CEO Magara's COO Role Revives Memories Of New Denmark Success

During his days as COO of New Denmark Colliery, Lonmin CEO Ben Magara recalls how former Anglo Coal CEO Tony Redman instructed him to do what it took to save New Denmark from closure in the 2000s.

- Martin Creamer

He succeeded in putting the mine on a positive new trajectory and, by the time he left New Denmark, employment at the colliery had doubled.

“I’m in that mode again and I love it,” says Magara of his additional COO role, following the resignation of Ben Moolman.

The New Denmark experience has left a deep impression: “That’s why my whole makeup is still about turning troubled mines around,” he says of deliberately taking on the COO role to lead and support his GMs to make sure that Lonmin delivers what it promised in the recapitalisation programme.

All are working to his key rules of safety, relationships, production and costs.

“If you can deliver on safety and relationships, you’ll get the production and your unit costs will come down,” he says.

He was speaking to Mining Weekly in an interview that began bang on 07:00 as scheduled on a day that Magara left home at 04:15 and went to gym from 05:00 to 06:00.

He smiled broadly as he confessed his passion for getting dirty with the guys at the rockface and optimising performance underground, where he talks safety, production and bonuses.

“Once they know that it’s about safety and their targets, you’re sorted, and we need to get to that again,” he says, while pointing to the need for an elevated attendance record above the current 90% level.

A source of encouragement to him is that production is turning nicely upwards, buoyed by encouraging new cooperation between his company, the once-hostile Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the principal inspectorate of the Department of Mineral Resources.

He is delighted that this production uplift is forcing down unit costs.