ANALYSIS
Implats strategy: Nico Muller must now walk his tough talk
Implats’s new CEO must show shareholders he can deliver on his promises
Talking tough as a CEO about whipping poorly performing operations into shape is easy to do. The difficulty is carrying through the promises in such a way that shareholders have no doubt that their CEO has a backbone. Nico Muller had his first public outing last week as CEO of Impala Platinum (Implats) after five months at the helm. After a nervous start, he gave a characteristically blunt assessment of the troubles besetting the world’s second-largest platinum miner and the word from his executive team is that he has grabbed them by the figurative scruff of the neck and given them a shake. Muller was apologetic about confidentiality agreements that constrained his answers about group strategy and how he saw Implats shaping its future, closing and disposing of assets as well as adding shallow resources that could be mined mechanically. While wanting to close loss-making shafts is no surprise, the interesting strategy unveiled for the first time is the search for fresh, low-cost ounc...
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