Tawanda Karombo
South32, which operates in South Africa, Mozambique and Australia, has picked Anglo American technical and operations director Matt Daley as new CEO with effect from next year when incumbent Graham Kerr steps down.
In South Africa, South32 operates the Hillside Aluminium project although in January it temporarily shut down the Wessels manganese mine in the Northern Cape before re-opening it.
In March this year, Hillside was the subject of a claim by an Australian company that charged that the South32 subsidiary had improperly used intellectual property related to metal transportation at the South African operation.
Daley will initially join South32 as deputy CEO starting February next year before assuming the CEO role later in the year when Kerr steps down.
“(Daley) is a highly accomplished executive with extensive operational and leadership experience, including in copper and in the Americas, and the board is confident he is the right successor for Graham,” said South32 chairperson, Karen Wood.
Anglo American has also appointed Tom McCulley as technical director with immediate effect.
Duncan Wanbald, CEO of Anglo American said in the eight years that Daley served at the company he had “brought his considerable energy and passion for mining to his teams” and the company as a whole.
Wanbald said Daley had recently helped to drive “operational excellence and nowhere more so than in the extensive safety improvement” work.
Meanwhile, Wood said Kerr had contributed immensely to the company through the demerger from BHP and the subsequent transformation of South32’s portfolio.
“As inaugural CEO, Graham Kerr has been instrumental in establishing South32’s values-based culture, building a quality leadership team, and implementing our strategy, underpinned by a disciplined approach to capital allocation and cost management,” said Wood.
Daley said he was delighted to be joining South32. He said South32’s portfolio had evolved substantially in recent years and that the company was “well positioned for potential future growth with a strong balance sheet, an attractive commodity mix, and a pipeline of options” in highly prospective regions.
Daley’s appointment will be of greater significance for South32’s South African operations especially at a time of rising costs and other operational dynamics.
Global trade upheavals could also affect supply and demand dynamics as well as pricing for commodities such as aluminium and manganese that the company produces from South Africa.
South32 has been reducing capital expenditure for its South African aluminium operations but expects to ramp up over the next year while it has received the approvals from the Competition Commission to divest the Metalloys local manganese alloy smelter.
Its South African aluminium operations at Hillside raised saleable production by 1% to 362 000 tons in the half year period to December “as the smelter continued to test its maximum technical capacity, despite the impact of load shedding”.
Aluminium sales from Hillside firmed up by 10% in the December 2024 quarter as inventories at the mine returned to normal levels.
Hillside Aluminum’s costs at $2 135 per ton were expected to rise to $2 351 over the full year.
During the half year, the operation had higher higher sales volumes of 362 000 tons, with lower raw material input prices for coke and pitch offset by higher alumina and energy prices, and a stronger South African rand.
South32’s South African manganese operations consists of two manganese mines in the Kalahari basin, and the Metalloys manganese alloy smelter that was placed on care and maintenance in 2020 is now being disposed of.
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