BHP's Kloppers collects $1.73m cash reward

Nolulamo Matutu | Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:35
[miningmx.com] -- SOUTH African mining mogul Marius Kloppers was awarded $2m in base salary in BHP Billiton's 2008-'09 financial year, the mining group, of which he is CEO, said on Wednesday.

He also collected a $1.73m cash reward, presumably because BHP Billiton survived the world recession better than most mining shares, and seems to have emerged the quickest from it with its share price up 34% since March.

Including retirement benefits of $800 982 and a further whopping $5.82m in share based payments, Kloppers's total remuneration for the year was $10.4m (rounded up). That's equal to R76.7m, or R210,136 a day.

South Africans like Marius Kloppers, however, have long distinguished themselves in the world's financial capitals. Take Jan du Plessis.

In a packed Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, his is not a name to stand out. But in London's industrial and mining industries, Jan du Plessis can only mean the chairperson of British American Tobacco (BAT) and, with his recent elevation in March, chair of international mining group Rio Tinto.

He's not quite raking the tin of Kloppers, but Du Plessis is likely to enjoy similar remuneration of his Rio Tinto predecessor, Paul Skinner, who took home a salary of $1.5m. And as BAT's chairperson, he earned Ł686,141, or $1.13m in today's money, in 2008.

As a non-executive director of high street retailer Marks and Spencer, Du Plessis earned Ł25,000 ($41,000) in 2008, while in his role as non-executive director at Lloyds Banking Group, held since 2005, Du Plessis earned an additional Ł65,000 ($106,796).

There was also Ł50,000 ($82,166) from the chairmanship of Lloyds' audit committee. According to Rio, du Plessis plans to step down from his Lloyd Bank obligations.

Still, that's not bad going for a commerce and law student from Stellenbosh University.

The lucre accorded to Mick Davis, one of South Africa's most famous mining exports, is well known, as is his protean invention of Xstrata, which he took from a few rin-tin coal and ferrochrome assets to a major Ł28bn ($46bn) diversified mining group.

Fiscal 2008 was a tough year for Davis, however, who only took home $5.5m in total remuneration, equal to about R40.4m. This compares to the $9.1m remuneration in the 2007 financial year. These figures exclude share and pension benefits.

But none of these high earners can compete with the granddaddy of all big cheeses, Mr Moneybags himself: Brian Gilbertson.

None of these high earners can compete with the granddaddy of all big cheeses, Mr Moneybags himself

Gilbertson is South Africa's mining magnate defined, having played pivotal roles in the development of Gencor, Impala Platinum and Samancor, the creation of Billiton, and its merger with BHP to create BHP Billiton. (He also identified Kloppers as a youngster).

Since arriving in London with a bang in 1998 listing Billiton, Gilbertson has gone on to establish himself as an international trademark for mining industry dealmaking.

He led Russian company Sibirsko-Uralskaya Aluminum Company (SUAL) into a $30bn merger with Rusal, and the alumina assets of Glencore International, creating the largest aluminium company in the world.

Now in his sixties, Gilbertson has taken a relatively more sedate role in Pallinghurst Resources, the directors of which receive no more than $10 000 in remuneration per year - a compensation Gilbertson waived last year. No wonder, though, as Gilbertson is accustomed to six-figure amounts for his work.

Some of the multiple sources of income for Gilbertson include more than Ł5m to quit Billiton, a Ł7m fee for agreeing to spend eight months in India's Vedanta, and Ł30m for joining aluminium producer Sual in 2004.