JOHANNEBURG (miningweekly.com) – The latest edition of the Sunday Times gives outgoing Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg a splash ST Insight send-off story ahead of his retirement on Wednesday.

Topped by a large all-column picture of a broadly smiling Glasenberg, the broadsheet two-page story carried large twin bold headlines, the first describing Glasenberg as “The almost-Olympian”, a reference to the University of the Witwatersrand-educated chartered accountant’s illustrious race walking past, and the second over the page as “A recluse who is king of coal”.

Glasenberg is retiring on Wednesday, June 30, in a change-of-guard announced in December, which will see Gary Nagle taking over the reins of Glencore as CEO and director from Thursday, July 1.

Nagle, also well known in these parts for having run Glencore’s ferroalloys business here, held senior roles in coal and ferroalloys in Colombia, South Africa and Australia. Nagle joined Glencore in 2000 in Switzerland as part of the coal business development team, and also served on the board of former platinum miner Lonmin between 2013 and 2015.

A firm believer in the climate change strategy being embarked upon by the diversified mining and marketing company, Nagle told analysts and the media in February: “I firmly believe it’s the right strategy for our company. Our plan is to decarbonise our total emissions footprints, that’s scope 1, 2 and 3, which is unique in the industry. How we get there is the depletion of our coal business. That really gets us to an ambition of net zero by 2050. It’s the right pathway for Glencore, it’s the right pathway for the world, and that’s the way we’re heading,” he said during the presentation in which Mining Weekly participated.

On Monday, Glencore strengthened its climate commitments after agreeing to acquire the shares of its joint venture partners – BHP and Anglo American – in the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia. Glencore has been involved with Cerrejón for more than 20 years and sees itself as the most responsible steward for Cerrejón at this stage of its lifecycle.

SUNDAY TIMES

In the main online blurb of the Sunday Times article, journalist Khaya Sithole wrote: “Ivan Glasenberg missed out on becoming an Olympic athlete but since then he has presided over his chosen profession like a colossus. The reclusive SA tycoon is about to step down as boss of Glencore and leaves a legacy of shrewd dealing across the world with executives and politicians, much of it revealing a steely business resolve and a reputation of someone for whom loyalties are negotiable.”

Featured by the publication was a picture of Optimum Coal in Mpumalanga, which the caption described as being “at the centre of a controversial deal between Glencore and the Gupta family”, as well as a picture of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. This was a pull-out highlighted quote from the article: “Ramaphosa and Glasenberg had known each other for the better part of three decades by the time the deal was concluded”.

When Glasenberg listed Glencore on the London Stock Exchange in 2011, his 16% stake was valued at $9.3-billion, the publication reported, adding that Glasenberg would remain invested in Glencore as a 9% shareholder.