Implats to focus on Rustenburg

The new appointment could be in place by the end of November when the CEO leaves, chairman Mandla Gantsho said.

Speaking after the Implats annual general meeting, Gantsho said signs were good that new two-year wage agreements would be signed soon with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

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Talks with the union had been constructive and markedly different from those in 2013 that resulted in a five-month strike in 2014, he said.

"We have an agreement in principle with Amcu's negotiating team. They've gone to consult and will come back to us.

"Even if they have a mandate from their members, that has to be ratified at a mass meeting. But we think it's a saleable proposal," Gantsho said.

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said that unlike the 2013 talks, which were "like Afghanistan", a sense of a "ceasefire" characterised current negotiations. He was confident of a deal being struck before the end of October.

The real focus for the board and its new CEO had to be making the Rustenburg mines perform optimally, Gantsho said.

Implats wants its flagship Rustenburg operation to deliver 715,000oz of platinum in 2017 compared with 2015's 630,000oz. With the ability to engage fruitfully with the government, unions and communities, as well as develop similar relations with stakeholders in Zimbabwe, it was one of the key tasks facing Goodlace's replacement. "The board believes the Rustenburg lease area is an asset that could perform better," Gantsho said. "It's an area that needs special attention."

The board considered three internal applicants and four from outside the company.

The person selected for the position had yet to agree a remuneration package with Implats, but Gantsho said he was confident the appointment would be finalised by the time Goodlace stepped down.

"The overriding requirement for the board is to find someone to take Implats to a higher level, to help us turn the company around and deal with the many and multifaceted challenges we face. Terence laid a good foundation in all these areas, but there's always room for improvement and to build on the work he has done."

With the change in ownership coming to mines around Rustenburg, talks that were held between all the mining companies operating there on finding synergies could be boosted, Gantsho said.

In this respect, Implats was waiting for Sibanye Gold to take over the Rustenburg mines it was buying from Anglo American Platinum for at least R4,5bn on November 1 so it could start serious talks about a stretch of reef that extends south of its 1 Shaft into the operations SA's largest domestic gold producer would manage, said Gantsho.

Implats has mined right up to the boundary of its tenement and would like to access virgin ground that Sibanye will own and will be unable to mine for a number of years from its own mines. There could be a pool-and-share or royalty deal with Sibanye that would unlock these resources, he said.

Implats has also given mining contractor JIC Mining a six-month grace period to establish a bank account.

JIC - which is owned by Oakbay Investments, a company of the Gupta family, which is closely linked to President Jacob Zuma - had not had a bank account for Implats to pay money into, said Implats's executive head of corporate relations, Johan Theron.

South African banks withdrew their services to Gupta-owned companies in the first half of this year.

The six-month window would expire at the end of the year and Implats would issue a fresh tender for contract work at its 1 Shaft early in 2017, a process in which JIC, a company that had provided Implats services for 20 years, was welcome to participate if it had its banking facilities in place, Theron said.