[miningmx.com] – STUART Murray, the self-styled ‘King Rat’ of South
Africa’s platinum industry, has resigned his post as CEO of Aquarius Platinum, the
R3.2bn platinum firm announced this morning.
“The company has accepted the resignation of Mr Stuart Murray as CEO of Aquarius
Platinum and chairman of its principal subsidiary, Aquarius Platinum (South Africa),
with effect from 5th October 2012,’ it said. Murray also resigned the chaimanship of
Aquarius Platinum SA, a subsidiary of Aquarius Platinum.
Shares in Aquarius Platinum fell 6% on the Australian Stock Exchange, where the
news was first announced.
Murray had been CEO of Aquarius Platinum since 2001. Outspoken, especially about
the missteps and weaknesses of his rivals, Murray took Aquarius Platinum from a
single lease-bound platinum producer of some 240,000 attributable platinum group
metal (PGM) ounces to a company producing just under 500,000 PGM oz from
interests in seven mines.
During this time of rapid growth, Murray likened his company at an Australian
investment conference to “King Rat’ as the South African platinum industry consisted
of “three, six hundred pound gorillas (Amplats, Implats and Lonmin) and a whole lot
of rats and mice, of which we like to think of Aquarius as King Rat’.
The growth of Aquarius Platinum was characterised by cross-boundary joint ventures,
and savvy brownfields expansion. After a two-year period of laying low, Aquarius
Platinum burst back on to the scene in 2011, buying Booysendal South and Afarak,
properties which helped dismiss the long-standing apprehension that Aquarius was
short of growth ounces.
Lately, however, unstinting increases in mining costs, including labour and power,
combined with poor demand, especially from Europe where PGMs are used in diesel
automotive catalysis, have eroded margins.
And when Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) sought to trim its own cost base, it
turned immediately to mines it owned in joint venture with Aquarius Platinum. The
outcome was that nearly all of Aquarius Platinum’s production was shut off.
In addition, Aquarius Platinum faces headwinds in Zimbabwe, where its highly efficient
Mimosa Platinum Mines, an investment it shares with Impala Platinum (Implats), has
been nationalised by the Zimbabwean government.
Murray’s resignation comes nearly three months after the departure of David Brown
as CEO of Implats, a company with which Murray frequently sparred. He once called it
Amplats’ “dribbling cousin’.
Murray’s resignation now means that top management at four of South Africa’s top
five platinum companies has changed hands this year. In August, it emerged that
Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer had taken indefinite sick leave, while his counterpart at
Amplats, Neville Nicolau, resigned in July.
Aquarius Platinum said that Murray would remain with the company until end-March,
2013, where he would assist with “an orderly handover’. In the interim, Jean Nel has
been appointed COO of the company, while Zwelakhe Mankazana has been appointed
interim non-executive chairman of Aquarius Platinum South Africa.
