JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum-group metals were the catalyst to a better world and conditions within the platinum mining sector would improve, incoming Lonmin CEO Ben Magara has told Mining Weekly Online.

The current Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) executive head of engineering and strategy said the fundamentals of the platinum industry, which provided the resources for a multitude of modern products, were right and demand “would come again”, but collaboration with all stakeholders was instrumental for industry growth.

Magara, whose “point of realisation” that the industry was more than “picks and shovels” came when he relocated a farm school and improved community relations while holding the position of production manager at the Banks Colliery from 1996 until 2000, said stakeholders industry-wide were increasingly expecting more than just digging.

He believed the mining industry needed to improve the way it related to others, realise that mining was about people and proactively understand the environment around the operations to fix issues from the core – not just “quench the symptoms" of industry troubles.

Further, growth had to be geared towards achieving value, not just growing for the sake of growth, he added.

“We need to trust one another more, give a little more, and feel the pain together,” while the industry returned to growth. “We are all in this together,” he commented.

The 45-year-old Zimbabwean national, who said he found the platinum sector, and particularly South Africa’s Bushveld Complex, “fascinating”, would take the reins at London- and Johannesburg-listed Lonmin as of July 1.

He would succeed acting CEO Simon Scott, who would resume his role as CFO from July.

Lonmin chairperson Roger Phillimore said in a statement last week that the appointment was aligned with the company’s renewal plan to define and achieve the initiatives to improve the working and living environment of its employees.

The world’s third-largest platinum producer had experienced a turbulent 2012 as its Marikana mine in the North West province became the site of international scrutiny when more than 45 people died and many more were injured during labour unrest and a clash with police.

However, Lonmin was currently performing well and on track to recover as it reported producing 185 497 oz of platinum during the first quarter of the 2013 financial year.

Magara believed Lonmin had excellent assets, with values mirroring his own and believed he could contribute to the company’s success and make a difference.

Phillimore also noted that Lonmin’s safety record was “better that it has ever been” after the return to production following the violent labour unrest.

In January, the mining company reported that it had achieved 15-million fall-of-ground fatality-free shifts at its Marikana mine and six-million fatality free shifts at its Karee shaft.

Magara believed that if the safety of an operation was right, quality and production would improve, after which the costs would come down.

He added that, with the right culture added in, growth would follow. It was key in a cycle he called SQPCCG – safety, quality, production, cost, culture and growth.

Magara thrived on turnaround and growth rather than maintenance, which had emerged as he took over other struggling assets and turned them around, including operations such as New Denmark colliery, near Standerton, in Mpumalanga.

He kicked off his two-decade career at diversified giant Anglo American as a shift overseer and technical assistant at the New Denmark colliery in 1994. He returned from 2002 until 2006 as GM and was awarded the Best Mine Manager of the year by NOSA in 2003.

Magara, whose first entry into the mining industry was as a project engineer for the Union Carbide mine, in Mutorashanga, Zimbabwe, attributed his all-round solid and broad experience to his mentors' different management styles and the opportunities afforded to him by Anglo American.

“For me, Tony Redman, John Wallington, Greg Pool and Mike Rutherford, among others, were instrumental in my development,” he told Mining Weekly Online in an interview.

"There is no shortcut and results matter; I had a typical traditional mining career,” he said.

The incoming Lonmin CEO, who moved from the rockface in the early days of his career in the early 1990s, where he went through “all the mining activities and earned a blasting certificate”, supervising crews of 10 to 15 as a miner and shift overseer, on to mine overseer, shaft manager, production manager, assistant manager, GM and then CEO of Anglo Coal South Africa in 2006, had extensive experience in community engagement, government relations, conflict resolution and organisational culture.

Under his current tenure as Amplats executive head of engineering and strategy, he pushed the Unki platinum mine to steady-state production one year ahead of schedule.

Throughout his career, he has held positions where he was proactively engaged with government and policy makers, culminating in Anglo Coal South Africa becoming the first business within the South African group to be awarded new-order mining rights in 2007.

This led to a 50% rise in growth as three new mines, namely Mafube, Isibonelo and Zibulo, were commissioned.

Magara had also initiated several community relationship, safety and production programmes throughout his career.