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Bernard Swanepoel's new game plan Posted: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 [miningmx.com] -- ALMOST like the United States Marine Corp. former Harmony boss, Bernard Swanepoel, is looking “for a few good men” to join his newly formed consultancy, To-The-Point Growth Specialists. That is the vehicle he is using to stage his comeback in the mining scene after abruptly resigning as CEO of Harmony last August. To-The-Point currently consists of Swanepoel and Clinton Halsey whom Swanepoel describes as “one of a host of bright young people who have left Harmony over the past five months. He’s a chartered accountant and looks after corporate finance.” Swanepoel’s business plan is to have four clients - ideally three involved directly in mining and one which is related to mining - which his consultancy can help with their growth strategies. Swanepoel commented; “that was the 15% of being the boss at Harmony that I enjoyed the most. That involved looking at assets, working out the optimal strategy for those assets and getting the right people involved who will make it happen. “In a big organisation like Harmony you spend too much of your time on internal management issues, investor roadshows and commitments like Chamber of Mines meetings all of which is, I suppose, necessary.” Swanepoel was interviewed in his private room at the Morningside Medi-Clinic where he has been since the weekend after suffering a severe allergic reaction to the inoculations he received last week ahead of a visit to one of his two new clients. That’s the Mukondo copper/cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which is a JV between London-listed Camec and the Dan Gertler International group. He said; “I’m fine but they are keeping me in for a week and won’t let me out. I have had so many visitors that they have moved extra chairs into my room permanently. Trouble is, the overhead cost structure operating out of a private hospital is not that great.” Swanepoel’s second client so far is ASX-listed Mintails which is developing two huge dump retreatment operations on the East and West Rand to recover gold and uranium. Swanepoel commented; “for better or worse the clients want to deal with Bernard Swanepoel. That must change over time but it’s crucial that I am backed up by a few very bright assistants so that I can operate at peak levels for the first three years or so. “I want to work with people who I like and who like working. They should be technically skilled but I am not too fussed about the particular discipline such as metallurgy or engineering.” He said To-The-Point will charge its fees based on a split between a retainer and share options. “We are prepared to participate in the risk given the prospects for the projects we get involved with. The developments at Mukondo could be humongous, particularly if it gets listed separately. “Mintails looks a cute operation that I am very comfortable with. I am a late convert to uranium and I want to keep a link to gold. Mintails also has a strong environmental aspect because the operations will be cleaning up the environment. Swanepoel said other areas where To-The-Point could get involved included the booming coal sector as well as small companies just starting out in the mining business. “The activity in the junior mining sector is incredible but it’s surprising how many companies there seem to be out there in a situation that amounts to - so we got the mineral rights, what do we do next?” Click Here to subscribe to our daily newsletter
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