
[miningmx.com] – MARK Cutifani, CEO-designate of Anglo American, said he would be prepared to adjust the strategic direction and business of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) if it was required.
In an interview with Finweek, before Amplats announced details of a restructure this week in which some 14,000 jobs would be affected, Cutifani said: “I will do the things I have to do….” referring to actions he may take over a period of time.
“If I need to make an adjustment to Amplats, I will do that. I understand South Africa and I understand platinum. I’ve also worked at one of the world’s iron ore producers (Inco/Vale),’ he said in response to the question that he was stepping out of his comfort zone given his recent past in gold.
“I have knowledge of many different types of mining,’ he said, adding that more sweeping change at Anglo American under his watch could not be discounted.
“It depends on what I find in the business. There was radical change we made at Inco,’ he said.
Cutifani’s predecessor, Cynthia Carroll, joined Anglo on the back of wide expectation she was a change agent; a person whose appointment broke with nearly a century of tradition at Anglo which formerly only turned to Oxbridge-educated South Africans.
Against this background, much was expected. Cutifani says his job will be easier for Carroll’s achievements. “Cynthia, in fairness, trail-blazed a cultural change at Anglo. It’s made my task easier in terms of where do we go from here,’ he said.
One suspects Anglo American did extremely well to bag Mark Cutifani as its new CEO given that there’s a veritable gold rush for executive talent in the mining sector.
Add AngloGold Ashanti to the names of companies looking for a CEO which already includes Lonmin and BHP Billiton, although the Melbourne-based group has given itself two years to find a replacement for Marius Kloppers, its CEO of six years standing. Rio Tinto, in firing its CEO Tom Albanese earlier this week, has also given itself an effective two to three years to find a long-term successor as incumbent, Sam Walsh is, at 63-years, nearing retirement.
Analysts were stretching for possible external candidates who could take over from Cutifani at AngloGold Ashanti, a company he has managed with a degree of aplomb since 2007. More likely, some say, AngloGold will seek an internal successor to Cutifani given the extraordinary nature of the operating culture that’s been built there. Analysts say Cutifani’s legacy would best be continued by someone who sat at his feet as it were.
Charles Carter, currently heading AngloGold’s Colombia operations, and formerly head of the group’s corporate strategy, has been identified as a possible successor to Cutifani. Richard Duffy, executive vice-president of AngloGold’s continental Africa assets is another.
In the meantime, there’s no immediate pressure for AngloGold to find a replacement for Cutifani. He doesn’t leave the company until April in a year that should see major progress at Tropicana in Australia and the Kibali project in the Congo.
In joint interim CEOs Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan and Tony O’Neill, the latter Cutifani described to Finweek in 2011 as “the best mining engineer in the world’, the company has capable leaders. “I couldn’t think of two more capable people to take the company forward,’ said Cutifani in an interview with Finweek.
There are challenges, however. In a Miningmx article last year, Cutifani also described 2013 as “a pivotal year’ for AngloGold referring to a review of its African projects, which include the $416m expansion at Mponeng, the $395m Zaaiplaats second phase expansion in South Africa, and the Mongbwalu and Sadiola Deeps developments in the Congo. Capex was also trimmed $200m while the labour situation in South Africa is tense. “The transformative projects are going ahead in the right way,’ said Cutifani.
As for leaving AngloGold, he said: “There’s nothing negative here about AngloGold. I said at my appointment I would give them five years. I’ve done five-and-a-half years. I also said I would only accept a phone call from one of the majors.’
The call from Anglo American has attracted some negative attention from Frans Baleni, secretary-general of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), who described Cutifani’s appointment at Anglo as proof that an “old boy’s club’ continued to dominate world mining. Not even a while women had been considered, he said.
Cutifani said the response from the South African government had been one of endorsement. This was despite it saying last year it hoped Anglo would plump for a black South African given the fact Anglo is heavily exposed to South African mining through its investment in Amplats.
Article updated to show that Cutifani has no interest in changing Amplats’ recently announced restructuring programme.