South Africa

South African platinum production has entered a new era with Aquarius Platinum. Through a new, more efficient management model, its profits and share price have rocketted since its establishment in 1998.

In a country with a long and well-established mining tradition, Aquarius Platinum's success breathes new life into a once staid industry. In 2001, barely three years after production began at the Kroondal mine northwest of Johannesburg, output reached 230,000 ounces of platinum group metals (PGMs). With turnover standing at $100 million a year, Aquarius is the fifth largest producer of PGMs in the country and the fastest growing.

"We brought a West Australian small mine model to South Africa" says CEO Stuart Murray. Aquarius's secret is to keep its ventures manageable, its costs low and its delivery prompt. Kroondal was set up in a record eighteen months, compared with an industry average of four years, and brought in well under the budgeted $32 million.
Aquarius Platinum CEO Stuart Murray

The company's second project, the Marikana mine, started production in December only after 13 months since ground-breaking.

Aquarius outsources is mining operations to specialist companies and employs only 13 full-time staff, whereas other producers have workers in the thousands. Under an agreement, the total production is bought by Impala Platinum, the world's second largest producer, and smelted, marketed and sold under the Impala brand mostly in Japan.

The strategy has allowed Aquarius to deliver net margins of up to 50 percent and sent its share price climbing 550 percent since its listing in London in 1999. The company has applied to take its $355 million market capitalization to London's main board this year.

Aquarius stands to benefit from the upcoming reform of mineral rights in South Africa,and is actively considering new opportunities in platinum. "We are not just a flash in the pan," explains Stuart Murray, "We are in it for the long haul".

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