COPPER 360, the Northern Cape miner, said on Friday it had appointed a “transitional” CEO after Graham Briggs – in the job for eight months – had taken a “leave of absence”.
Briggs, who came out of retirement to head up the beleaguered company, presided over its recapitalisation last year. A rights offer of R400m was concluded in December.
But his departure raises massive questions for Copper 360 considering that his key skill was in mining, specifically improving production.
Briggs will be replaced by Gordon Thompson who joined Copper 360 in 2023 and is the company’s chief operating officer. He will be joined in this transitional role, presumably a temporary appointment, by Seten Naidoo who will be chief commercial office. Naidoo replaces Stephen du Plessis, who has also taken a “leave of absence”.
In November, Copper 360 said it expected to report a 50% to 60% increase in basic per share loss for the six months ended August of 18.24 for the six months ended August owing to “higher operating costs”. In order to contain operating costs, Copper 360 opted to keep its cathode production closed.
The situation is a desperate one for Copper 360 which burst on to the JSE Altx in 2023 targeting development of up to 60 copper targets, and possessing resources and reserves large enough to last more than 100 years.
As recent as April last year, the company’s founding chair Shirley Hayes was saying Copper 360 had “turned a corner”.
At the same time, the copper price has hit record highs.
Briggs was previously CEO of Harmony Gold from 2009 to 2015. Commenting shortly after his appointment was announced in May (effective June 1, 2025), he said Copper 360 had “a vast inventory of copper in the ground and proven processing capability that is scalable”.
Copper 360’s founding CEO, Jan Nelson, retired from the board in September. At the time, the company said it was “in a process of restructuring, the aims of which are three-fold: raise sufficient funding for short- and medium-term growth, reduce the debt burden to improve profitability, and mine several orebodies that have achievable growth potential”.
Shares in the company are trading at 84 South African cents a share, an 80% decline from its listing price. The stock was trading at R6/share at one point.