Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer steps down due to illness

28 December 2012 - 11:57 By Reuters
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Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer
Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer
Image: Robert Tshabalala

South African miner Lonmin said its chief executive Ian Farmer had stepped down after serious illness and the platinum producer had started a search for his replacement.

Chief Financial Officer Simon Scott would continue to fill the role until a replacement was found, Lonmin said in a statement on Friday. Scott had ruled himself out of the job on a permanent basis, it added.

Farmer was admitted to hospital in August, coinciding with a wave of unrest at the group’s Marikana mine that left 46 people dead and paralysed operations.

The strikes increased pressure on a group already being squeezed by high costs and weak platinum prices, and it needed to tap investors, led by largest shareholder Xstrata, for $817 million last month to avoid breaching lending terms.

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