Copper 360‘s former founding CEO Jan Nelson resigned from its Board of Directors on 9 September 2025.
The company’s chairman expressed gratitude for Nelson’s “energy, service and efforts, both in the founding of the company and thereafter in providing it with leadership.”
The resignation comes during a period of restructuring for the company, which recently announced plans for a R1.15 billion recapitalisation.
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Nelson, a geologist by profession, has played a central role in reviving copper mining in the Northern Cape’s O’Kiep Copper District (OCD), an area that had not seen large-scale production for more than four decades.
Under his leadership as CEO, the JSE-listed company commissioned South Africa’s first SX/EW plant in Nababeep in 2021, producing copper cathode from dump retreatment operations.
In August 2024, Copper 360 reached another milestone when it began underground mining at its Rietberg mine, 22 kilometres north of Springbok. The mine, once operated by Newmont and Gold Fields, had been dormant since the early 1980s.
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With Rietberg operational, the company has shifted from producing copper plates to largely producing copper concentrate, which Nelson argued comes at a lower cost and higher margin.
Nelson’s track record in the mining sector extends beyond Copper 360. After starting his career at Gold Fields and Harmony Gold, he rose to prominence as CEO of Pan African Resources, transforming it from a cash-strapped explorer into a mid-tier gold producer with a market capitalisation of more than R5 billion and over 5,000 employees. He later served as CEO of Xtract Resources before departing in 2016.
Despite Copper 360 producing only modest volumes in recent years, Nelson laid the groundwork for expansion. The company now operates three plants in Nababeep and one hard rock mine, with the potential to lift copper output to 50,000 tonnes by 2026.
While Nelson’s resignation marks the end of a chapter, Copper 360 remains positioned for significant growth based on the foundations he established.