The hard men of SA mining reunited

Allan Seccombe | Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:38
[miningmx.com] -- STRAIGHT-talking Tom Dale, fresh from his tenure at embattled fluorspar firm Sallies, has been appointed as chief executive of junior platinum producer Platmin, reuniting him again with Brian Gilbertson.

Dale and Gilbertson worked together forming what is now Gold Fields, merging the gold assets Gold Fields of South Africa and those of Gencor in the mid-1990s. Dale said at the time that by the turn of the millennium there would only be three major gold producers in South Africa, a forecast that proved entirely accurate.

With the shakeup of the board at Platmin with the departure of Ian Watson as chief executive and Keith Liddell as executive chairman, Dale and Gilbertson are again re-united as chief executive and non-executive chairman respectively. Dale takes over from Watson on 1 December this year.

"I worked directly with Tom for over five years in the gold industry in Gencor and Gold Fields Limited,” Gilbertson said. “

“I believe that he brings the managerial experience and focused resolve needed to realise Platmin’s substantial potential. I will encourage and give him every support as he undertakes that task."

Gilbertson is not new to platinum, having served as managing director of Rustenburg Platinum, now Anglo Platinum, and as chairman of Impala Platinum, the world’s two largest platinum producers. He was instrumental in the formation of BHP Billiton, the world’s largest resources company.

Gilbertson is sending a very clear signal as the chairman of Pallinghurst Resources and Platmin’s largest shareholder that he is taking a clear, hands-on role at the company, which has listing in Johannesburg, Toronto and on London’s AIM.

Dale, until recently was the chief executive of Sallies, which constantly battled cash shortages, weak commodity prices and operational difficulties, which Dale during his two year tenure at the company grappled to turn around. He quit the board in the light of that company’s largest shareholder wanting him to go.

Liddell was appointed executive chairman in mid-June after serving as non-executive chairman. He will now become a joint deputy non-executive chairman with Kwape Mmela.

Platmin, which has as its primary asset the Pilanesberg opencast mine, ran into financial difficulties, allowing Pallinghurst to swoop in within a consortium to snap up nearly 52% of the company. Pilanesberg will be a 250,000 oz a year producer of four platinum group metals in a R2.9bn project that is now in ramp up mode.

It has three other platinum properties in South Africa on which it is exploring for the metal, but these programmes have been slowed down until Pilanesberg is fully up and running.