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A holistic approach is needed to tackle illegal mining while the gold price bonanza continues, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Richard Stewart. The high gold price has been a boon for shareholders but adds to illicit mining that costs the economy R60bn a year. “It’s a huge problem, particularly something like gold, where prices are high. That does attract a higher risk and a lot more people that are getting into illegal mining. That’s a significant issue,” he said. The government criminalised illegal mining for the first time in 100 years through the cabinet’s General (Mining) Laws Amendment Bill, which proposes punitive measures including a 30-year jail term and fines of up to R100m. “We really need to look at what we can do from a legal perspective in terms of the law and how we can get more dedicated forces to assist us in addressing this issue. Ultimately, we need to ask how we can tackle it at a more syndicated and strategic level. I absolutely think that it needs a lot more work. I mean, crime just in general across the country is a real concern to us,” he said. Thriving Destination (Nolo Moima) Sibanye-Stillwater, valued at R143bn, is delivering on its refreshed strategy adopted a year ago, focused on brownfields growth and the strengthening of the balance sheet. This is a step change to the strategy adopted by founding CEO Neal Froneman, who led the growth of the company from only three legacy gold mines to a PGM, lithium, recycling and zinc business. Stewart said the sweet spot for current growth is in the existing operations, pointing to opportunity coming from organic growth in the existing portfolio. Mergers and acquisitions are not the focus of the group, he said. “Will that likely be part of the future strategy? I am sure at some point, but it must be value-accretive and focused, but for now we are focused on our existing operations,” he said. The group this week approved the Siphumelele and Thembelani brown fields projects, which are mostly shallow, meaning lower production costs.In terms of PGM demand and supply, supply is falling quicker than demand, and that is a concern, he said. We’re still finding new demand applications for PGMs, but there is still some uncertainty about that, and that makes decisions around brand new green fields projects and new projects a lot more difficult.In the very long term, the big demand driver is still vehicles, though amid uncertainty too. “We’re still finding new demand applications for PGMs, but there is still some uncertainty about that, and that makes decisions around brand new green fields projects and new projects a lot more difficult. I think you are seeing a lot of the current businesses focusing more on brown fields expansions around existing infrastructure with a lot lower capital and lower risk rather than big new green fields projects,” he said. The group is also focused on increasing its gold portfolio made up of the legacy Kloof, Driefontein and Cooke mines, its shallow operations and exposure to DRDGold. The board has approved R98m for developing the Burnstone gold project in 2026. This is because Sibanye sees its gold portfolio changing over time from deeper underground operations to shallower and surface operations, with Burnstone a key part of the transition.Stewart said Burnstone not only adds an extra 140,000oz of gold to the portfolio but also introduces shallower ounces that come at a higher margin. The group announced its R5.5bn plan to develop Mount Lyell, a 100-year-old copper project on Australia’s Tasmanian island, which was previously in care and maintenance for the past decade.“I think for us, what’s attractive about it is it’s an underground operation. It’s an operation that still has significant resource opportunities and potential. It is a very neat entry into copper,” he said. He said the group is unlikely to enter open-cast copper mining like Rio Tinto, BHP, or Anglo American. “That’s not something we’re particularly good at, and therefore, we wouldn’t really look at going into that kind of mining.”Financial highlights for the reporting period included record revenue of R90bn, up 64%, with the company generating a profit of R18.8bn. The group has been paying down debt and has debt of about $2.1bn.The group expects its South African PGM operations to produce 1.7 million ounces in 2026, consistent with previous estimates, and the gold operations are expected to produce 600,000oz, including DRDGold. The group expects about 300,000oz from its PGM operations in the US. Business Times
