By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Anglo American Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen will step down from the Anglo group to join the US-based Newmont Corporation.
Viljoen, who has served as Amplats CEO since April 2020, will join Newmont as its chief operating officer. Colorado-based Newmont is the world’s largest gold miner, also producing copper, zinc, silver and lead.
Being part of the Anglo American family in various ways over decades has been a privilege. It is a company that afforded me opportunities to learn and grow that I will forever be grateful for,” Viljoen said in a statement.
“At Anglo American Platinum, my executive team and I have built a very strong leadership group who are aligned with our values and will continue to shape the business and its growth to deliver on our strategic and operational priorities for the next stage of our performance improvement journey.
“While I have identified the next phase of my career, my commitment to delivering our clear objectives during this year is as firm as ever, beginning, of course, with keeping our people safe, every day,” Viljoen added.
Amplat board chairman Norman Mbazima wished Viljoen well on her appointment with Newmont Corporation and informed investors that the process to appoint a successor has officially begun.
“Natascha has been leading Anglo American Platinum with enormous skill and dedication, transforming the company’s value creation trajectory.
“We are grateful that she will continue to do so for much of this year. We congratulate Natascha and the process to identify her successor is now underway,” Mbazima said.
Her departure opens the question of who might run Amplats in the future given the difficulty of attracting top international executives to South Africa where the company is based. An internal appointment might follow or the way could be cleared for the return of Chris Griffith who was CEO of Amplats for seven years before becoming CEO of Gold Fields
A former Lonmin executive, Viljoen was head of Amplats’ processing division from 2014. She previously worked at AngloGold Ashanti and was GM of BHP’s Klipspruit Colliery prior to joining Lonmin in 2008.
Amplats, which is due to report its full year results on February 20, said last week share earnings for the year to December 31 would fall as much as 52% owing to inflation, project delays, and accounting recalculations related to a previous disposal and an acquisition.
The forecast is for share earnings of between R14.431 to R20,128/share – a year-on-year decline of between 33% and 52% compared to R30,042 in full year earnings in the previous financial year.