Exec exodus from prominent South African mining company

South African miner Copper 360 has seen three executives leave the company in less than one month, including its CEO.

The latest to leave is the miner’s company secretary, law firm Phillip Venter Attorneys, which will resign with effect from 16 March 2026.

In announcing the secretary’s upcoming departure on Monday, 16 February, Copper 360 said it was due to “strategic realignment of the firm’s service offerings”.

“The board of directors has commenced a process to appoint a new company secretary,” it said.

This comes shortly after Copper 360 announced that its CEO and commercial executive would be taking a leave of absence with immediate effect.

On 6 February, Copper 360 informed shareholders that its CEO, Graham Briggs, and commercial executive Stephan du Plessis had taken a leave of absence with immediate effect.

The company said this formed part of an ongoing reorganisation following the miner’s recent recapitalisation.

Copper 360 COO Gordon Thompson was appointed transitional CEO, and chief risk officer Seten Naidoo is taking on the role of transitional commercial executive.

At the time, the company’s board reassured shareholders that its operations would continue as normal and that there had been no disruption to day-to-day mining, processing or commercial activities.

In addition, it said Copper 360 “remains focused on operational delivery, financial discipline and value creation for shareholders”.

“The board will continue to assess the company’s organisational structure and executive capacity as part of the broader re-organisation process and will keep shareholders informed of any further material changes,” it said.

This executive exodus follows Copper 360’s recent ambitious recapitalisation, announced in September 2025.

While still under Briggs’ leadership, Copper 360 had announced that it was undertaking a R1.5 billion recapitalisation, more than double its market cap on the JSE at the time.

This, the company said, was to raise funding and reduce its debt burden, and would include a rights offer, which formed part of a broader company restructuring aimed at raising sufficient funding for short- and medium-term growth.

The rights offer comprised new equity of R400 million and up to R750 million from a debt conversion.

The R1.15 billion of new ordinary shares was offered to existing shareholders through a combined claw-back offer and rights offer.

In December 2025, the company announced that 63.3% of the rights offer had been subscribed for and that the full R400 million equity capital raise had been achieved.

Since listing on the JSE in 2023, Copper 360 has yet to report a sustained profit from its operations.