www.miningmx.com | platinum New Anglo Pt CEO named in April

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New Anglo Pt CEO named in April
Julie Bain
Posted: Mon, 31 Mar 2008

[miningmx.com] -- ANGLO Platinum is likely to have a new CEO by the end of April, with the company's nomination committee finalising its choice in the next few days, executives said on Monday.

Fred Phaswana Angloplat chairman said the search, which was a global one considering both overseas and local executives, was complete.

"We have done a thorough search for the CEO of Angolplat," he said.

a thorough search for the CEO of Angolplat

Asked if Gold Fields CEO Ian Cockerill was in the running, Phaswana said: "I don't know".

Cockerill surprised the market with his resignation on Monday, saying he was joining a mining company outside the gold sector as CEO. He declined to identify the company but said an announcement could be made in the next week to 10 days.

"The board of Angloplats is meeting towards the end of April and during the course of the meeting should announce who is going to run Angloplat," said Phaswana.

An announcement will end more than eight months during which the world's largest platinum company, 77% owned by Anglo American, has been run by joint CEOs Duncan Wanblad and Norman Mbazima. The company said in its annual report that it expected to produce 2.4 million ounces of platinum this year.

At the annual general meeting today one of South Africa's most vocal shareholder activists Theo Botha questioned Phaswana as to whether Anglo would make an offer to Angloplat minorities.

Phaswana said that was a question for Anglo to answer and as he sits on both boards he said he recusses himself whenever Angloplat came up for discussion at Anglo board meetings.

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Botha also suggested that there may be some governance issues at Angloplat given that a number of its board members where also Anglo executives or had links through other business dealings to Anglo.

"It is my opinion that the only shareholder interests provided for are those of Anglo Plc," said Botha.

Phaswana said the company intended to continue with the restructuring of the board with the aim of appointing more independent directors.

The company's safety record came under scrutiny once again. In July, last year Ralph Havenstien said he would resign from his position as CEO of Angloplat. It is generally believed that he left after Anglo CEO Cynthia Carrol made it clear that the company's safety record was unacceptable.

In the 2007 financial year, 25 people were killed while working at Angloplat operations. Botha pointed out that in the last six years 141 people had been killed and suggested that the company may be putting profits before the life of its employees.

"It is my opinion that executives are not accepting responsibility [for the poor safety record]. It seems executives focus on profit at the expense of life," said Botha.

Wanblad acknowledged that any loss of life was unacceptable and said progress was being made with regard to changing the safety culture at Angloplat.

"We need to reach a position where people are not just caring about their own safety but that of other," he said.

There was a small group of demonstrators protesting about Angloplat's relocation of communities in Limpopo and the alleged pollution of the water table outside the company's 55 Marshall address in downtown Johannesburg. Their presence highlights the fact that the complaints surrounding the issue are unlikely to disappear quickly.

Anglo Platinum issued a detailed response to the claims made by NGO Actionaid, which has asked that Angloplat be investigated by the South African Human Rights Commission.

Angloplat published a report called "The Real Facts, Anglo Platinum's response to Action Aid" in which Angloplat says "each accusation, each factual inaccuracy and error" is answered item by item.

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