Anglo American reveals senior leadership change with platinum boss departing for gold mining giant Newmont Corporation
- Natascha Viljoen became Anglo American Platinum’s first female CEO in 2020
- Amplats recently warned that its annual earnings could plummet by over half
- She will become the chief operating officer of US-based Newmont Corporation
Anglo American has revealed that the CEO of its South African platinum business, also known as Amplats, is set to stand down.
Natascha Viljoen became the first female chief of Amplats, which is a 79 per cent- owned subsidiary of Anglo American, upon taking the role in April 2020 and will continue in that position until the end of her 12-month notice period.
She departs the group to become chief operating officer of Colorado-based mining giant Newmont Corporation, the world’s biggest gold producer.
Departure: Natascha Viljoen (pictured) is leaving Anglo American Platinum to become the chief operating officer of Colorado-based mining giant Newmont Corporation
The announcement of Viljoen’s departure comes just two days after Amplats warned its annual profit – measured in headline earnings per share – could plummet by more than half.
Amplats’ earnings have been impacted by falling sales and prices of platinum group metals and the rebuilding of a smelter in Polokwane being delayed by almost two months due to the delivery of defective materials.
But the expected slide in profits follows a record performance the previous year when it more than doubled thanks to strong refined output and metal prices.
It was also the second year the company went without a fatality at its managed operations and the first year without a death at the Modikwa mine, which Amplats owns under a joint venture with African Rainbow Minerals.
Prior to Viljoen’s appointment at Amplats, she was the head of processing at Anglo American and spent six years at Lonmin, half the time as an executive vice president.
She also spent stints at Anglo Gold, BHPBilliton’s coal and chrome divisions in South Africa and Iscor, a steelmaker that was renamed after being bought by ArcelorMittal.
Duncan Wanblad, Anglo American’s chief executive, said Viljoen was ‘an outstanding leader who transformed our technical processing capabilities and performance.’
He added: ‘Her commitment to lead Anglo American Platinum and its continued performance improvement as a platform for growth through her notice period is a clear demonstration of her strong personal qualities.’
Wanblad warned last week at a mining conference that South Africa’s status as an important mining destination was under significant threat from the ‘three scourges’ of power cuts, corruption and logistics challenges.
Three days later, Cyril Rampahosa, the president of Africa’s largest economy, declared a ‘state of disaster’ aimed at solving an electricity crisis that is causing blackouts lasting up to 10 hours on some days.
The constant power outages have been variously blamed on the failure to construct new power stations to address rising demand, under-maintenance at existing plants, and commodity shipments being disrupted by cable theft on rail lines.
Wanblad has suggested that the state-run rail group Transnet should form a public-private partnership to try and enhance performance and reduce thefts.
Anglo American shares were 1 per cent lower at 3,181.5p on late Wednesday afternoon, making them one of the ten biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index.
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