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Froneman readies to clean up
another fine mess

Assuming Neal “Pacman” Froneman after the disastrous tenure of former blast methods.
succeeds with the all-share offer by chief executive Brad Mills about whom There was a very good reason for that;

his group Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd to take more later in this column. Farmer took conventional mining did not work on the

over Lonmin plc then the curtain will final- the “radical” steps of relocating top man- narrow and erratically dipping platinum

ly wind down on a mining company which agement and the Lonmin head office to reefs. You need wide, predictable and

has one of the most unfortunate histories Johannesburg. gently dipping orebodies for success-

in the South African mining business. Back to Tiny Rowland. I finally met him ful mechanised mining. Otherwise the

I have been referring to Lonmin for in 1993 when he brought German busi- grade goes to hell and costs soar be-

years as “the weakest link” in the South nessman Dieter Bock to South Africa and cause of waste dilution.

African platinum sector but the group’s – for reasons best known to Rowland – Mills was adamant mechanisation

issues go way back to the days when decided to hold a press conference. was the only way to go and he set about

it was the mining division of the former That conference is forever burnt into changing mining layouts and plans on

Lonrho plc which in turn was created out my memory. At the time, Rowland was key Lonmin shafts. He was dubbed “a

of the former LONndon and RHOdesian involved in yet another corporate battle mechanisation zealot” by his staff and

Mining and Land Company. and he had enlisted Bock to help him out. he actually agreed with that description

My first encounter with Lonrho/Lonmin The way he introduced Bock to us was when I put it to him during a financial re-

was in 1982 when I became mining edi- almost Biblical in nature. Rowland did not sults press conference.

tor of the former Rand Daily Mail. Lonrho use the phrase from Matthew 3:17 but he When it became clear Mills would not

was then being run by the late “Tiny” may as well have: “This is my beloved back down, a number of top managers
“Rowland – the man once described by son in whom I am well pleased”.
left the group rather than hang about

former UK Prime Minister Ed- for the inevitable disaster they

ward Heath as “the unaccep- For decades, Lonmin was saw coming. One of them, Mike
table face of capitalism”. Schmidt, is now the chief execu-

Rowland shunned the South run by a bunch of Brits tive of Patrice Motsepe’s highly
African press, an attitude based in London deciding how successful ARM diversified min-
which has prevailed in Lon- ing group.

min’s corporate culture to this a uniquely South African mining Mills eventually “resigned” in
day. During the 1980s, 90s enterprise should operate and 2008 and the group spent the
dictating accordingly to the
and early 2000s – as mining next five or so years trying to sort
editor on the Rand Daily Mail out the mining mess that he had
followed by stints as mining created which sent Lonmin’s op-

correspondent on the Finan- “minions” in South Africa. If erating costs sky-high.
cial Mail and Finance Week ever a business could be termed I am running out of space but…
– I could readily get the chief
there followed the takeover bid

executives of Impala Platinum “colonial” it was Lonmin. by Xstrata – which dodged a bul-
Ltd and Anglo American Plati- let in not following through – and

num plc on the phone. the disaster at Marikana where

I could not get through to 34 rioting workers and commu-

senior management at Lonmin. I in- Bock, it seemed, was going to save nity members were shot by police.

stead had to call their London-based PR Rowland’s hide at Lonrho. Of course, it The ramifications from that are still

man – a character by the name of An- did not work out that way because Bock rumbling away in the form of long-run-

thony Cardew – who always told me “no subsequently stabbed Rowland in the ning opposition to Lonmin from local

comment” in that plummy British accent back and kicked him off the board in communities and organised labour. And

which can infuriate South Africans prob- October that year. Rowland died a bitter let’s not forget the hostile attitude of the

ably as much as it does Australians. I man in July 1998. I spoke to him several Department of Mineral Resources.

gathered that Cardew spent most of his times during the last few years of his life. Froneman has already thrown down

time in the Reform Club on Pall Mall. He was always keen for an opportunity to the gauntlet, warning that the takeover

Which goes to the heart of the matter “slag off” Bock and the Lonrho that had deal may not go ahead if Lonmin’s op-

in my opinion. For decades, Lonmin was spurned him. erations are negatively affected by any

run by a bunch of Brits based in London Fast forward to 2004 and the appoint- of this. That would inevitably lead to the

deciding how a uniquely South African ment of former BHP Billiton executive demise of what’s left of the world’s third

mining enterprise should operate and Brad Mills as chief executive. Mills be- largest producer of platinum.

dictating accordingly to the “minions” in lieved in mechanisation and he set about Brendan Ryan is a Johannesburg-based

South Africa. If ever a business could be introducing it on Lonmin’s mines which – mining writer

termed “colonial” it was Lonmin. like all the other South African deep-level

That only changed when Ian Farmer platinum mines – were mined conven-

was appointed chief executive in 2008 tionally using labour-intensive drill-and-

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