Craig Miller

CRAIG Miller is finally his own boss as CEO of Valterra Platinum. He has a new board of directors to report to but gone is the sometimes-stifling control of Anglo American after it demerged its 79% stake in Anglo American Platinum (Amplats). This was a critical part of Anglo’s restructuring process, which it hopes to conclude this year while concurrently working through its recently approved merger with Canada’s Teck Resources. The unbundling of Amplats itself, completed in May 2025, was complex.

It involved disentangling Valterra from shared services within the Anglo group but also realigning the capital structure, a process some analysts feel was generous towards Anglo. As part of the demerger, Valterra also concluded a secondary listing in London, which helped to minimise the flowback of shares from investors not mandated to hold an investment in a Johannesburg-based, commodity-specific company. This meant that Miller started his term as Valterra CEO with a weaker balance sheet than he would have hoped for, although a stirring 135% increase in the platinum price last year has given much-improved blush to the balance sheet.

Major investment in the firm’s refining capacity in the past two years, unmatched by Valterra’s rivals, is another major boost for Miller. But the big question is how successfully Valterra will develop the resource of Mogalakwena, its flagship asset – especially as it’s a huge competitive advantage. In general, South Africa’s platinum group metals sector is short of production growth options.