese as general counsel and company secretary. He is taking over for Bernard Lavery, Newcrest's executive general manager of corporate services, who is retiring after 14 years with the company.

Creese has spent 29 years with the Rio Tinto group in a variety of legal and commercial roles, including that of general counsel between 1995 and 2008. Currently, he is managing director of Rio Tinto Australia.