Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) CEO Natascha Viljoen is stepping down from her position at the platinum group metals (PGMs) miner after accepting an executive VP and COO position at US-based diversified miner Newmont Corporation.

Having been with Amplats since April 2020, she will continue to serve as CEO – leading more than 25 000 employees and six owned and joint venture mining operations with an integrated value chain and downstream processing operations across two countries – until the completion of her notice period of up to 12 months, following which she will join Newmont.

Prior to her Amplats CEO appointment, Viljoen held a series of operating and technical positions within the organisation, including as processing group head.

She says that being part of the Anglo American family in various ways over decades has been a privilege.

“It is a company that afforded me opportunities to learn and grow that I will forever be grateful for.

“At Amplats, my executive team and I have built a very strong leadership group who are aligned with our values and will continue to shape the business and its growth to deliver on our strategic and operational priorities for the next stage of our performance improvement journey,” she says.

While she has identified the next phase of her career, Viljoen says her commitment to delivering clear objectives during this year is as firm as ever, starting with keeping employees safe, every day.

Amplats chairperson Norman Mbazima says Viljoen has been leading the PGMs mining arm of Anglo American with “enormous skill and dedication”, transforming the company’s value creation trajectory.

“We are grateful that she will continue to do so for much of this year. We congratulate Natascha and the process to identify her successor is now under way,” he says.

Newmont, in a statement, says Viljoen, as a seasoned industry leader with over 30 years of experience across a diverse range of commodities, further strengthens Newmont’s technical, operational and management capabilities.

Prior to joining Anglo American, she spent six years at PGMs miner Lonmin, where she served on the executive committee as processing executive VP, also with responsibility for several wider corporate functions, including sustainability.

Viljoen is a metallurgical engineer and holds a Bachelor of Engineering from North-West University in South Africa and an Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Newmont president and CEO Tom Palmer says Viljoen has shown “outstanding leadership”, transforming technical processing capabilities at Anglo American.

“Natascha will further strengthen our leadership capabilities as we continue to build a resilient and profitable future for the company – safely delivering on our commitments and continuing to differentiate Newmont as the recognised leader for sustainable and responsible gold mining,” he says.

Upon completion of Viljoen’s notice period and transition, current Newmont executive VP and COO Rob Atkinson will transition into a new role reporting directly to Palmer, focused on driving strategic initiatives to strengthen Newmont’s responsible gold leadership position.

“Rob’s leadership has been critical to the success of Newmont since mid-2019. Rob has driven significant value across Newmont, including safely and successfully navigating through a global pandemic, improving our safety performance with a focus on fatality risk management and successfully integrating key assets, such as Peñasquito, to deliver significant shareholder value.

“We are fortunate to retain Rob and his leadership, extensive experience and expertise as we navigate a volatile environment and the next set of challenges for our industry,” says Palmer.