This year’s Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award, from the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), has been awarded to Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman for his contribution to the South African mining industry.

The Brigadier Stokes award is a premier award of the SAIMM and is awarded to an individual for “the very highest achievement in the South African mining and metallurgical industry”.

The Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award was instituted in 1980 in commemoration of the outstanding contribution that Brigadier RSG Stokes made to the South African mining and metallurgical industries over many years.

Stokes was, according to one biographer, “a remarkable and resilient man with a superior intellect, inexhaustible energy and an insatiable curiosity, who travelled widely and had many friends”.

During Froneman’s citation on August 12, SAIMM member Alex du Plessis said it was “therefore fitting” that the award be presented to Froneman this year, as he, in addition to displaying these attributes, “has brought a notably entrepreneurial and technically innovative approach to mining in South Africa”.

Having taken over duties as executive director and CEO on January 1, 2013, Froneman has spent the past eight years transforming Sibanye from a 1.5-million-ounce South Africa-based gold producer into a leading precious metals miner with an international operating footprint ranking among the world’s top three platinum group metal (PGM) producers.

Approaching his thirty-eighth year in the South African mining sector, Froneman said he felt incredibly humbled to be receiving this award.

“When I look at the list of past recipients comprising eminent individuals who have left an indelible mark on the South African mining industry, I feel deeply humbled to be joining such august company.”

Froneman started his career after having completed his mechanical engineering degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, graduating in 1981. He was then drafted into the South African Air Force in 1982 for national service, and completed officer’s training, finally achieving the rank of captain.

This, phased together with his childhood dream, has resulted in Froneman still actively aviating today as both a fixed-wing and helicopter pilot.

He also used his time in the air force to complete the first two years of a four-year BCom degree from the University of South Africa, which he studied by correspondence.

Froneman received the Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award during an online annual general meeting of the SAIMM on August 12, joining the likes of mining veterans and influencers like Harry Oppenheimer, African Rainbow Minerals founder and chairperson Patrice Motsepe, former AngloGold Ashanti CEO Bobby Godsell, former Exxaro Resources CEO Sipho Nkosi and Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter, besides others.

“I was reminded of Brigadier Stokes’ simple and succinct ABCs of enduring relevance for respectful engagement: and that is to be articulate, brief and courteous,” added Froneman.

“I trust that I've conformed with Brigadier Stokes' mantra in accepting the award instituted to honour his legacy in shaping the South African mining industry,” he concluded.