United States of America: Newmont Corporation appoints Natascha Viljeon as Chief Operating Officer

After three years of her appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of the world’s largest platinum producer, Anglo-American Platinum (Amplats), Natascha Viljeon joins the World’s largest gold producer Newmont Corporation as the Chief Operating Officer.

Natascha will remain CEO of Amplats for 12 months while serving as a member of parent company Anglo American’s group management committee for the remainder of her time with the group.

Cynthia Caroll, in the year 2007 was appointed the CEO of Anglo America until her resignation in 2012. Viljeon however, was the first South African woman to helm a major profit with Anglo-America.

Viljoen is by no means the only woman to join Newmont’s executive team, and the world’s leading gold company and a substantial producer of copper, silver, zinc, and lead are attributed to Newmont. It is the only gold producer listed on the S&P side.

Viljeon was the head of processing for Anglo America since 2014 joining Amplats which gave her the kind of operational chops she would call on later as CEO of Anglo’s platinum businesses.

She is a metallurgical engineer, with a Bachelor of Engineering from Northwest University and an Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town. She began her career in 1991 at Iscor, as a trainee engineer. She worked for a period at AngloGold Ashanti, then took up the position of general manager at BHP’s Klipspruit Colliery before joining Lonmin in 2008.

The President and CEO of Newmont recognize the leadership qualities Natascha portrays.

“Natascha will further strengthen our leadership capabilities as we continue to build a resilient and profitable future for the company – safely delivering on our commitments and continuing to differentiate Newmont as the recognized leader for sustainable and responsible gold mining”.

She takes over from Rob Atkinson, current executive vice president and chief operating officer at Newmont.