{"id":95568,"date":"2026-02-10T07:26:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T07:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months"},"modified":"2026-02-10T07:52:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T07:52:47","slug":"top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months","title":{"rendered":"Top South African mining CEO splits after seven months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>South African miner Copper 360 announced that its CEO and commercial executive have taken a leave of absence, effective immediately.<\/p>\n

After market close on Friday, 6 February, Copper 360 informed shareholders that CEO Graham Briggs and commercial executive Stephan du Plessis have taken a leave of absence with immediate effect.<\/p>\n

The company said this forms part of an ongoing re-organisation following its recapitalisation, which was announced in September 2025.<\/p>\n

Copper 360 explained that its board has implemented \u201cappropriate interim management arrangements\u201d.<\/p>\n

COO Gordon Thompson has been appointed transitional CEO, and chief risk officer Seten Naidoo is set to take on the role of transitional commercial executive.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s board further reassured shareholders that its operations will continue as normal and that there has been no disruption to day-to-day mining, processing or commercial activities.<\/p>\n

In addition, it said Copper 360 \u201cremains focused on operational delivery, financial discipline and value creation for shareholders\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board will continue to assess the company\u2019s organisational structure and executive capacity as part of the broader re-organisation process and will keep shareholders informed of any further material changes,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Copper 360 did not provide any further details on Briggs and Du Plessis\u2019 leave of absence.<\/p>\n

Briggs, a South African geologist and mining executive, has only been the CEO of Copper 360 for about seven months, having taken over from Shirley Hayes in June 2025.<\/p>\n

Prior to joining Copper 360, Briggs served as the CEO of Harmony Gold from 2008 to 2015, where he led one of South Africa\u2019s largest gold producers.<\/p>\n

His career began at Gencor in 1972, and he has also served as Vice Chairman of the Minerals Council South Africa.<\/p>\n

Briggs left retirement to become the CEO of Copper 360, having retired after leaving Harmony Gold in 2015.<\/p>\n

Du Plessis, a chartered accountant, previously served as the head of Mergers and Acquisitions for Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in South Africa.<\/p>\n

He had been with Copper 360 since March 2021, when he served as its CFO, before making the switch to commercial director in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Rocky road<\/b><\/p>\n

Copper 360<\/p>\n

Copper 360 has had a rocky road since listing on the JSE, with repeated losses and delays in its results, as well as leadership instability.<\/p>\n

The company was listed on the JSE in 2023 as the only South African primary producer of copper through environmental clean-up.<\/p>\n

The company identified copper deposits in the Springbok area of the Northern Cape at mines abandoned by other large copper producers.<\/p>\n

Copper 360 stated that most of the copper ore deposits on its fields had been pre-developed by previous mining companies before the 1994 copper price slump.<\/p>\n

Since listing, the company has yet to report a sustained profit from its operations.<\/p>\n

In September 2025, under Briggs\u2019 leadership, Copper 360 announced that it is undertaking a R1.5 billion recapitalisation, more than double its market cap on the JSE at the time.<\/p>\n

This, the company explained, was to raise funding and reduce its debt burden. This rights offer formed part of a broader company restructuring aimed at raising sufficient funding for short- and medium-term growth.<\/p>\n

The rights offer comprised new equity of R400 million and up to R750 million from a debt conversion.<\/p>\n

The R1.15 billion of new ordinary shares was offered to existing shareholders through a combined claw-back offer and rights offer.<\/p>\n

In December 2025, the company announced that 63.3% of the rights offer had been subscribed for and that the full R400 million equity capital raise had been achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to have raised the targeted growth capital required to create sustainable processing capacity and complete the associated mine development,\u201d Briggs said when this was announced.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s share price is down over 50% in the past year and down nearly 80% since listing. However, in the year-to-date, its share price has jumped by 20%.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. South African miner Copper 360 announced that its CEO and commercial executive have taken a leave of absence, effective immediately. After market close on Friday, 6 February, Copper 360 informed shareholders that CEO Graham Briggs and commercial executive Stephan du Plessis have taken a leave of absence with immediate effect. The company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nTop South African mining CEO splits after seven months - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South African miner Copper 360 announced that its CEO and commercial executive have taken a leave of absence, effective ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top South African mining CEO splits after seven months\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South African miner Copper 360 announced that its CEO and commercial executive have taken a leave of absence, effective ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T07:26:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T07:52:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770697316.016351.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Top South African mining CEO splits after seven months\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-10T07:26:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T07:52:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months\"},\"wordCount\":636,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770697316.016351.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-south-african-mining-ceo-splits-after-seven-months\",\"name\":\"Top South African mining CEO splits after seven months - 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