Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer steps down due to illness
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.