Eddie du Rand quits Bateman

Allan Seccombe | Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:21
[miningmx.com] -- EDDIE du Rand has resigned as CEO of Bateman Engineering as did Pieter du Plessis, the CEO of Bateman Engineering Projects.

Du Rand, a mechanical engineer, joined Bateman in September 2007.

His resignation was announced to the company earlier this week. "Eddie has resigned to follow his own interests," Bateman spokeswoman Cheryl Langbridge.

Du Rand had been talking to executive chairman John Ferreira about leaving the company for some months. He leaves Bateman at the end of March this year.

Rumours in the market place include that du Rand was pushed out or he was about to be demoted.

Ferreira will take over the running of the company, which offers engineering solutions to the mining and minerals sector globally.

Chemical engineer Du Plessis, who worked his way up through the ranks, including holding the positions of chief financial officer and chief commercial officer, was with Bateman for nearly two decades. Engineering Projects is the biggest division within Bateman.

Bateman has flattened its management structure with the head of business units within that division now reporting directly to Ferreira. Du Plessis will leave at the end of June. He will not be replaced.

During 2008, Bateman took tremendous strain from three difficult projects, which was felt on the bottom line. It led to a change in business strategy, shifting it away from lump sum turn key (LSTK) projects in favour of contracts that would result in a greater degree of shared risk with clients.

The three projects, which have now been handed over to the clients, were the Hindustan Zinc Ltd project in India, the Moma Mineral Sands project in Mozambique and there was a delay in handing over the Lumwana copper concentrator in Zambia because of a fire.

Bateman's largest shareholder, Global Minerals, successfully delisted the company from London's Alternative Investment Market during 2009 after a precipitous drop in its market capitalisation.

Ferreira, who is a metal engineer, has worked at Iscor, now known as ArcelorMittal SA, aluminium group Alusaf, ferrochrome producer Samancor. He joined Bateman as executive chairman in October 2009.