ANDRIES VAN HEERDEN

CEO Afrimat

www.afrimat.co.za

ANDRIES Van Heerden’s careful assessment of potential acquisitions helps to explain the success of Afrimat’s diversification over the past decade from construction materials to bulk minerals. Afrimat targets the projects that are too big for small companies and too small to interest the majors, but the bottom line is always the bottom line for Van Heerden. For instance, he decided to walk away from the $45m Gravenhage manganese acquisition in 2022. It was not the first time Van Heerden decided against a deal shareholders might have thought was in the bag. He also ditched the purchase of Universal Coal in 2021, saying that after taking a closer look, Universal’s return on investment was not what was originally anticipated. Gravenhage was discarded because the water-use licence that was granted did not meet the requirements of the sale agreement. Most critically, only 1% of the water needed for the mine would be available in terms of the licence. Offsetting that disappointment for shareholders was the closing of the deal to buy Glenover, which presents Afrimat with ‘future materials’ such as phosphate, vermiculite and rare-earth minerals. The Glenover acquisition also dilutes Afrimat’s exposure to bulk minerals – iron ore and anthracite – as iron-ore prices have come under pressure in the past year. The group obviously has no control over international iron-ore prices, but its focus has been to set a strong base in iron ore and manage those assets as efficiently as possible. Although R300m has to be paid for Glenover, Afrimat will still have quite a lot of change left from the R680m that was raised in mid-2022. Van Heerden plans to use some of those funds for expansion at Nkomati.

Life Of Andries

After obtaining his degree in mechanical engineering from North West University, Van Heerden spent six years working for Grootegeluk coal mine. He served as MD of Prima Quarries from 2003-2005 and CEO of Lancaster Group in 2005, and was then instrumental in merging those two businesses to form and list Afrimat on the JSE in 2006. Van Heerden, who holds an MBA from Stellenbosch University, won the Master’s category of EY’s World Entrepreneur Award for Southern Africa in 2017. He describes himself as “a results-driven, performance-orientated people person”.

CEO

Andrada Mining

www.afritinmining.com

DURING the time Andrada Mining built the first phase of its Uis tin mine in Namibia, CEO Anthony Viljoen witnessed the metal’s price oscillate alarmingly. After trading around $17,000 per ton, tin prices ran hard to more than $40,000/t before returning to about $25,000/t by the time of Andrada’s interim results presentation in mid-2022. If that’s not enough to scare the lights out of a developing tin producer, there’s little that will. As a result, Viljoen’s Andrada (formerly AfriTin Mining) is wisely weighing up the benefits of a second-phase expansion that will see the Uis mine diversify into lithium and tantalum production. If the project can be financed, lithium would comprise 58% of Uis’s total revenue, with tantalum contributing 5% to the pie. Andrada would also become the only operating lithium firm on the UK’s AIM and give it a more meaningful position in battery minerals supply. But it’s a big ‘if’ at this stage. A preliminary economic assessment of Uis found that a phase-two expansion would cost $440m in capital development, dwarfing anything Andrada has financed to date. In the shorter term, Andrada aims to complete a $53.6m funding package through various means — a share placement with investors, a convertible note and royalty stream agreement, as well as development lender debt — which would be used in part to finance a phase-two feasibility study. Andrada currently produces 1,200 tons annually of tin. Phase-two production would result in 61,000t/ year of additional lithium concentrate. So a quantum leap is being envisaged. Test work on lithium recoveries is due in the first quarter and roll-out for a pilot plant is also underway.

Life Of Anthony

Viljoen was a founding member of VM Investment Company, established in 2006 to target opportunities in primary industries. VM’s investments include MRT Group, which bought the NiMag assets from Coal of Africa, as well as gold exploration assets in East Africa. Viljoen also sits on the board of Bushveld Minerals. He hails from a wellknown family of geologists: his father is Prof Richard Viljoen and his uncle was the late Prof Morris Viljoen. Viljoen holds a Bachelor of Business and Agricultural Economics degree from the University of KwaZuluNatal, and a postgraduate diploma in finance banking and investment management.