Junior Australian miner Southern Palladium has appointed erstwhile Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter as its next chair, with the group a step closer to securing a mining right to develop a platinum group metals (PGM) project in Limpopo.
The company said on Tuesday that Baxter will take over as chair from the beginning of 2024.
“My appointment to the board of Southern Palladium presents a unique opportunity to engage with one of the few remaining PGM development projects of significance globally. The Bengwenyama project has several standout attributes and is now well advanced in terms of transitioning from exploration to development,” Baxter said.
“I look forward to working with the team at Southern Palladium and contributing to the advancement of the project and of the company.”
Baxter, 57, left the Minerals Council at the end of June and told Business Day at the time he would take time out for six months before taking up another post in the sector in which he has spent most of his working life. He spent 30 years with the Minerals Council, formerly the Chamber of Mines, with the last nine as CEO.
Southern Palladium’s interim chair Mike Stirzaker will revert to his nonexecutive director role when Baxter takes over in January. Stirzaker said Baxter will be a great addition to the board.
“Roger is a very innovative and capable strategic thinker with extensive in-country experience in SA. Roger’s significant mining industry experience, together with his detailed knowledge and understanding of mineral commodity markets and mineral value chains, will add a depth of capability to the Southern Palladium Board,” he said.
“His background will be invaluable as the company moves towards development at its Bengwenyama PGM Project.”
The miner is still conducting pre-feasibility studies on the Bengwenyama project, which has the potential to produce commodities such as palladium, rhodium, platinum and iridium.
The project is on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex, which contains more than 70% of the world’s known PGM resources. The company last month said it had submitted its mining right application to the department of mineral resources & energy, transitioning it from a pure exploration entity to a development-focused company.
This is an important development that provides the company with regulatory clearance to commence in-depth environmental expert studies and consultations.
Southern Palladium has a market valuation of about R500m on the JSE, where it has a secondary listing. Its primary listing is in Australia.
With Andries Mahlangu
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